Meryl Davis Continues to Leave Her Mark on the World with Involvement in Figure Skating in Harlem and Detroit

When Meryl Davis heard Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH) was considering branching out to a second city, she used her staple charm and conviction developed over her storied competitive ice dance career to convince the organization's founder to consider her hometown of Detroit.
 
"Meryl is just amazing," Figure Skating in Harlem's founder and chief executive officer Sharon Cohen said. "She knew that the organization was looking to expand its impact and that we were looking at different cities, and she came right up to me and said, 'Please come to Detroit. You must look at Detroit.' And she was relentless because we did look at other cities and she kept saying, 'C'mon, think about Detroit.'"
 
Davis won the metaphorical gold medal in that race for the program's expansion, and Figure Skating in Detroit was born in 2016.
 
Both Figure Skating in Harlem, founded by Cohen in 1997, and Figure Skating in Detroit combine the powers of sport, specifically figure skating, and education for young women of color to "build champions in life."
 
"I think Detroit is the perfect place for a program like this, both because there's need and because there's an incredible figure skating community," Davis, the 2014 Olympic ice dance champion with Charlie White, explained. "The opportunity is certainly there to impact the lives of young people in the city of Detroit, and yet in the greater Detroit area we have this incredible figure skating community and history."
 
A founding board member of Figure Skating in Detroit, five-time U.S. champion Davis has been involved since the start and continues to serve the program to this day.
 
"She's been there from the beginning in identifying the city initially, in making connections," Cohen recalled. "I am not a Detroiter, so I really needed to get a lay of the land and know who to talk to. Just from the very beginning in setting up the programming, meeting the girls, she has come to the rink so many times to be there for the girls, to talk to them.
     

"She has helped guide the strategy of how you make a program like this successful in a new city."
 
Davis' first exposure to FSH came in 2010, when she and White attended the Skating with the Stars benefit gala in New York City not two months after their Olympic silver-medal performance.
 
Without knowing much about the inspiring and empowering work of FSH beforehand, she was immediately hooked upon first meeting and skating with the student-athletes.
 
"I was just completely blown away," Davis remembered. "I was so taken with the girls and their power and their confidence, and their joy in both skating and talking about the program off the ice as well was infectious. I was sold right then and there."
 
Cohen explained, "Honestly the mission seemed to come so naturally to her because she believed in giving children opportunities and helping children empower themselves."
 
The gala has been held every year since 2006, and this year's edition – appropriately titled Champions in Life – will be held virtually on Thursday, April 22 at 7 p.m. ET. It is open to the public for free, and Cohen is eager to set an attendance record.
 
Thursday's event is Figure Skating in Harlem's second virtual gala due to the pandemic, and this year it will honor figure skating pioneer Mabel Fairbanks, 1966 U.S. novice champion Atoy Wilson, and Susan Kittenplan, President Emeritus of the Skating Club of New York.
 
It will tell the story of figure skaters of color, and feature performances from Team USA's Starr Andrews and French Canadian pairs skater Vanessa James. Stars from the entertainment industry, including Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot and Queer Eye personality Jonathan Van Ness, will also make appearances.
 
"This is going to be incredible; just having Mabel as the guide, we were able to make the whole thing a celebration of skaters of colors, including our girls," Cohen said. "There's a heartfelt performance by Starr Andrews that is so incredible. … We talk about Tai [Babilonia] and Surya [Bonaly], and all the people that followed. We give probably the most in-depth look at this notion of equity and inclusion in skating. We have our own history of 24 years to include in that. It's just so much fun.
 
"We managed to mix fun and meaning, and that's not easy, but I think people will love it. It's 45 minutes. It just shows when people come together, the beautiful things they can do."
 
Davis, who was honored at the 2016 gala alongside White and actress Cicely Tyson, can vouch for the impact of the event and how her experiences there have changed her perspective and involvement over the years.
 
"The fundraising aspect is huge because it facilitates the ability of the program to take place and to impact the lives of all these young people so deeply and so wonderfully," she said. "I think the gala is important not just because of the fundraising aspect, but I think that if you do not truly understand the impact of and what Figure Skating in Harlem and Figure Skating in Detroit are all about before the gala, you will after."
 
Davis' favorite memory from the roughly 10 galas she has witnessed was the first time she saw a spoken-word performance by the FSH students.
 
"I realized then that I was seeing the impact of what they were learning on the ice being shown off the ice as well," Davis explained. "That was when the dots really connected for me – seeing that spoken-word performance, seeing the confidence, seeing the sense of community among the participants, seeing the light in their eyes as they were delivering this performance that meant so much to them."

Figure Skating in Detroit will have its own inaugural virtual Celebration of Youth gala on May 13.
 
Now in its fourth full year of programming, Detroit had its first graduate last spring, who is now a freshman in college and decided to work for the organization as Figure Skating in Detroit's social media intern, which Davis said was, "such a wonderful testament to her experience in the program and the belief she has in the program."
 
Figure Skating in Detroit has ambitious goals as it continues to develop and grow, including connecting further with local companies to maximize its impact in the area. Despite still being a young organization, though, Davis noted she continues to be impressed by what they have accomplished so far, especially the staff's ability to adapt and pivot over the past year.
 
"I'm just really proud of the work that they've done to continue to serve our girls," she said. "In 2020, the Detroit team connected with Sharon to figure out how we could serve our girls when everything was shut down, when the girls weren't in school, when they weren't able to get on the ice. We connected with our parent organization to find ways to continue serving and impact these girls on a regular basis, despite the fact that the world was a very different place than the one we were accustomed to. I've been incredibly impressed by the team's ability to do that."

Register for the gala in advance at fshchampions.org and watch live at fshchampions.org/watch