Venisha White-Buchanon

A Gainesville professional uses her innate abilities to serve Florida’s vulnerable population

Story By: C. M. Schmidlkofer

A professional focused on social services and child welfare for more than 28 years, Venisha White-Buchanon credits her successful career to persistence, courage, and compassion.

Of these qualities, she said the greatest is compassion – the most critical skill needed to serve in any leadership role. It develops an ear for active listening, reflective communication, empathy, and what she calls a “servant’s heart.”

“My belief is it is a spiritual gift and no matter what you call a person by title or paygrade, the trait is ever present.”

A self-professed “habitual volunteer” and goalsetter, embracing these qualities has led her to be recognized as a community and professional leader in Florida’s social services and child welfare efforts.

She serves as Statewide Director for Twin Oaks Forensic Outpatient Services in Gainesville, which recently became the sole provider for Florida’s Department of Children and Family Service’s Juvenile Incompetent to Proceed Program – Community/Outpatient population.

The program is a vital provision for children and youth diagnosed with mental illness, autism, or intellectual disabilities who become involved with the juvenile delinquency courts.

Achieving sole provider status from the State of Florida is one of White-Buchanon’s crowning achievements. It means Twin Oaks does not have to compete with other services for a contract with the state and can spend more time focusing on serving its clients.

“This is a major accomplishment, as very few client services hold this ranking with the State of Florida.”

Her career began with the Juvenile Incompetent to Proceed Program in 1997, and she became the statewide director in 2000, making her responsible for the overall administration, program personnel management, coordinator, integration and day-to-day operations of all services delivered through Twin Oaks throughout Florida’s 67 counties.

“My career has afforded [me] the opportunity to impact the lives of countless youth in Florida, who would have otherwise been placed in the revolving system of juvenile reoffending (recidivism).”

You can’t mention White-Buchanon’s name without noting her service to the Gainesville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., where she serves as president.

Here, she has created an environment free of “business” where members can bond through similar experiences and celebrate each other in life. This is something she considers her greatest accomplishment as president.

The sorority collaborates and partners with groups and individuals that support its signature efforts, including women’s scholarships and children’s programs, to name just a few.

“I will coin the sentiment here, that wherever you look in a crowded room where ‘business’ is occurring, you are sure to find a Delta woman.”

Today it is a chapter of more than 70 college-educated, professional women who reside in Alachua and Columbia counties. Delta Sigma Theta was founded by 22 collegiate women in 1913 on the campus of Howard University with a vision for systematic change and equality in human rights.

The young women she leads today as the 12th Chapter President carries on its vision.

“I am humbled in this capacity having served for the past three years.”

Now in her fourth and final year as president, she realizes the chapter must be more vigilant than ever due to the current racial climate and diminishing levels of human decorum, with the same degree of urgency for change its founders had to achieve change.

“Being Black in America is a pandemic, by which I am affected. I will address it with my vote and my voice to encourage others to do the same. Our literal lives depend on change occurring in the nation’s government.”

A native of Tallahassee, White-Buchanon’s family moved to Gainesville when she was a young child and she attended K-12 schools in Alachua. She graduated from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) in 1991 with a double major in social work and criminal justice within three and a half years. In 2003, she obtained her Master’s Degree in Mental Health from Nova Southeastern University.

FAMU influenced her educational and cultural development, she said. Of all the historically Black colleges and universities in the country, she believes that none compare to the richness, wealth, and acclaim that FAMU offers its graduates.

“You can’t explain it in words, but you will always know a FAMU student. The command and confidence that we possess is hallmark to our having matriculated upon the campus of the highest of seven hills in the state’s capitol: Tallahassee, Florida.”

Her continuing desire to learn, grow, and achieve is an inherited trait from her family, where her strong matriarchal lineage – particularly of her mother and grandmother who have demonstrated remarkable achievements in their own lives – have inspired her to set high goals for any effort.

“This blueprint ― along with the bond of my immediate family ― is just the right combination for my success.”

She is referring to her husband, Boyd, and their three children: two adult sons and a daughter born in 2012. She believes the age difference between her sons and grade-school-aged daughter keeps life lively and youthful for everyone.

“I am most honored and humbled to have such a wonderful family. These folks are at the nucleus of what drives me and causes my nonstop vigor to be great.”

Over the years her journey has been impacted by many variables, which continue to this day. But her inherent determination and familial background strengthen her to persevere.

“My attitude is that I won’t stop learning, attaining, and growing. When that time comes I will be home resting in retirement.”