Andrea Dozier Takes Over As SYA Director, Hoping To Continue And Expand Her Father's Legacy

Honored, nervous, and excited—those are the emotions that Andrea Dozier says she’s been feeling in recent weeks, after officially taking over the role of executive director of the Southampton Youth Association. Ms. Dozier, 33, accepted the post formerly held by her father, the Reverend Marvin Dozier, who died on June 17 at the age of 66 after battling cancer.

Those emotions make sense, considering Rev. Dozier’s far-reaching and long-lasting impact on Southampton and the entire East End.

The 1970 graduate of Southampton High School was one of the most well-respected, widely recognized and beloved members of the community for decades, not only leading the SYA but also serving as the pastor at the Unity Baptist Church in Mattituck, and a longtime member and one-time president of the Southampton School Board.

Rev. Dozier was always helping people from all walks of life, whether he was encouraging character development through sports with the SYA, or delivering weekly sermons to inmates at the Suffolk County Jail in Riverside.

The SYA is a nonprofit established 49 years ago with the goal of providing “recreational services to our local school-age children, during leisure hours,” as its website puts it. The organization provides sports and recreation programs at affordable prices, and teaches leadership and character through those programs.

While Ms. Dozier may admit to some trepidation in filling her father’s big shoes, it is also clear that she has both the passion and confidence to not only continue the work he’s done in the community through the program—set to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year—but to enhance it as well.

The changes she has made in her personal life in order to do so are telling all on their own.

Ms. Dozier left her job as the principal of an elementary school in Brooklyn to take on the SYA position. Her husband, Chauncey Nartey, is a vice president at Goldman Sachs in New York City, serving on its Human Capital Management Team, and the couple is now looking for a home somewhere near Patchogue, so her husband can still commute into the city. She also is pregnant with her first child.

In an interview last week, Ms. Dozier spoke with an energetic passion about the SYA’s vital place in the community, the role it played in her own life, and how she planned to continue and expand its influence.

“The goal of the SYA was to assure that the youth in the community had productive things to do,” Ms. Dozier said, speaking about the vision her father and other longtime SYA members and supporters—including her sister, Alicia Austin, as well as Richard “Juni” Wingfield, Yolanda Johnson, Herm Lamison, Carl Davis and others—had for the organization. “The idea was that sports builds character and brings people together.”

What the SYA has done is provided opportunities for all children, from all socio-economic backgrounds, to participate in sports and other recreational activities, and use participation in those activities to achieve emotional growth, whether through youth wrestling and gymnastics programs, or the dance program, which Ms. Dozier said she was proud to announce is being brought back after an absence.

She wants to take that philosophy of equal opportunity for all children to the next level now.

“A lot of people who work for SYA now were part of it as kids, starting as young as 4 or 5, then they became junior counselors, and it was often their first leadership role,” she said. “So career development should be a big part of it, too. It’s not just, let’s get kids to play sports so they stay out of trouble, and that’s it.”

To that end, Ms. Dozier has helped spearhead a new initiative, called the “Level Up” Summit, which is set for December 1 at Southampton High School. The event, geared for Southampton High School students, will include professionals from a variety of career fields on hand to talk about what they do and how they got there. There will also be sessions on financial literacy, and working on building and putting together a high school resume.

Ms. Dozier said the idea is to get high school students to “skill up,” to give them the tools they need to succeed in college and beyond.

“We want them to walk away with something they didn’t have,” she said. “Kids deserve to have opportunities and be exposed to different things.

“A lot of what we were doing with SYA was always implicit,” she added. “We want to make it explicit.”

SYA is also going to continue Rev. Dozier’s legacy by establishing The Reverend Marvin Dozier Character and Community Scholarship, which will be offered to two or three Southampton High School students who demonstrate character and service, and a commitment to the community—traits that her father embodied.

Ms. Dozier spoke about her father’s commitment to Southampton, and how it was uncommon.

“I think what Dad did in the community is rare,” she said, “to go to college and come back and stay and commit your whole life to ensuring a safe, loving and productive community. It’s an honor to be asked to step into that role and do the work.”

Ms. Dozier is quick to point out that while she has the executive director title, she is far from alone in doing that work. Her older sister, Ms. Austin, has been the office manager for years, and Ms. Dozier credited her with holding things together, especially during their father’s illness.

While many of the people who work for the SYA do so on a part-time basis, their many years of commitment have been invaluable. And they say they have every confidence that Ms. Dozier will do a fine job.

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Mr. Wingfield said. “Andrea has always been inspired by her dad. His intellect, his compassion, his spirituality—those are all traits that he has instilled in her, and she’s used those traits to become successful in every arena she’s entered.

“In many ways, we know Poppy is smiling,” Mr. Wingfield added, referring to Rev. Dozier. “Because he could always know he could pass the torch without the flame going out.”