Million Father March

Always the advocate of parents stepping up to the plate and actually raising their children, rather than passing them off to teachers and other people not in charge of rearing them full time, I was happy to come across this bulletin this morning and had to share it with everyone. Yay for the fathers who won't have the adjective "deadbeat" associated with them. Just remember, we need the number to continue to grow!

Below are excerpts from the press conference on August 30, 2006, ahead of the opening of Chicago Public Schools on September 5, 2006

For the second year, the funding for this national program is provided by a grant from the Schott Foundation on Public Education. Please see their work on high school graduation rates for Black male students in your packets.

For the first year of the Million Father March, we were in 25 cities, and we estimated about 35,000 to 40,000 men took their children to school across the country. Last year, the second year of the March, we were in 83 cities, including Auckland, New Zealand, and we estimated about 200,000 men took their children to school. This year to date, we are in 123 cities including London, England, and Tamale, Ghana, and we expect more than 350,000 men across the world, through this program, to take their children to school as we move towards the million father figure.

The honorary Chairmen for the March this year are Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, Jr., and Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan.

What if I told you that I knew of a proven way to get students to learn more, faster, and better? A way to help children get higher test scores, higher grade-point averages, better attendance, and a way to make them more likely to graduate from high school and to attend college? Many of you would say "What has Phillip been drinking before 12:00 noon? This sounds too good to be true."

And then if I went on to tell you that I know of a way to reduce discipline problems, suspensions and expulsion rates, to decrease dropout rates, to reduce violent behaviors in school and at home, to lessen the use of alcohol and illegal drugs by students, and to have fewer students engage in teen-age sex. You would want to know, wouldn't you?

Well I do have a solution. I do have an answer to these overwhelming problems in our schools and our society. It is simply getting men substantially involved in the educational and social developmental lives of their children.

And so today, we launch and celebrate the Million Father March 2006. Not men marching to Washington D.C., not men marching to our state capital, not men marching to city hall, but men marching to their neighborhood schools with children. And by doing so, these men will be marching into the hearts, minds, and spirits of their children and they will make an impact on these young people for the rest of their lives.

To this end, our volunteers and staff have gone door-to-door in the Dearborn and Ickes Public Housing Communities here in Chicago to remind fathers--and all parents -- to take their children to school on the first day, Tuesday, September 5, 2006. We have passed out flyers around the city at bus stops and train stops, at barber shops and beauty shops, and at grocery stores, night clubs, basketball courts, churches, and parks.

We have been on radio shows and television shows, and we have had great printed press on this event nationwide. In Chicago, there is only one thing left for fathers to do--show up at schools to support all of our children on this first fall day.

On Tuesday, September 5, 2005, we are hoping for 100% attendance at every Chicago Public School and we want an army of strong positive men at every school because it will:

* jumpstart the academic learning for most

* generate much needed revenues for the schools

* connect men to children in a way that will improve our children's lives and make the world in which we live a better place.

So on the first day of school, we want men and women of all races, Asian, White, Latino, Native American, as well as African American, to be at a school on the first day and to take a child to school on the first day. Our motto for the Million Father March in America and around the world is: Any Man, Any Child. Any School! The Million Father March won't end on September 5. After that, we are working on year-round programs to flood schools with strong, talented, giving men who want to make a difference in the lives of children as tutors, mentors, coaches and volunteers.

I especially want to thank the staff of The Black Star Project who manages the great programs of The Black Star Project such as the Toyota/Black Star Parent University, The Student Motivation Program, The Silas Purnell Destination College Program, and Men In Schools Program. They are Eleanor Perrone, Marques Williams, Briana Nichols, Catherine Jackson, Marcus Mundy, Abel Henry, Ivory Harris. And of course, I want to thank our fantastic Director of Operations who makes Black Star go, Kirsten Rokke.

Thank you for this time.

For more information about the Million Father March
or the programs of the Black Star Project, please call
312/842-3527, visit www.blackstarproject.org , or www.millionfathermarch.org

We all need to do our part in raising our future leaders. Moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, family friends: TAKE AN INTEREST IN YOUR LITTLE LOVED ONES!!!