Davis, Robert

Robert Davis, an entrepreneur and corporate consultant, spends hundreds of hours of his time every year in neighborhoods that few other people will go into voluntarily. When they tell him neighborhoods like the mean streets of North Philadelphia are dangerous, he can answer that he's known that all his life—he grew up there.

Davis started working as a shoeshine boy and a rag picker when he was a child, helping earn food money for his family. He joined a street gang, became its leader and was in a gun battle, all by the time he was 11; he was in and out of four reform schools by 16. Doing a 180, he racked up near perfect scores on the College Boards and landed a full scholarship to an Ivy League education, which was cut short when he came up #3 in the draft lottery. Davis came home from Vietnam with a chest full of medals and a determination to make it in business, which he has.

But since 1977 he's been looking back as well as up, giving his time and skills to people who are still in the kind of neighborhood he made it out of. Davis gives free motivation seminars and job hunting classes to at-risk youth, the disabled, and the chronically unemployed, calling the operation "Project En-Courage." He tells kids who remind him of himself that nothing is pre-ordained, that they can break out of the limitations others may have set for them.

Even seasoned law enforcement and social service professionals prefer to steer clear of many of the streets Davis walks. He's been accosted repeatedly by knife- and gun-wielding street-corner drug dealers, who see him as a threat to their business. Davis says he knows the pushers mean business, but so does he. "I got through combat in Vietnam in one piece and I will not let guys who deal in misery, death and despair keep me from helping these kids. It means that much to me," says Davis.

Over the years Davis's dedication has helped hundreds of people get their lives on track and get jobs, giving them for free the full attention that brings him high fees from businesses and corporations. Rob Davis sticks his neck out to give something back to the world he left on his own way to success.