{"id":11627,"date":"2024-02-28T20:09:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T20:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=11627"},"modified":"2024-02-28T20:09:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T20:09:25","slug":"meet-the-candidate-fredrick-davis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/28\/meet-the-candidate-fredrick-davis\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the candidate: Fredrick Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"
Editors\u2019 Note: Eleven candidates \u2014 all Democrats \u2014 are vying for five seats on the Durham County Board of Commissioners in the March 5 election. No Republicans or Libertarians have entered the contest, so the March 5 results will determine who sits on the commission. The 9th Street Journal is profiling candidates in the race.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n As Fredrick Davis departed the Durham church where he had just begun pastoring, he drove past a small wooden building that typically eluded his attention. Sealed behind boarded windows and swarming with pigeons, this eerie \u201cdrug-infested facility\u201d was, by all accounts, a tear-down.<\/span><\/p>\n But Davis had a vision. Learning it was county surplus property, he purchased the building for $25 in 1992, he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Today, music reverberates through the halls as families gather in what was once an eyesore. The Community Family Life & Recreation Center at Lyon Park, where Davis is founder and chairman of the board, attracts Durham residents of all ages: toddlers stumbling around the center\u2019s pre-K classes, students with special needs shooting basketball hoops in the gymnasium, families visiting the center\u2019s Duke health clinic outpost, and senior citizens (or in Davis\u2019 terms, \u201cmature adults\u201d) convening to puzzle and sew.<\/span><\/p>\n This $6.4 million project was no easy feat, but Davis is proud of the results.<\/span><\/p>\n The initiative also attracted new congregants to First Calvary Baptist Church, where Davis pastored for 31 years before retiring in 2022. In that time, church membership grew from 150 congregants to 1,200, Davis says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On a recent Saturday, Davis, 67, sports a cherry-red sweater vest and corduroy pants. He has a warm, resonant laugh that naturally elicits laughter in return. Davis is one of 11 Democrat candidates vying for five seats on the Durham County Board of Commissioners. Davis, who describes himself as a moderate, has received an endorsement from the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI’m running as a community activist,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat sets me apart is my integrity as a servant leader.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Pastoral ministry brought Davis, originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Durham in 1991. He holds an undergraduate degree from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte and a master\u2019s in religion from Morehouse College in Atlanta.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n