As the first female board chair of the Charlotte YMCA, and as a recent board chair of the national YMCA, Pamela Davies brought a broad perspective to this interview. Unlike many other people interviewed, she did not grow up involved in YMCA activities. Her first contact with YMCA work came when she was asked to join the Charlotte Y board soon after she arrived in Charlotte to serve as president of Queens University. She eloquently discussed her experience as one of the first women on the board, and the process by which she learned about the Y's social mission, as well as its approach to equity. She talked in detail about the challenges the Y faces from alternative fitness providers and underscores the significance of building and maintaining community relationships, as well as looking to YMCA's around the nation and the world for ideas about equity work.
