Radio dream springs from life at rock bottom

CEDAR RAPIDS - John Davis, 48, hit rock bottom in 1998, when the once-promising radio and television engineer found himself living on the streets of Phoenix.

To cope with pain, he became addicted to crack cocaine. To gain a sense of family, he became a gang member.

“The majority of people I was hanging out with were uneducated,” says Davis, now of Cedar Rapids.

One day he looked in the mirror, and didn't recognize his own reflection.

“I realized I was getting older and I had children who looked up to me,” he says.

Davis asked God for guidance and eventually, he “saw the light,”

“I prayed and a couple months later, the sun shone on me and I had a revelation,” he says.

The revelation led Davis to turn around his life.

“I got religious counseling and cleaned my system, body and spirit,” he says. “I decided the Lord had a plan for me.”

Davis moved back to Cedar Rapids in 1999 to be closer to his two daughters and work on his dream of starting a radio station for at-risk minorities.

Although he worked at Motel 6 and other jobs to pay the bills, he never gave up on his dream.

In 2008 while working with the Small Business Development Center at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Davis gained the tools and knowledge to start a small business.

A year later he assembled a board for Building Knowledge and Humanity with Diversity, or BKHWD, and began brainstorming. The plan began to fall into place in October when St. Wenceslaus Church in the Oakhill Jackson neighborhood donated space in its community center at 1230 Fifth St. SE.

To give youth a sense of community, Davis holds a Youth Arcade Project, or YAP, from 4 to 9 p.m. every Saturday at the community center where youth can play the Madden football video game for free.

“They can play games and work on social skills,” he says.

To raise money he also holds bingo games from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Wednesdays and at 6:30 p.m. Fridays at the community center.

Enough money has been raised to start an Internet radio station the beginning of May. Davis will use his experience at Kirkwood's KCCK 88.3 and minority radio station KOJC to train students interested in radio.

“I want to give a positive environment in the community,” he says. “I want work with the youth. I'm trying to give them a tool to be successful.”

Times are tough for today's youth, especially minorities in urban areas, he says.

“I know what the kids are facing,” he says. “I've battled addiction and gangs. If I can do it, they can do it, too.”

And he wants youth to realize he can relate to them.

“I've been down that road, even thought of suicide,” Davis says. “But I listened to the Lord. There is such a thing as a second chance.”

Comments: (319) 398-5860; angie.holmes@sourcemedia.net

For more information about John Davis' non-profit organization, Building Knowledge and Humanity with Diversity, visit www.bkhwd.org or call (319) 540-5931.