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President Obama Wants to `Create a Buzz’ About Fatherhood (Barber Shop Summit)
Afro ^ | 6/14/12 | Zenitha Prince

Posted on 06/14/2012 4:44:37 AM PDT by YourAdHere

On Father’s Day eve, the Obama administration will launch a unique program it hopes will “create a buzz” about responsible fatherhood that will be a close as a local barbershop.

Fatherhood Buzz, an eight-city pilot program that is a part of the president’s Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative, and is designed to educate about responsible fatherhood and parenting and to help men find ways to become positive influences in their children’s lives.

“We want to create a conversation so we’re having a more critical discussion about fatherhood,” said Kenneth Braswell, director of the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Initiative.

And there’s no better hub for that conversation than the community barbershop—especially in Black neighborhoods, Braswell said. On June 16 the program will be launched in more than 100 barbershops in eight cities across the nation: Albany, N.Y.; Atlanta, Ga.; Chicago, Ill.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Milwaukee Wis.; New York, N.Y.;?Philadelphia, Pa.; and Washington, D.C.

“Most men are more comfortable getting advice, support or resources from the people they trust,” Braswell said. “[And,] the barbershop has the institutional history of speaking to the hearts of men and boys that come to them every two weeks.”

He added, “The long-term strategy is to empower grassroots businesses to be a resource to the same people they serve.”

Public discussions about responsible fatherhood have often focused on the “sensational”—baby daddy drama, dead-beat dads and child support, Braswell said. “But the more critical conversation is about family and about children having two parents in their lives.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 24 million (one in three) children live without their biological father. And children who live absent of their biological fathers are, on average, at least two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents.

In a positive trend, however, 86 percent of dads say they spend more time with their children than their fathers did with them, according to a national online survey by the Ad Council.

“Men are understanding more of the [importance of fatherhood]; it’s the resources that they are lacking that serves as the catalyst of their inability to provide for their children adequately in the way they desire,” Braswell said.

And finances tend to be the least available resource—particularly among low-income, often minority men. And those men will be the primary focus of the first stage of the initiative, which is focused on promoting economic stability. Every three the program’s focus or “buzz” will change.

“Black men are suffering under multiple stresses…They’re at the bottom of the pole when it comes to social ills,” Braswell said, addressing concerns that Obama’s “responsible fatherhood” efforts seem directed at Black men.

Black men are disproportionately incarcerated; they have a disproportionately high school dropout rate and they are inordinately jobless, he added. And, he hopes Fatherhood Buzz will help provide the resources these men need, particularly employment opportunities.

“We have to find support mechanisms to get them back into school or to get training for a better job,” he said.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: obama; stupidity
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Your tax dollars at work.
1 posted on 06/14/2012 4:44:46 AM PDT by YourAdHere
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To: YourAdHere
Yo... Marry yo Baby Mama

I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message
2 posted on 06/14/2012 4:50:46 AM PDT by silverleaf (Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell)
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To: YourAdHere

>>“Black men are suffering under multiple stresses…They’re at the bottom of the pole when it comes to social ills,” Braswell said, addressing concerns that Obama’s “responsible fatherhood” efforts seem directed at Black men.<<

These poor, innocent waifs - this situation just thrust upon them out of nowhere. Of course, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the choices they make in life, you see, they’re just born into hopeless situations. What crap.

>>Black men are disproportionately incarcerated;<<

So stop committing crimes.

>>they have a disproportionately high school dropout rate<<

So stay in school.

>>and they are inordinately jobless, he added.<<

So quit partying on the stoop all night. Start getting up at dawn. Bust your hump and EARN a paycheck.

It’s really not that difficult.

There, that was easy - where’s my grant money!?


3 posted on 06/14/2012 4:55:51 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow (Can't afford a ticket back from Suffragette City)
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To: YourAdHere

1. Sign up for food stamps.

2. Sign up for Welfare.

3. Now that you don’t have to work, come to “Obama for President” rallies.

4. When you’re not at “Obama for President” rallies, protest Capitalism by blocking traffic during rush hour.


4 posted on 06/14/2012 4:56:28 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: YourAdHere

It’s really sad that we have reached a point in this country where we have an entire class of men who have to be taught to be fathers because they had none of their own to emulate.

I guess that making men optional by letting the state become the provider through welfare isn’t such a good thing after all. A failed social experiment.


5 posted on 06/14/2012 5:04:27 AM PDT by KosmicKitty (WARNING: Hormonally crazed woman ahead!!)
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To: YourAdHere
You want fathers? Stop wellfare.
6 posted on 06/14/2012 5:07:36 AM PDT by ryan71
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To: YourAdHere

Bill Cosby tried this a few years ago and was slammed by ‘community groups’ and welfare queens. What makes Obama’s attempt a possible success is that he won’t make an honest attempt to change things.


7 posted on 06/14/2012 5:10:12 AM PDT by submarinerswife (Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, while expecting different results~Einstein)
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To: YourAdHere

You want fathers, stop killing jobs!


8 posted on 06/14/2012 5:10:12 AM PDT by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

So, advice from the Barber Shop now replaces advice from the Holy Book — which is, to marry, stay committed to your spouse, work hard, pay your taxes, and obey the law.

Waiting with baited breath to hear the Barber Shop solution to the Black Man’s ills ...


9 posted on 06/14/2012 5:10:12 AM PDT by LibsRJerks
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To: YourAdHere

Black men are disproportionately incarcerated; they have a disproportionately high school dropout rate

**
But we’ve GIVEN them schools. We’ve spent trillions on them. We’ve given them AMPLE opportunities to better themselves.

and they are inordinately jobless, he added. And, he hopes Fatherhood Buzz will help provide the resources these men need, particularly employment opportunities.

***

But we’ve GIVEN them employment opportunities, for YEARS. We’ve given them Affirmative Action. We’ve given them FOOD, CLOTHING, HEALTHCARE, CELL PHONES, HOMES and everything else.

Maybe it’s time to STOP giving them everything!

GUBMIT is like the world’s worst parent!


10 posted on 06/14/2012 5:15:24 AM PDT by LibsRJerks
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

The concept of the Father is the primary target of his ideology.

Destroy the father, destroy the family.
Destroy the family, destroy the society.
Destroy the society, destroy liberty.


11 posted on 06/14/2012 5:17:37 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: LibsRJerks

Give them what they need, and they’ll hold out their hands for what they want.

Let them feel a bit of a hungry belly, and they’ll strive to achieve.

Prov 16:26
A working man’s appetite acts on his behalf, because his hunger presses him on.


12 posted on 06/14/2012 5:19:37 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: MrB

True.


13 posted on 06/14/2012 5:19:52 AM PDT by YourAdHere (Spike Lee's films are boring and unoriginal.)
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To: LibsRJerks

Exactly!


14 posted on 06/14/2012 5:38:45 AM PDT by YourAdHere (Spike Lee's films are boring and unoriginal.)
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To: silverleaf
"Yo... Marry yo Baby Mama

But den dat will stop da gubmint' check from comin' where she stay at.

15 posted on 06/14/2012 5:49:08 AM PDT by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: YourAdHere
Fatherhood Buzz

A Buzz-Cut requires 'cutting'.....Barry doesn't know how to fiscally do that...

The flip side of 'cutting' is that Fathers have been cut out of family life for decades in many communities...liberals know how to do that...

16 posted on 06/14/2012 6:24:40 AM PDT by libertarian27 (Check my profile page for the FReeper Online Cookbook 2011)
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To: ItsOurTimeNow

“Where’s my grant money?”

Don’t you have to write a proposal first? Actually, you wrote the proposal AND the final report all in one. Well done.


17 posted on 06/14/2012 6:34:09 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: YourAdHere

These irresponsible bastards are all “obama’s sons”. They look just like the grandchildren of ann dunham and her sire who thought nothing of abandoning their children.


18 posted on 06/14/2012 6:35:59 AM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like it)
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To: All

“One of President Obama’s more bizarre quirks consists of referring to his “sons” when speaking in public. (Go here to see a partial list of Obama’s other outlandish comments.)”

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/06/obamas_fathers_day.html#ixzz1xmGtBkeI


19 posted on 06/14/2012 7:22:41 AM PDT by Hotlanta Mike (Resurrect the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)...before there is no America!)
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To: YourAdHere

I like the idea of encouraging good fatherhood. It’s the “lets have a conversation about this” that troubles me. Eric Holder wanted there to be a “conversation” about race in America, but not really.
If there is a “conversation” about fatherhood, whose part of the conversation is going to be left out or actively shouted down?


20 posted on 06/14/2012 7:27:12 AM PDT by married21 (As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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