Introduction from Marcus Littles

We’re back for the fall, after a summer hiatus during July and August. The responses from our May survey asked us to include more articles and work from people in the field, and we’re responding! We have commentaries from Public Private Ventures about its work to mobilize and support practitioners and from yours truly about how one applies a grantmaking lens. Our cover story reports on the Million Father March for fathers of kids going back to school across the country.


Enjoy!

Marcus J. Littles
Chief Executive
Frontline Solutions




The Million Father March: Involving Fathers in Their Children’s Education

By Paul Bachleitner

        As children return to school this fall, educators are looking for ways to improve grades, test scores, and behavior. Support from both parents is critical to success, but encouraging fathers to become involved has been downright daunting.

        The US Census Bureau reports that over a third of all American children, and almost two thirds of African American children, live in households from which the biological father is absent. These children are at greater risk of suffering from poverty, being imprisoned, abusing alcohol or drugs, and performing more poorly in school than children in families with two parents, according to the National Fatherhood Initiative.

        “Men do not look at education as being their job, and I’m not just talking about black men,” said Phillip Jackson, the former Chief of Education for the City of Chicago and founder and current manager of the Black Star Project, which seeks to improve educational outcomes for African American and Latino communities. “Education isn’t only the responsibility of mothers.”

        Six years ago, Jackson and nine other men came up with the idea of the Million Father March while talking in a church basement on the south side of Chicago. Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man March provided some of their inspiration. However, they wanted to sustain their march beyond a one-time event with a refined message that encourages fathers to engage in children’s education.

        The march has a simple premise: get fathers to accompany their children on the first day of school. The term “father” is defined broadly to include father figures such as grandfathers, mentors, stepfathers, and big brothers—any male caregiver who is part of a parent structure that improves educational outcomes for children.

        During the first year, 40,000 fathers from 25 cities participated. The numbers grew to 600,000 fathers from 475 cities last year. The goal for this year is over 800,000 fathers from more than 550 cities, from Anchorage, Alaska to Rancho Cucamonga, California and, internationally, from London, England to Auckland, New Zealand.

        An online toolkit provides webinars, promotional fliers, and other information that makes it easy for any city or community to organize a march. Although local organizers are primarily individuals or nonprofit entities, a number of governments are becoming organizers, too.

        One of the only state-led efforts is occurring in New York State, which has branded its effort as “Dads: Take Your Kids to School Day.” The effort includes 27 school districts in cities throughout the state, including New York City’s five boroughs.

       “We want to show that fathers do care to get involved and that academic success will increase because of their involvement,” said Kenneth Braswell of the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and a co-leader of the state’s effort. Braswell said that the effort presents a means for government, educators, and philanthropy to think outside the box about fatherlessness.

         “For fathers to be involved in the educational growth of a child…this is as close to magic as you can get!” Jackson said.

       Statistics from the United States Department of Health & Human Services support this. A father’s involvement in parenting increases children’s economic and educational well-being and decreases the likelihood of health, emotional, and behavioral problems.

        The sheer size of the Million Father March makes a statement that carries into the rest of the school year. Fathers sign a pledge to be responsible for their children’s education by volunteering at their children’s schools at least three times per year, meeting with teachers at least twice per year, participating on the Parent Teachers Association (PTA), and cooperating with mothers to achieve the best possible educational outcomes. Parenting programs and other assistance help continue fathers’ involvement through collaborations with organizations like the American Federation of Teachers, the Black Caucus, the National Association of Black Social Workers, and Mad Dads.

       The Million Father March’s supporters and collaborators are growing. The Open Society Institute recently made a $50,000 grant commitment that leverages support from Toyota, Pepsi, Northern Charitable Trust, the Oppenheimer Family Foundation, and other contributors. The more than 4,500 businesses of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce have also awarded two hours of leave time for fathers to take their children to school.

       But more commitment and more collaboration are needed. “I grew up without a father; I lived this,” Jackson said. “I haven’t had a vacation in four years. I work seven days a week. This is what it takes.”

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Public/Private Ventures Announces New Network for Marginalized Males Practitioners

By Angelique Jessup, Public/Private Ventures

        With support from the Ford Foundation, Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) is pleased to announce creation of the new web-based Marginalized Males of Color Practitioners Network.

        Public/Private Ventures tackles critical challenges facing high-poverty communities by seeking out and designing innovative programs, rigorously testing them, and promoting the solutions proven to work. The Marginalized Males of Color Practitioners Network will provide technical assistance, up-to-date research, peer-to-peer exchange, and other resources and tools for organizations working to improve outcomes for "marginalized males of color," defined as African American, Latino and other males of color who are at high risk for poor economic, educational, social, and health-related outcomes.

        In large percentages, young males of color are struggling. Their school dropout rates rise higher than those of any other major demographic. As young adults, they experience chronic and increasing unemployment or underemployment. In epidemic proportions, young males of color are the victims and perpetrators of homicide, which leads to their over-representation in the juvenile and adult correctional systems.

        No network currently exists to unify the efforts of the vast community of practitioners serving this population. P/PV's Marginalized Males of Color Practitioners Network will provide connections among practitioners to foster innovation and identify best practices. This will bring together several practice areas, including but not limited to education, fatherhood, workforce development, violence reduction, prisoner reentry, sexual reproductive health, civic engagement, and mentoring.

        By launching the Marginalized Males of Color Practitioners Network, P/PV seeks to put forward a groundbreaking and technologically robust resource that supports its mission to improve the effectiveness of social policies and programs for youth and young adults. Development on the Practitioners’ Network is slated to be completed in early 2010.

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A Commentary: Place Matters, Too

By Marcus Littles

         Major national foundations are advocating for the use of race, ethnicity, and gender as “lenses” through which funders should analyze their grantmaking activities, particularly those that impact marginalized males. However, included among the grantmaking lenses should be a less-recognized demographic factor: place.

       Advocacy for race, ethnicity, and gender lenses appears prominently in the 2008 Ford Foundation publication Momentum. The authors reference GrantCraft’s resource Grantmaking with a Racial Equity Lens to assert:

While many grantmakers may not have portfolios that focus on race, ‘using a racial equity lens means paying disciplined attention to race and ethnicity while analyzing problems, looking for solutions, and defining success.’ A Race + Gender lens goes a step farther, combining this due diligence with the work of leading scholars on gender, who have developed the concept of simultaneity [italics added]. What this means is that black males, like other population groups, experience their lives as black and male at the same time [italics added]. As such, effective grantmaking must look at race and gender together.

        Ford’s definition of a race and gender lens builds upon the research of Frontline Solutions’ Dr. Micah Gilmer, an emerging scholar of race and gender. The definition also leans upon the analysis of Loren Harris, a leading philanthropic consultant on race and gender issues, to create a framework for understanding the lives of all marginalized males.

        However, men and boys of color live in communities that have assets and barriers in common. These communities also differ in a number of ways that tangibly impact the opportunities, identities, and experiences of males. Place matters. The philanthropic community needs to incorporate a lens that acknowledges place as an important element of any strategy to improve the life outcomes of marginalized males. 

         A means of understanding place are the stories and perspectives of men, young and old. Their firsthand accounts are not merely anecdotes but descriptions of opportunity, disenfranchisement, community expectations, notions of masculinity, complex relationships, local policies and programs, despair, and hope that provide vital information—data—to strengthen philanthropy’s capacity to invest strategically.

              MMFG is currently conducting a study that captures the stories and perspectives of young, middle-aged, and older men from a variety of races and ethnicities in communities throughout the American South. Writers will explore and document the men’s insights related to three demographic factors: identity, place, and community. The men’s firsthand accounts will provide vital data that can inform philanthropy’s capacity to invest strategically.

       A publication documenting this study should be released in November at the Southeastern Council on Foundations conference in Memphis, Tennessee.

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