Joshua Davies, Commissioner of School-Based Save Our Community at the City of Toledo, received a 2023 20 Under 40 Leadership Recognition Award on Tuesday, October 24 at the 28th annual 20 Under 40 awards ceremony. He was among the 20 selected from a field of 153 candidates.

Davies ability to develop innovative and impactful ways to meet the needs of the community by developing partnerships and coalitions, plus his track record for securing and managing grant funding led him to his current position as Commissioner, School-Based Save Our Community with the City of Toledo. He is charged with removing barriers and increasing opportunities for Toledo’s youth. He began his journey at The University Church whose community partner was Reynolds Elementary School. Here created and served as Director of the LEAD Mentoring Program, connecting 40 students per year with adult mentors. Transitioning to Rogers High School he served as the LEAD After School Program director and raised $1.5 million to create programs including a 5-year after school program, a 3-year summer program, a youth leadership project, a student Community Closet, a Mental Health First Aid training initiative for staff and students, and funded an internship that provides incentives for University of Toledo Social Work interns. He is also a co-founder of Rogers Healing Coalition to promote student wellness.

He is a member of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and the Lucas County Community Health Improvement Plan Task Force. During the pandemic, he worked with the University of Toledo College of Law to develop the Rogers Mediation Team, which provides 8 hours of truancy and conflict mediation weekly. In 2006 he co-founded Kick HIV/Aids out of Africa, an initiative that provided soccer equipment to HIV Training Center graduates. They would take the equipment back to their respective communities and host soccer games during HIV/AIDS seminars. Using equipment collected in the U.S., graduates reached 34,000 individuals across sub-Saharan Africa. He also served as Secretary of the Board of Kafakumba Development Projects Fund, Inc. from 2009-2014.

Davies is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in International Development and he earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Toledo. While working on his Master of Social work degree he co-authored an article “ Cultural History Analysis and Professional Humility: Historical Context and Social Work Practice,” which was published in “Social Work Education: The International Journal.” It won the “Best Conceptual Article award in 2018.