Conference
The TRUTH About Black Men Being Present in their Children’s Lives
Daddy’s Here Campaign Film Screening at the National Black Child Development Institutes
45th Annual Conference
Tuesday, October 20
10:15am-11:45am
Crystal Gateway Marriott
1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202
Moderator
Dr. Karsonya Wise Whitehead, Assoc. Professor Loyola University Maryland, Communications and African and African American Studies and the award-winning author of Notes from a Colored Girl: The Civil War Pocket Diaries of Emilie Frances Davis; a K-12 master teacher in African American History; an award-winning curriculum writer and lesson plan developer; author of Letters to My Black Sons: Raising Boys in a Post-Racial? America; and, a three-time New York Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker.
Panelists
Vernon Wallace, Program Manager for the Center for Urban Families Baltimore Responsible Fatherhood Project (BRFB). A graduate of Morgan State University he is married and a father of a three year old daughter that has only increased his passion for assisting dads. He was appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley to the Commission for Child Custody for Decision making in the state of Maryland and continues to partner with Baltimore City Child Support and sat on the advisory board assisting with policy change.
Lisa Nkonoki: Life Coach and Family Advocate, and founder Dads Do Make A Difference. She is regarded as the first single mom to advocate and cheer on a positive program for dads and her testimony in front of a congressional committee in 1999 was a catalyst in the National Fatherhood movement. She is also one of the co-founders of Women in Fatherhood, Inc. (WIFI) made up of women involved in the Fatherhood field.
Dr. Constance Dallas, Assoc. Professor University of Illinois, Chicago, College of Nursing. Has over 30 years of research and clinical experience with African Americans living in poverty. With funding from NIH, she released a study that identified the important role the paternal grandmother has in supporting father involvement and identified factors that influence the level of father involvement for low-income, unmarried, African American adolescent fathers. Her current study focuses on low income African American fathers who have children by different biological mothers.
Ulysses “Butch” Slaughter, creator of The Faces of Our Fathers Film Festival. He has positioned himself as an influential global thought leader and catalyst of forgiving and reconciliation. At the age of 12, he heard his father shoot and kill his mother outside his bedroom door. For 30 years he was intent on revenging his mother’s death by killing his father. This journey through his pain and feelings of hatred turned into forgiveness for his father, which ultimately allowed him to be fully present in his own children’s lives. His lessons on forgiveness can be related to the thousands of men and women who are carrying the pain of father absence.
Thabiti Boone, is the White House Representative for President Obama’s Fatherhood Mentoring Initiative. A teen father who found himself packing up his daughter and taking her to college with him. She now is married with children of her own. Recipient of numerous awards, including the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity International Citizen of the Year Award, he continues to advise the White House and the NBA when it comes to fatherhood and the critical role fathers play in their children’s lives. For the past 7 years, he has organized and moderated the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Convention forum on Fatherhood.
Carde Cornish is 24 years old and has a one year old son. He is a photographer and is blessed to be able to work at the Druid Heights Community Organization and serve the people in the neighborhood where he was raised. He worked for the political campaign of Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Moseby and her husband, Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby. He is also working with an organization that feeds the hungry. His photography has taken him to locations around the country he never would have had an opportunity to visit and he is excited about working with like-minded people who are motivating and inspiring him to do even more.