The Political Movement of the 1960s through the College Graduating Class of 1964. Its followed by the twotime pulitzer prizewinning winners examination of the birth of flight in the right brothers. A look at the best non fiction selling books continues with president carters recounting of his life and career in a full life. Erik larson is next. Next on booktv from los angeles social welfare professor reports on the efforts of a group of men in the neighborhood to improve their personal lives and community. Welcome everybody. Im very honored to be at this wonderful bookstore and im thrilled that they are featuring the book here and im going to make some very brief remarks because i think the people that should share their stories are the fathers that are the focus of this book and i became part of this Extraordinary Group five years ago but actually predated my presence. This was an Informal Group that was organized by a group of men including Andre Christian who is going to be speaking a little leader on. Johnny daly several other men in the community thought that it would be a good idea to try to involve some of the fathers and the community in trying to promote peace and they used to meet and picnic tables behind the Community Center and they would have barbecues and they would cut hair and they would talk to the man about being fathers, how to be better part of the fathers in the person of their families. Now this group grew into a formal structure with funding from the Childrens Institute and it was the work of a brilliant black psychologist named doctor hershel showing her to be the for too long we have been talking about the problems between black and brown families and we needed to take a look at the strengths and the families of color and he believed the major strength was in their fathers that this was a source of strength for families and for the communities coming and finally aside from andre and Childrens Institute the Housing Authority and the of the city of los angeles got into the act and said we are redeveloping jordan downs and we want to get people in the Community Involved and so all of the voices came together in the perfect storm to create project fatherhood and all they needed was a social worker to help them with any issues with their children that arose. So i was called in as a social worker but i certainly dont feel i stayed a social worker. I feel like a sister or a mother whatever they need im ready and happy to fulfill that role. And just as believed there was tremendous strength in the community. The book talks about it and there are in credible stories. There is sadness, there is pain these men experienced death and one of their members having to go back to prison but there was also great joy and the birth of a baby that is here now baby boy james we might hear a hello from later on. There were graduations of children, there were achievements and there was a great joy. So i think what im going to do is introduce one of the fathers who is also going to sort of introduced himself and some of the Group Members and bigger each going to make a few remarks about what the group has done for them. We will take some well take some questions and then even have a little bit of singing near the end of the program. How much talent and how much thoughtfulness and what a great abilities this group demonstrates. Heres the last thing i want to say before i let you listen to the fathers voices as these are the most important voices for you to hear. They told me something i think ive always known but now the evidence is in. There is a lot of talk about what is needed and who can fulfill the need of want and theres a lot of talk about with marginalized communities need and people talk a lot without understanding a single thing. And i would say the biggest lesson for project fatherhood is what has one needs to know what his leadership and has people within its community whove grown up in its community who understand its community, they are the leaders we should be supporting. It doesnt mean outside experts. It needs people to lift up its leaders and its strengths and this is true of a lot of the marginalized communities they are marginalized by the people within them that the people from the outside. This has got to stop and we have got to look at these leaders. Some of them are the men here today. Some of them are in the community today. We have to look at them and strengthen them and provide them with resources and we have to lift them up because they will bring about the change the community needs. Without further ado, i am going to call a man we all know and its kas foreword one of the first fathers well be hearing from. So if you will give him the microphone here he will say a few words and introduce someone else thats talking. [applause] im allowed to be here to support you today and i have an associate and friend of mine that would like to come up. He is also a friend of mine and is here to support the lead today. And he is also an involved father so i do want to him to say a few words and then we will give the microphone back to kad. Good afternoon everyone. I am truly blessed to be here. To my good friend and newfound friend congratulations on your book i am so proud of this project. The book has inspired me to become. I have an 11yearold and he is the epiphany and star. Among the other ones i have to say that through all the works for project has come its brought a lot of money as a father and a 50yearold young man within 11yearold son i can see this project has been such an inspiration and has a lot of intellect to give some opportunity that i didnt have thats coming up. There was the racial bias in all of it. So to make sure its going to be one of the greatest books that we will have a chance to read and i suggest everyone gets this book. Again i just want to thank my good friend for housing me over here. Thank you. God bless you. [applause] wafer that with that record of the money with project fatherhood what its done for me is allowed me to become a better person not just a better father but he better person. And as a role model and a leader in the community, what i do is to help the residents of jordan basically to speak for those that do not speak for themselves, so my job is to make sure that the police do what they are supposed to do and not just what they want to do and to make sure they have a fair estate that is what the project fatherhood has done for me. And without further ado i will give the microphone back to her. [applause] and thats something i want to share. Initially for project fatherhood was about the fathers and their children but what is quite striking is the fathers felt strongly about building their relationships with their children but they also felt responsible for the children in the community. There were many whose fathers were not around. They are the victims of the new jim crow. Many of them are incarcerated. Many of them are incarcerated for long periods of time for the mandatory minimums that were placed that had unfairly targeted and effective communities of color. And Michelle Alexander is a great deal more eloquent about this than i am about the new jim crow. But one of the side effects are the children that are fatherless and what happened in this group is that the men like ronald and some of the others he will be meeting today, they stepped up and im going to call you back up and maybe you can briefly just explain for a moment the youth impact sessions. What we would we do if the session is once a month, we have all of the youngsters that we can gather within the community so we get all the males, we have been come in and listen to them so basically we like to find out what is going on in their life at household and educational standards and how they are being treated. So we like to listen to what their future entails so what it is they would like to do and see come to the project. So, we listen to them and those that are like bad actors so to speak so we put them in a little situation where everybody gets a turn to do two to 11 for the bad things that they have done. So, we make them feel real bad while giving them good support at the same time. So that individual doesnt mess up anymore. So basically, we stay on them all the while. I dont just want to be a father to your kid or my kid, that everybodys good. We bring them in, we listen to them and have a good time and we take them on the trips and stuff like that. But thats what we do in project fatherhood for the youth once every month and i will give them a microphone back. Lets take a moment. Who has questions . Like im under strict orders. Forgive me. [laughter] how are you targeted . As the person that would come in and work with the men in the community . That is a great question or like i like to say what is a skinny middleaged woman doing in the community . And it is an honest question. I say this with all humility i belonged with not just the individual sends, i grew up in the westmont area in first of all my grandparents immigrated from greece. They settled in South Los Angeles. My grandparents are all buried at the inglewood cemetery. Every child was born at that hospital and until the hospital and until adolescence i grew up in the westmont area, and even to this day my daughter who is here, shes sitting in the front row right here she has been taken on the tour comes a part of it is quite literally was born here and i do remember the book opens with the theme where im 9yearsold and we are watching the riots on the blackandwhite tv and my uncle who is a history teacher at this time was explaining to me that these were not riots but they were out economic dislocation and it wasnt about Police Brutality even though there was plenty of that. It was about racism and the Police Brutality but a symptom of that racism. Now, that is not the end of my story when i was working on my masters in social welfare at ucla, ucla in all their wisdom put me at a place called burbank Family Clinic in the valley where i was the darkest person there. I was very rebellious and said no and they only had black students in watts and white students in burbank and i said you are being racist. So i got in trouble at ucla and there is the tragedy of wanting something and getting it. They decided they would give me what i wanted and they said okay we are going to put you for a year at the Martin Luther king General Hospital and i think they thought they were punishing me and they thought they were going to shut me up. What happened is labeled as a very young student to Martin Luther king General Hospital in 1978 no 1980 and it changed my life. I lived in the community, i rented a house from a black family, not a house but a room i was a border in the house with a black family because i believed in living in the community that you served. My family went a little crazy when this happened as you might imagine. And i fell in love with its strength and family and the people who were there and later in my career i became engaged in the study the problem and i wanted to study it in the community. That way that i believe you dont show up in the community and say hello im here to study and im at a series of former gang members and one of them is a man that wasnt here today but that most people in the room knows big mike and he was one of my guides into the community. And they started to do communitybased research and i got to know them and i think i see this say this in the book and i will say it out loud. It was like falling back in love with an old boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever the case may be. And he was the place that matter to me in a profound way. So that is the sort of twisted path by which he asked me to be the social worker. I will be very candid with you. Cii has project fatherhood groups all over southern california. The jordan downs group is unique in several ways and one of the ways it is unique is that its the only group with a female coleader. In fact here he comes elementary but thats how. Ordinarily, it wouldnt happen. So its and i do say this with a deep humility. And its my deep privilege to be to belonged to them in this community. This is the man whose face adorns the cover of the book along with his son because it was important we didnt just want a standard cover, we wanted someone from our group and there were many photographs taken at many and i would have probably had all of them on the cover in the book but my publisher made a decision about who they put on the cover and so congratulations mr. America you are on the cover. We have been talking a little bit about project fatherhood. I will take one more question then i will call you up here because really elementary friedman is integral to the book and the story and hes been a teacher to me but i want him to catch his breath first and i want to ask who else has a question. Quick question about the funding aspect. It sounds like the group was organic and was already in progress and then the funding was introduced. What was the funding for and what extent did it change the group . The money alternately came from the Childrens Institute and they have a federal grant, and they had a fouryear federal grant to fund all the different project fatherhood throughout southern california. So the money came from the federal government coming in than going to go on the record right now not just for lots but all of the project fatherhood programs it isnt nearly enough money. It is enough to pay a stipend to the leaders. Its enough so that we can provide gift cards to defaulters for activities with their children, but it is run on a shoestring. There is not enough money in the programs into these are not words. I live by this. I cannot believe that hes arrived and i didnt think that he would be there. So the minimal amount of money has come from the federal government. However, no pun intended i am putting my money where my mouth is because all proceeds from the sale of the book will go to project fatherhood and by the way, the grant runs out in october and if there is no assurance that this grant will be renewed so we are in a kind of crunch time more than anything. Any other questions before i introduce a couple folks that are critical that they take the microphone. Any other questions . What was the percentage of the fatherless children in prison or whatnot when the project first started and where does it today. How many children in downs have fathers with an . Ive been working with a couple of colleagues at ucla that have gone through both jordan downs, the development as well as the Imperial Court which are the two other developments and then its not just the Housing Development in the surrounding Community Coming into their estimates come and this is their research theyve done this over the past two years and from 2013 of the 2015, two thirds of the children have fathers that are either in jail in present or are absent because of drug addiction circuit is two thirds. It is jail and prison because nowadays we have this movement where we are relocating a lot of folks from prison back to the crowd and brutal county jail so i think its important to say that see that this is prison this is jail, then the other which is drug addiction through and by the way black and brown have the issue of absentee fathers. So what is the third . I used to work just across the street for three years, testified twice a day. I heard that its going to be torn down. Is that a rumor or is that a fact . That is a combination of the rumor and a fact. It is a fact jordan downs, by the way, a really important question. Jordan downs is slated to be redeveloped. That is at it is scheduled parts of it will be torn down and people will be relocated so it wont just be completely demolished. They are already relocating in the toxic soil. They determined that there is toxic soil from the factories that used to exist and you know what that looks like. Now here is the point that we have to push pause. Will there be money to be developed . There is lovely plans and blueprints. Big mike is going to talk a little bit later about job opportunities. But the big question we have to ask is there in fact granted the federal funding to rebuild jordan downs . This is a big question because its going to take a lot of money and on the other hand it desperately needs to be rebuilt. If its okay im going to introduce to people that have recently arrived, and i am going to first introduce the man who brought me onto the scene and spend some time with willie elementary friedman so if i may turn the microphone by the way they want everybody on the microphone because this is being felt otherwise i wouldnt be using them. So the man who is one of the reasons we are here together and i am so grateful, elder michael cummings. That afternoon, everybody. First, honor to god because if it wasnt for him the only way that i would be thank god for project fatherhood. When this started, they started as a sum young men coming man coming together behind the Jordan High School gym which was elementary myself, scorpio and Johnny Bailey and we used to come together every second saturday and put money together to the barbecue. People who come together to eat and at the time they came together to eat there was a time to get the message across about being a father and about peace in the community about trying to get some jobs. He filed this grant from the Childrens Institute which was a 50,000dollar grant that if the Pilot Program and a lot of people said it wouldnt work, not in the Housing Project so we applied for the grant and we got the grant and it was like five years later. The only standing room now so the Pilot Program went on so well and they came out where they extended the program the next three years of 100000 a year and then it went on from there to another year and thats where we are now when you talk about jobs and also the development of the jordan Housing Project its actually a 750 milliondollar deal. 750 milliondollar deal so they were like and we get some of those jobs . So with project fatherhood did is went to the Educational Center in the Construction Program so we went and got them certified in the appraisals to the apprenticeships to do construction and the young man said that meet with the developers are they met with the developer and basics down with them and put them we want 30 of these shops, for 10 hard as to how your content isnt for those that actually lived there in 10 of the cliff on the outskirts. Right now we have those jobs and writing a 30 for the filers. Also Jordan High School was doing the redevelopment with a 75 milliondollar deal with one of the Biggest Construction Companies in the country. They came down and sat with us and told them we would hire them as long as they were certified so we got everybody certified and they gave us a paid internship position that they told everything about construction and then we have maybe seven working with them that left when they were finishing a Jordan High School so i think a father can be much moving a mountain as long as they stick together. If you are a father you have a different interest in the community. So you know, thats when you talk about jobs, thats what weve done so far with jobs. I also want to point out that big mike is as an example of project fatherhood. Today he is joined by his wife and daughter who are in the back row sort of hiding behind calling them out. They hope run a childrens group and maybe you could say a few words about the other groups that we have going at the same time. That group goes on at the same time and then we have a childrens group that my wife and my daughter run in the back and they do different activities into different things. I couldnt tell you exactly what they do. They do a lot of arts and crafts and teach them how to fill out checkbooks and how to write letters and resumes, things like that. We also get ready to take them on a trip right there. You said we are taking them where . We usually have a big beach trip where weve been to waterworld off their perch rips into things like that. Ask all the questions you want. This is important. Can you give us an example of limits your biggest Success Stories of those that have participated in your program . One of the biggest Success Stories that i can think of offhand is the father that has been there since the program started and he has to gross. To girls. He had a son before that. He was paying Child Support but they still wouldnt let him see him. So if he had right along with the social worker because thats what i call him they actually work through the channels to get visitation rights. Thats one of the Success Stories. He had two daughters in high school. They got into a fistfight at a school with each other and he was so mad he didnt know what to do. He wanted to beat him up but they all sat around here with us today, china and then, they were able to settle the situation, they graduated from high school and they are both working. Some of the major games had to do with education and is a gold to keep them in school to see that they graduated to give them the help they need to go to college and that high school is not the ending and i think that has been a major goal for us and continues to be important with the children in the community. Now im going to turn it over to another father as i not jokingly but truthfully said that on the cover with one of his children and i want to Say Something before return of microphone over to this gentleman that working and being a provider is a critical for all these fathers. They take great pride wanting to raise their children as they taught me in on the county that on their own earnings. When you talk about an achievement of project fatherhood, these men have gone to the Maxine Waters training Educational Center project fatherhood has gotten additional funding to help them with their union dues from a different jobs, and thats not to say that there are enough jobs out there. We have men that want to work but during the five years of this group the Unemployment Rate has bounced around 50 to 55 . Its not that they dont want to work its that the jobs are out there. Im not so interested in Parenting Classes as i am in the Industrial Base of South Los Angeles. We need Parenting Classes but what we need more is industry. And i would love if someone would come locate a factory there so people could actually have paying jobs. Im going to introduce the next of the fathers so that we can talk. Much more than being on the cover, he is someone that i admire your and value so much and its been such an important part of this group ellie freeman. Why dont you Say Something about your involvement and also what guides you as part of this group. They gave me that nickname. It was like an outlet like some of us like minds got together that we go in there and talk and have a conversation. Theres too much of that going on. They are filling up the graveyard and penitentiary at an alarming rate. So we get up there and we have to comment down. Three days a week or so ago a younger girl hung herself 13. We got a little thing and its something you want to express and talk about when hes headed its like the room went quiet. The next question is how can we prevent that from happening again. What can we do . Everybody has ideas that we can do. We need to start getting out and look at how they are figuring other body language and go give him a hug or whatever. But a lot of them dont get told i love you. We try to do things to help the community. But its a beautiful thing. [inaudible] we do this once a month get them altogether indefensible than our stories. Dont be like me be better than me. Mainly we advocate education. Thats why a lot of them are still in shambles that the lack of education saying no money, no knowledge, your mother and father of a violence because if i cant feed my baby, i mad. Everybody is a victim. They come home and listen and they respect us. We ask why they are doing and they love us, they dont want to get in trouble. Who has questions for these remarkable men . Who has a question . This is a question about how your group is divided so it started with the men and then the family came in. One is that my request or because they saw a the need or are you just continually growing to fulfill the needs . Spin again my understanding we had to have something for them to do. We had one sister who didnt even have the energy. Those two right there they have a beautiful wife and beautiful family. They got good projects. If studios had to get that first they asked my wife and daughter to come and especially my daughter because i wanted her to actually deal with the kids and to be able to teach and to be able to understand and some of the things because she is a student, i take that back commission is not a student, shes an a student. She has been getting them for the last three years. So in other words, what i wanted to do is to get her to have a chance to come in and help teach the other kids to make sure they get there the same day she can and also working up Jordan High School as a mentor at the peace mediation and conflict resolution through the years when she was younger in the fifth grade or sixth grade i used to take him to Jordan High School and i would tell the kids that whoever can answer the question or if she can beat them i will give them gift cards and stuff. Then the womens group is a Significant Group thats where and they want to make sure when you talk about collaboration we have to collaborate. Thats just like if he was talking to just get we have to make sure you talk to the mother they want to impact everybody thats in the house so that other project fatherhood is set up because we dont want to pull into the sun and the mother want to make sure everybody is on the same page. So weve got everybody in there and we do what we can to make sure everybody can be educated and everybody can get a good job and the main thing is we have these young men with tools and hardhats in what we were trying to do is to prepare a platform so we put some meat and corn and give you a bottle of water, then you can sit down and eat. We want to make sure we can give them all the tools to make it. But things need to change to allow them to be more successful in their education . The importance they need to be stressed a lot more than it is. It needs to be stressed very strong. The environment has a lot to do with it. But i believe in my mind if you grow up around doctors and lawyers and engineers in the community that is basically what will be. But if you have hustlers and drug sellers thats what it will be. What fascinated me i want to be like him. Youve got to be more mindful that how you do this with another child may do. So influence. This is somebody im going to introduce later. He and his friend brothers have been key members of the group. Hello everybody. I think that one of the surprising accomplishments that we have with the relationship that we have with the schools we have several schools in the neighborhood and we are able to go to the schools and interact with the kids and go to the classrooms and to sit down with them and find out what they are doing and interact with the teachers we have a couple coaches come and we interact with them at the schools. I have a son who was mvp of the football hes not in college at the moment because he made a mistake llege at the moment because he made a mistake which isnt a mistake that he had to babysit you dont take care of his baby. That was one of the key evidences of our relationship with the kids is going to the schools and interacting with amanda just being a part of their lives as well as in school and fatherhood. When we talk about school and making education better ive been on the School Campus since about the year 2,000. I graduated in 1981. One thing i see from 81 until now when we talk about all kids going to college when i was at college but had us shop we had a body shop, we had arts and crafts and we dont have that anymore. A lot of kids feel high school isnt for them because they are not good to college. We had some kids on campus that can tear it down and put it back together again. We have some kids that can take a watch and take it apart and put it back together again. I think that that Unified School District will need to bring back this type of thing because all kids are not going to college. We need to prepare them for that it should be for the kid that wants body and paint. I watch a lot of things we restored. How can we prepare kids for this business . When they do come out of high school theres no way to compare them for that but its something in his heart, so we have to make sure that we deal with the kids and what they really want to do before they go sideways. By the way, hes describing also we are seeing the consequences decades later of proposition 13 and i do want to point out there is a movement to rescind part of that, apart from the personal property from texas but on the commercial businesses property tax. We could talk for eons about whats happening. Im not going to go there. But my interest is when you talk about all these people with this talent, and i have seen them all over the country, what about mentoring programs . Do you have an inplace Mentor Program with some of the industries because we know so many of the jobs have been exported to other countries because of cheap labor, but what about places here in the United States are doing a lot of the restoration to the cars that are in a state as for example, i used one of those shows. They are in las vegas. Does anyone watch the show that made an attempt to contact them to see. If they want to work with the young people i dont think that we are being aggressive enough or assertive enough in a positive way to get out into the Industry Committee make the contact with the people who have the resources because they are resource rich and start making the connections so that they can be mentors to the younger people. I think that is exceedingly important. By the way, i agree that as you look at these fathers heres the other thing. Every one of these fathers is also working and i think that either of them would love to be supported financially. Big mike is running a tote truck company. They had to take off today just to come talk to us for a couple of hours. In regards to that question that you asked through project fatherhood, weve developed a group and i have a proposal to the same thing that you are speaking about the proposal that i am right now searching for sponsors and or finances to help bring the projects such as that the community. Like i said i have a proposal and people and reaching out to at this present time to bring the precise thing to the community where you can help to build the whole object to learn how to build the car is like providing. I have people that are willing to donate automobiles right now and people that know how to work on 18 wheelers auto mechanics that are willing to help the young men to learn to build cars and maintain antiworking to establish right now is a we are trying to provide jobs in the program that i am working on right now and we hope you to build the car and everybody in the group that hopes to person would get to keep it. That program that you speak of right now is something that from that project is pushing right now to do for the youth of the community. I think that we also have to look at others because South Los Angeles is an interesting place. Everybody acts like every part is identical. It is wrong and its one of the biggest pieces that exist in los angeles county. You go to parts of los angeles and there is a rich tradition of nonprofits theres resources, but recently they published a study about how it is a nonprofit desert and thats important because you cant replace like where we are right now and theres all kind of communitybased organizations here. Youve got grassroots organizations and they barely survived. Its a nonprofit desert. South los angeles isnt one big community. It is multiple communities each with a culture and organizational structure of its own, and weve got to understand that. We have to. The people that have those organizations, what they want to do is come out and do a presentation. Maybe take the kids on the tour to the shop and then thats pretty much it. If we really want to be successful with these kids we need someone to come up with a Pilot Program for five years because let me tell you something about these programs that have been coming around since ive been there running programs come if you have a program that is 12 months, 14 months, 18 months, maybe 24 months, its going to fail. Project fatherhood is successful because we are in our 25th year just seeing the fruits from fatherhood. It took us five years to get there. If we cant get a program to command. In the elementary basic defending after 14 months. After 12 months we have a Reentry Program that was for the deputy chief who was a deputy chief for the lapd and this programming motion and it was working. But he had a massive heart attack and he died. Six months later the program was going away. You have people out of prison and able to get transportation to the parole office, get transportation to doctor to the outpatient and even the Job Interview and even to fill out a job application. This program right here was working but guess what, it went away serious or not they had us on the front line. We were grassroots. So we were as close to the street curb as it is dealing with community so they are looking at us now. If nobody can commit to the fiveyear program it kind of like putting a piece of cheese in front of the rack. Once they get that they arent going to put more out there. Once we started this many of the fathers stated are you going to stay, are you going to be here or is it going to be 12 months and out . It was also personality driven you know . Kathy kushner here has the Homeboy Industries tshirt on here. Project to being at prior to being at project fatherhood i was at Homeboy Industries. There should be one on every corner. It shouldnt just be father greg and the one it was wonderful. There should be a Homeboy Industries everywhere, not one. So, and we need to demand it. And by the way, i want to also add in these men have learned to be at hearings, theyve made presentation at town halls. Theyre not just there in the community, theyre also speaking for the community. Now, i want to take a minute and introduce two people. One has said hes not going to speak because he has [inaudible] okay, good. See, i always know we can get him warmed up. Okay, so im going to introduce two people. They are twins even though they dont look alike. Theyre flanking big mike here. [inaudible] and youre identical. And let me tell you [inaudible] yeah. Theyd be the [laughter] no no. Now, im not going to give everything away. Youve got to read the book. But let me tell you, i used to go home from project fatherhood, and i would wake up at three in the morning and go, what am i going to do with the twins . They dont listen to anything. They dont like me. Whats going to happen . [laughter] so im going to let them speak for themselves. What i have im greek so im not going gray too fast, but what few gray hairs i have these two lovely gentlemen gave to me a couple of times let me tell you okay . And you can read the book and see how. Because just like ellie said this was not all kumbaya. We didnt all go, i love you so much. Let me tell ya, they gave as good as they got. And they still do. And we have some heated discussions. But i love them. I love them. And i have both of them on my speed dial. So mr. Ronald i appreciate you too ms. Leap. I got a stutter because i had a stroke five years february. My brother had just got out so it was a tia stroke, so i kind of come up out of it. But it left me kind of speechless and kind of i be forgetting, you know . I can leave out the building and forget i was in here. But this is baby boy. I had him since he was three days old and i got him right after i had the stroke. So you see its a miracle for me, you know . And his birthday i had a stroke and then i had got shot twice in the same leg, an m1 and a. 45. You know, what fatherhood done for me, they welcomed me and my son. And its been a blessing since. And his birthday, thats the reason why you got these envelopes in the street. His birthday is next month on the 11th, hell be 4 years old to. And if anybody can pitch in anything in the envelope were going to have him walk around wit, you know . And thank you all. Whatever you can co, a dollar, its okay with me. You know so thats why the envelopes are in there. I appreciate everybody coming out. I appreciate all yall from the bottom of my heart. Im going to give this to my brother and let him blow your mind. Hes going to blow your minds, but i want to say just a couple things about ronald james before donald james speaks. Yesterday in jordan downs we had our annual fathers day luncheon where all the men gather and have lunch, and they give awards to each other like most disruptive in the group best singer, all kinds of awards that are, you know, most likely to be late, you know . Theyre great. More serious vein, they give the father of the year award. And yesterday ronald won the father of the year award. So its really an honor. [applause] and by the way, when you say it takes a village, ill tell you right now baby boy whose real name is [inaudible] shahon aquille james, but we do call him baby boy hes been raised by the group. Hes been there since being in a baby buggy. And ronald is one of the residents of jordan downs who is a leader right there in the community. Now, he talked about his brother getting out. But i want to caution you, this was not just getting out of a brief stay or briefly being incarcerated. Donald, id like you to share a little bit of your story. And also donald is going to sing a song to you. So donald. There you go, youre on. Yes. My name is donald james. I have a stage name, its called donald twin james. I went to prison a few couple decades ago. Actually, i did 32 years in prison. I didnt go, i didnt go to the county jail, i didnt go out and go to prison for a year or two and get out i went to prison for taking someones life regrettably and done 32 years. While in prison i was able to associate with some people from overseas, some producers and directors. They put on an International Talent show. And the play was by the late samuel beckett. And i was chosen to perform valid myrrh from that play vladimir from that play. That play ended up being featured in 36 countries. Even today, next month theyre coming back to finish a documentary on my life pertaining to that play. When i got out i had the joy of getting custody of my nephew who is my son today. Like i i just a got through speaking about him a little earlier. It was a joy. But in the process, i was having problems because i had never raised no child or anything like that, going to prison when i was real young. I did all that time, i got out i didnt know anything about kids, but i had my nephew to come to me at my brothers wedding and asked me to take custody of him because the circumstances that he was involved in at the time, he didnt want to be there. So i ended up getting custody of him. But i also ended up having some real problems with him or being a father to him. And so thats how i became involved with project fatherhood. Project fatherhood kind of walked me through those difficult steps when i needed to be guided through and then helped me out a lot. Right now were the best of friends. I have a grandson whos a beautiful little boy and its all a blessing. You know . And like i say, i went to prison. I did something wrong. I took someones life. It wasnt a joy doing that. I learned my lesson. I grew up. I went in a boy, i came out a man. I went in with no understanding, i came out with the best of understanding. I went in hating everything and came out loving everything. One of the things that i two of the things that i did that really brought me back to society when i got out was that i went into an infirmary baby infirmary. I talked to the nurses and everything. That was one of the things that i wanted to do, because when i stepped into this infirmary what i saw is what i see right now. A group of people getting along talking, enjoying the atmosphere. But this was babies, babies of all different races. And when i stepped in there all i could hear was wah wah [laughter] but it was one voice. It was one voice. And it was a complete different place from where i had just left. Because when i was in prison it wasnt one voice it wasnt even one nothing. Everybody was against each other. A lot of hatred and all of that. So when i went into this infirmary and came out i was just healed. The other place that i went to was a supermarket. I went to food4less. And i walked up and down every aisle looking at everything, checking out everything, grabbing grapes and oranges and all type of stuff, bitingen em you know . It was biting on em. It was just a joy to be around different things, you know . And it made my life complete. It made me forget about prison, you know . I know what i been through i know what i done, i know what i left, and it was just a joy to be home. In that, in doing that time, i ended up in a couple of bands, groups and stuff. I also did a little singing and a little acting and stuff like when i was on the streets. I had went and did a movie with the Actress Jessica Lange the movie king kong. I was an african dancer [inaudible] [laughter] yeah, my brother. My brother the uniform that they gave us [laughter] the uniform that they gave us, i really, i wasnt feeling it, i didnt like it. And so i told my brother, i got to him, i say man, you want to make 100 a day . He say, yeah. I said you got to go down here to hollywood, you know what im saying . Be an african, you can take my spot. So he went down. He didnt like it either, but he went on and finished it up, you know . Because like i say they had these uniforms [laughter] it was a mess. Like the women say, a hot mess . Thats what that was, a hot mess. [laughter] [inaudible] [laughter] but the song that i want to sing is a song from a poem that was written, and i took that poem, and i changed it to a song. And the song is called cage. And it goes like this i was locked up by a force thats known but not shared by all. Surrounded by thoughts and feelings that rise and fall. By [inaudible] emotions so sharp to the touch, the bounds of my desires would surely, sure by cut. I read and acknowledge the true meaning of love until my awareness [inaudible] trapped in a cage. Cage ooh girl, im caged. Cage, hey girl, im caged. Now im like animal whos lost his mating and [inaudible] because i dont know my fate. So my heartbeats in a regular pace the pressures like a teapot like the fire from a stove and it just wont stop. Now the voice of love is known, it seems, by everyone but me. Since discovering the truth, baby i still cant set my love free. So i know that you are the key. Cage, cage, cage, ooh girl im caged. Now im free, and im loving it. Thank you very much, everybody. [applause] [inaudible] [laughter] were going to, im going to see whos got more questions. Oh questions. Yes questions. Oh. We have im going to out Karen Grigsby bates who did a beautiful report on project fatherhood and who sat through a couple of Group Meetings and survived. [laughter] okay. I did i enjoyed it. Can you all talk about what youre doing with Nickerson Gardens . Because youre replicating what youve done in jordan downs. And i dont know if its different, i dont know if they came to you, if you said, hey let us help you out. If youre designing a different kind of program. So talk to us a little bit about that. Yeah. Im going to turn it over to big mike, because he and i have gone over to Nickerson Gardens. Heres my cautionary note, and big mikes going to elaborate. Dr. Herschel swinger told us when you take project fatherhood, you have to form it for the you have to tweak it, turn it, shape it for the community. And even though Nickerson Gardens is less than a mile away, its a whole different community. So im going to have big mike sort of tell the story behind the story. Were just at a very very beginning level there and its, its quite challenging. Yes. Project fatherhood started over in the Nickerson Gardens from two young men by the name of donny and hank which is actually the guys thats over in the nickersons. They peacemakers mentor advocators, and they wanted to replicate what we was doing in the jordan downs. Actually, i think this is going on the second month. Actually, this is the second month, and, you know, dr. Leap is the social worker over there. Its not a funded program. Its actually these young men wanted to get together and started. Im there, i dont get paid, im just there to kind of show them how to facilitate. And once they learn how to facilitate and everything theyll be taking over the group, you know, over there in the Nickerson Gardens. They have about 25 maybe 30 guys there already to actually go out in the community the next time we meet. We meet every friday from 56 30, and these young men this friday went past they wanted to go out in the community and get more fathers. And then, actually they start some peacekeeping events. They wanted to get out and Start Playing softball to bring other people into their community. But the first game they wanted was to play softball against our councilman. [laughter] and then the next one they wanted to play was our assemblyman, mike gibson, and then they wanted to play the senator. Just to show them that we need your help, and this is what were going to be doing in the community. So i think thats going to be a great group. Its going to be just like the jordan downs group. Its going to be a historical group. If they can get any funding for it. But even if they dont get no funding for it, i think theyre going to continue this group as theyre doing right now, because im going to tell you youve got young men, old men middleaged men. Everybody is coming in to see whats going on. You know how it is. Some of them leave some of them stay. But they have about 25 or 30 strong that comes every week now, and this is going into the second month, which i think will be real great. Yeah. And thats a real difference from what we found in jordan downs. Because jordan downs when it started, not a lot of the men came out. And i was very frightened as to whether or not this was sort of going to gain momentum, whereas the Nickerson Gardens they really have started with a very strong group. We built up. Wouldnt you say mike . We [inaudible] you know people on the ground, you got the twins here when we first started. They know a lot of people. They actually was born and raised in there. I was raised on the outskirts. But, you know, i just think the success from jordan downs fatherhood has done spilled over there. So now you dont really have to do too much to start it up. All you have to do now is just to keep it going. But if you really want to see success in our fathers, in the community where we come from, we need a Pilot Program. And im talking five years at 5 million a year. And i bet you after the end of the fifth year, fatherhood will be where they wont need no help from nobody from here on out. Because it is a plan. Its a plan thats been talked about. And the way these fathers have different ideas to do things, but we need a chance. We need some finances. You know, we dont even have our own building, you know . We need our own building, you know, and things like that to make sure if you really want to see success we immediate 5 million a year we need 5 million a year for a fiveyear Pilot Program, and i guarantee you fatherhood, South Central will be a selfish thing. Other questions. [laughter] just quick, how many fathers are in the group at jordan downs . How many fathers in the group at jordan. Take it, mike. On the roster, i think we have like, 75. Thats on the roster. But every week we have anywhere from 30 to 32 thats there every week. Most of them got jobs. Yeah. A lot of em actually now do have jobs. A lot of em come in close to the end, you know, with their work boots their lunch pails and stuff, you know . So im hoping that the ones that get jobs can still come in. But then im hoping that we get new ones in too so we can get them a job and get them out and get them going. [inaudible] one more question. Someone must have one more question. [inaudible conversations] oh, one more room for we have time for one more question. Okay. [inaudible conversations] good okay. Lindy. [laughter] give us another question. Were ready to talk. I just have to formulate properly. Okay. And while youre formulating i am also going to say i think the question about Nickerson Gardens is very, very important. Because just like i said about homeboy a few moments ago, you know . I need to call the attention to the fact that the Mayors Office has developed 23 what they call grid zones Gang Reduction Youth Development zones, 23 of them. In those 23gryd zones theres no funding for fatherhood. None. And i think that there needs to be funding. And im not saying the Mayors Office needs to provide the funding, but if we want safety to continue, if we want violence to be prevented, this is what we have to invest in. Yes, we invest heavily in law enforcement, but we need to invest just as heavily in peace enforcement, for lack of a better way to put it, and these fathers are part of it. That was really part of my question. I feel as though the 25 million that youre talking about five million for five year, is a drop in the bucket to what you would be spending on incarcerating right. Uhhuh. And i just wonder if the powers that be that could help fund this are aware of that and help stimulate the money to flow in. Haha. Its yeah, go ahead mike. Thank you. They spend i think its 6600 im thinking 6600 a year for a no, hang another zero, just round up to 70,000 per inmate. 70,000 a year, and i think its 9,000 a year to go to school or Something Like that . Yeah. If you think about lets be very honest. If you decide to put somebody through harvard and were not advocating harvard no. No. Ucla. Ucla, thats right. Mikes been schooled. Weve got our own gang banging going on. So yeah, ucla. [laughter] im just if i think we can save a lot of lives save a lot of incarceration. Just like elementary was saying, ride on our mistakes, you know . A lot of us done been shot, a lot of us done been to prison, gang activity, dope dealers, dope users. Ride on our mistakes, you know . That way you dont have to go through that. Its a shortcut. Let me sit you down, let me tell you happen. This is whats going to happen. Dont go, you know . Im thinking if we could get that type of funding i believe that well be all right. You know . You have every father thats in the home working and, you know, fathers day fatherhood is designed for the fathers to spend more time with the kids. Not the mother but for the fathers to spend more time with them. Excuse me. Before we end this i just would like to say to everybody, thank you for coming and really here fatherhood is here to support dr. Jorja leap for all the fathers that are here, we just want to express our love to you and she is truly a part of our family and she when i say shes our sister, mother and best friend, this is her. So on behalf of jordan downs project fatherhood, i would just like to say this is our friend mother and sister. And we would we love her to death, and we would not let anything happen to her, and that is what i have to say for our jordan downs project fatherhood. [inaudible] oh, yeah. And eso1 we thank you for having us here, and yall come down and get yall some books and especially this one right here. [laughter] [applause] and thus ends the formal part of our program but you should each take some time, talk to some of these fathers oneonone. Theres such accumulated wisdom in this room, i cant begin to say. So thank you all. Okay. [applause]
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