Divon Williams
ORANGE, Texas (Nov. 10, 2022) – A seat on the Orange County (Texas) Economic Development Corporation (EDC) board predated Divon Williams’ pursuit of a master’s degree in community development at the Prairie View A&M University School of Architecture. But now, Williams has been named Orange County EDC board president.
It’s a dizzying rise for Williams, who in 2020 completed her third year as a business information management and college career readiness teacher at West Orange-Stark High School, her alma mater.
“I absolutely loved teaching,” said Williams. “But I knew it wasn’t all that I wanted to do.”
What Williams wanted was to continue helping the kids in her community but in a different way. “I knew my time working with the youth wasn’t done,” she said. “I knew I wanted to bring more resources here for our youth. That is my ultimate goal.”
A conversation with Orange Mayor Larry Spears Jr. about the city’s volunteer boards led Williams to apply to the EDC, which notified her that she would be appointed to the EDC board on Oct. 27, 2020. The following spring, Williams applied to Prairie View A&M to study community development, a decision made easy by the availability of online classes.
“The CODE program is doing some amazing things,” Williams said. “I’m already learning so much from my professors, in particular, Tiffany D. Thomas and Kevin Riles. You do a lot of community-based research, and I’m learning so many things that I’m able to incorporate into my work with the EDC, and I’m able to take experiences from my EDC work and use them to inform my class work.”
“Divon is an example of what we hope to accomplish with our students,” said Thomas. “When met with opportunity, they will be prepared in and out of season.”
While Williams is still learning, she is uniquely qualified for her new position, having grown up, attended church, worked in the HR department of the local school district and taught in the community.
“I’m privy to a lot of the things that my community needs,” Williams said, “and these new roles are all preparing me for the things I would like to bring to this community of 18,000 residents. There’s a lot to be done here. Students don’t stay on after school. A lot of my conversations with high school students were about that and how excited they were to graduate and leave. We need opportunities here that will make our youth, or even people like me, want to stay here.”
“A lot of people asked me why I came back here to start my career,” she continued. “I would like to bring more resources and community engagement that focuses on the quality of life in our community. All of the things that Houston and other large cities have, we can have here.”
The EDC board provides incentives both for existing businesses and businesses looking to start up or relocate. Williams says the city is seeing new housing starts, a sign that it is “preparing for some serious growth. We’re expecting more people to move to our community, which is something I’m super excited about.”
For herself, Williams is excited for her two-year term as board president and for getting her PVAMU degree, which is on track for less than a year from now. “This has all happened so fast; sometimes I have to take a moment to process,” she said. “But I welcome all of it, every experience and every opportunity.”
By Andrew Cohen
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