by Hong Vu
For Harlem Native Stormy, Skating at the Davis Center is a Story of Return
Most mornings, Stormy McNair pushes open the doors of the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer with the same rhythm she’s carried through Harlem her whole life. For her, this place isn’t just a workplace—it’s an extension of the Harlem streets that raised her. Now, as Senior Manager of Programming Partnerships at the Central Park Conservancy, she’s returned to the corner of her childhood as both steward and bridge, connecting the Park to the community that shaped her.
“I was born in Harlem. Raised in Harlem. Still live in Harlem, raising my children,” Stormy says. “Everything I know—family, schools, friendships—is here.” In her telling, Harlem is more than a neighborhood; it’s a heartbeat: the fearless splash of color in the clothes, the declaration of self in every stride, the stop-and-start rhythm of errands interrupted by a dozen reunions. It’s the departures, and always, the pull to return.
That sense of return is what the Davis Center embodies. Built with and for Harlem, the center’s programming grew from conversations with neighbors, partners, and local leaders. Today, it offers free and low-cost fitness, wellness, and educational programs that open doors for all generations—made possible through partnerships like JPMorganChase, whose Unstoppable campaign champions the same values that power this place: opportunity, equity, and the belief that community is what makes progress possible.
For Stormy, this site holds decades of personal history. She learned to swim here as a Girl Scout and to skate under her father’s watchful eye. He fell once and never skated again but kept bringing her back. “He knew I loved skating. He wanted me to have that joy.”
The old Lasker Rink and Pool worn, but to Harlem, it was still “our pool, our rink, our place.” Yet for many, the feeling of belonging was elusive; Central Park didn’t always feel like theirs. The Central Park Conservancy has worked to heal and reimagine this relationship, and the Davis Center rises not as a monument but as an invitation to the community.
This winter, that invitation becomes tangible on the ice. Opening November 15, the Gottesman Rink will host community skating, hockey lessons, and open sessions. Through philanthropic support from JPMorganChase, the rink ensures that local residents have access to programs that foster connection and pride. “To skate again with your people, that’s powerful,” Stormy says. More than half the schedule is reserved for community use, keeping Harlem at the center of the story.
What excites Stormy most are the memories still to come: children’s first glides, laughter through falls, the ritual of families returning season after season. “If I could talk to my younger self,” she says, “I’d tell her: Take it in. You wouldn’t believe how important this place will be to you later in life.”
Stormy knows that the rink is more than ice—it’s a renewal, a promise kept, and a testament that home, like the Park, is something we keep making together.
“Sometimes it takes a little more for those right across the street to feel welcome, but we’re up for the challenge. We’re ready. Much like skating itself, belonging begins with a single step—the courage to glide forward, to trust the ice, to know the space was made for you.”