Supporting Children, Strengthening Families: Gwendolyn Davis and the Heart of Blueprints

Dominion Post

13-05-2025

This article is part of a month-long series spotlighting the people behind Blueprints, a nonprofit organization working to eliminate poverty through impactful community programs in Washington County, Greene County, and parts of West Virginia. To learn more about Blueprints, go to myblueprints.org.Blueprints is a community action agency with a powerful mission: to break the cycle of poverty by empowering individuals and families with the tools and support they need to become self-sufficient and build better futures. Today we meet Gwendolyn Davis, Director of the Blueprints Connecting Children and Families Department in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.Davis is originally from Morgantown, West Virginia and graduated from West Virginia University with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a Master of Public Administration with a specialization in health care administration.Her career in human services started at a youth crisis center, where she served as a caseworker. She primarily supported older youth with mental health and behavioral health challenges.'I enjoyed this work, as it was amazing to me how resilient the youth were,' she says. The around-the-clock role required a demanding schedule and Davis bounced between night shifts, day shifts, and provided on-call crisis services.After working with older youth for eight years, Davis moved to the Washington D.C. area to work with transitioning youth and adults with autism in Maryland as the Director of a Supported Employment program for a non-profit organization.'I learned so much through the individuals I served and the system partners I worked with in Maryland and D.C.,' she says.In 2008, Davis returned to southwestern Pennsylvania, to embark on a new role as the Executive Director of Try Again Homes, which later merged with Community Action Southwest and became Blueprints.Blueprints' Connecting Children and Families Department provides vital services to the community, including foster care and adoption, truancy intervention and prevention, transitioning youth to independent living, family services, and behavioral health services for children and families. The work they do helps to protect children and gives families the opportunities to thrive and stay together when possible, with support programs like Family Group Decision Making, Families in Recovery, and Positive Parenting Program. They can assist with In-Home services and Supervised Visitation services.'While much of what I do now involves a broader view in working with different child and family service systems, public policy, and management, I never forget the reason I am here and why I love this work- helping children and families,' she says.With more than 25 years in the human services field and over 16 years at Blueprints, Davis says that her work has been a gift. Davis has made human services her life's work because she wants to help children and families to be healthy, to heal, to grow, and to find their own success through their own journeys.
'I have met so many talented, empathetic, and amazing people in my journey. Every child, teenager, and family has taught me something new. Most of us are all trying our best and there are times we all need assistance to be successful.'