Marsha Greer
Charity A. Earley Service Award
Ms. Marsha E. Greer was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio to a family of high performing African American Daytonians. Her mother, Phillis Greer was an Administrator at Dayton Public Schools (DPS) and her father, Phillip Greer was a Detective at the Dayton Police Department. Her Uncle, Robert Blackburn, was a State Representative. Marsha graduated in 1964 from Roth High School, Dayton, Ohio and attended the University of Cincinnati for her bachelors degree. After a successful career at Ohio Bell in Cleveland, Ohio, Ms. Greer began her career with Parity Inc. in the 1990’s under two legendary Co-Chairs, the late John E. Moore, Sr. and the late Charity Adams Earley. Ms. Greer loved Dayton, Ohio and Parity Inc.
Marsha Greer was the Education Director for Parity Inc. for several years. She oversaw the Parity Inc. Mentoring Program, and the Youth in Government Program which had great support from Judge Walter Rice. Marsha provided staff support to the Black Leadership Development Program (BLDP) and to the Top 10 African American Male Luncheon (AAML). In addition, she provided back office support to the Parity Inc. office, wrote grants and assisted with other fundraising activities.
Programs that Parity Inc. had during Marsha’s tenure included our Mentoring Program in the DPS’s that served seventh and eighth grade students. In 2002, some 500 students were served by mentors that visited students weekly at school or home and assisted them with homework. Ms. Greer assumed the role of Education chair in 2011 from Ms. Connie Lucas-Melson. Marsha was the Education Director from 2011-2019. She started publishing her Mentoring Program greeting in the program book for the Top 10 AAML in 2012 and her last one was in 2019.
By 2019, the education/ mentoring program under the tutelage of Ms. Greer served more than 2,900 students in the DPS system. This community/ school-based mentoring program was renamed to the “Youth Development for Succes (YDFS)” program with mentoring as a key component of Parity’s signature educational program. This program served youth, who in many cases had little to no structure in their lives outside of school. The program addressed high absenteeism and chronic truancy among students that had little to no parental support. The program focused on the three “A’s,” Attitude, Attendance and Academics, and used evidence-based models to pair the student mentee to a stable adult for a minimum of a year. The program expanded to serve fifth, sixth and seventh grade students. The YDFS program with mentoring as the key served approximately 200 students in Edison PreK-6 School, Edwin Joel Brown Middle School, Kemp PreK-6 School, Wright Brothers Middle School and Wogaman Middle School. Additionally, partnerships with the Dakota Center, Boys and Girls Club of Dayton, and the Wesley Community Center along with the Academic League of West Dayton allowed outreach to kore youth to help them reach their full potential. Judge Walter Rice was a great supporter of the Parity Inc. educational/ mentoring programs.
Ms. Greer retired from Parity Inc.having served under Executive Director Richard L. Wright with Co-Chairs Patricia S. Meadows and Emmett C. Orr. She is enjoying her life of leisure. Thanks for all that you have done, Marsha.