Why did Juanita “Nita” Doss join Strategies for Children’s Advocacy Network?

“I can tell you a story about that,” Doss says. She’s the Afterschool and Summer Program Director at The Elizabeth Peabody House. “When I first started working here there was a kid who needed to be in a therapeutic after school program. This kid’s behavior reminded me of some of the behaviors I’d seen when I worked in a residential program for youth ages zero to 12. Over time, we worked to keep this kid safe, but we weren’t helping him grow. Every day, I came to work, and it felt like I was failing him.”

To better meet this child’s needs, Doss worked with the child’s support team, drafting a 32-page document to make a referral to a more supportive program. Ultimately, the child didn’t go to the program, moving instead to live with a different relative.

“He’s the kid I thought about when I decided to apply for the Advocacy Network.”

Doss has seen other children struggle. In her earlier job in the residential program, the children Doss worked with had experienced severe trauma and were in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. 

“That job really opened my eyes and taught me to look at kids through a trauma lens and not just think that because they’re eight or nine years old, they should know better. Some of the kids in our care had been neglected. Some of them were abused. Some of them really don’t know better because they were never taught.”

What these children needed, Doss began to see, was a stronger system of support. 

An early focus on children—and an opportunity

“My mother ran a child care program in our house,” Doss recalls, “She would watch the neighborhood kids when their parents went to work. I was seven or eight years old and I would help her.” 

In middle school, Doss herself was enrolled in a 21st Center Community Learning Center after school program, where she was offered new experiences and where she found a mentor, Katie Donnelly, an educator who now works in Narragansett, Mass. 

“I went to a Celtics game for the first time ever. We had bloody nose seats, but it was great, especially since my Mom couldn’t have afforded those tickets.” And there were field trips, including one to Canobie Lake Park, the amusement park in New Hampshire. “After being exposed to that program, I really wanted to work with kids, because I was so inspired by the people who took care of me. So then that’s when I started my journey.”

Doss grew up thinking she wanted to be a teacher, but she decided teaching didn’t come with enough flexibility. 

“In my current role, I’m designing curriculum for kids, and while we follow state rules and regulations, we have the freedom to create an inviting structure that really allows kids to be their authentic selves.”

“We’re providing kids with new experiences, and not being told that we can’t is so great. The kids went to see the Blue Man Group for the first time back in 2023, which was really cool. They went to the Red Sox game for the first time, in 2024. And last year, they went to Canobie Lake in the summer for the first time. 

“Providing kids with new experiences is really fun, and really important because some of them probably won’t get to leave the greater Boston area. Some of them probably won’t have access to Canobie Lake Park, because not all the families have cars. A majority of our families walk or use public transportation. So for us, it’s about exposing kids to new things. I had a great childhood, but I want these children to have an even better childhood than I did. I want them to experience things at age 8 that I’m experiencing for the first time at 32 and a half years old. They deserve that.”

Doss is also excited to be a role model for the children she serves, most of whom are Black and brown, including kids who are African American, Bangladeshi, Brazilian, Cape Verdean, Haitian, and Puerto Rican. 

“It’s cool to be in a position where kids who see me get to know that they can be a director like me, or they can be more than me. They can be doctors or the next quarterback for the Patriots. This kind of representation is so important.”

Advocating for mental health services 

As a member of the Advocacy Network, Doss is building on her experience and her skills. 

“I’m a voice for my parents who don’t have voices. And I’m always going to fight for my kids. They’re not biologically mine, but they’re mine when they’re in my care.”

For her Advocacy Network project, Doss is developing a mental health curriculum that she can implement in her afterschool program and eventually share with other programs and with schools. 

To do this, Doss is designing a student success plan, and she’s developing a survey to ask parents about their children’s social/emotional learning needs. 

“I don’t want to tell kids what success looks like for them, because it could look completely different in their eyes. My goal is to figure out how kids see themselves and where they see themselves struggling with social/emotional skills. Then I can do more research on how to help, because their behavior is a form of communication. Somebody can be struggling and not know it, and that leads to behavior issues.”

Doss is piloting this effort in her program. She’ll collect data and refine her approach. Then she’ll reach out to other programs.

“Titus introduced me to Patrick Stanton, the executive director of the Massachusetts Afterschool Program, (MAP)” Doss says of Strategies for Children’s Deputy Director Titus DosRemedios. Stanton invited her to become part of MAP’s data-sharing program, where she will train to be a registered behavior technician (RBT). It’s a great opportunity for Doss to grow her skills and serve her community. 

For Doss, the underlying equation of her project is simple: more mental health services for kids will help kids be more successful. 

Looking into the future

What’s next for Doss personally? She wants to build on the research she’s doing by earning a master’s degree in childhood and adolescent developmental psychology. 

Ask Doss what the future could look like for children, and she says, “I dream big.” 

“I think it’s essential for every afterschool program to have one to two social workers to protect staff from feeling burnt out. There are so many things that educators have to do—teachers, anyone who works in child care, in preschools, in afterschool programs—and that causes burnout. And we can’t just turn kids away because of behavioral challenges.” 

“Kids get counseling in schools and then they come to afterschool and the support changes. It would be nice to keep that support going consistently throughout the day.”

So, in addition to her daily work of administration and supporting kids, Doss is doing more outreach to schools, which means doing the careful work of navigating rules on privacy and asking for more from overworked teachers. 

What does Doss want policymakers to know about her work? 

“That afterschool programs are important. The work doesn’t stop at the end of school. In afterschool programs, we offer enrichment programs to kids so they feel like they’re not in school, but they are still learning. We’re not just watching your kids while you’re at work. We’re actually helping your little humans to be better adults.”

The work, Doss says, is crucial, “because there are so many kids right now who are falling through the cracks.”