Fatherhood Conference, Child Welfare, Responsible father hood, Washington, DC.

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12TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL FATHERHOOD CONFERENCE GUEST SPEAKERS & PANELISTS

PRE-CONFERENCE POLICY FORUM INFORMATION

DOWNLOADABLE FULL CONFERENCE AGENDA

NEWEST CONFIRMED SPEAKER:

JUDGE MABLEAN EPHRIAM OF

TV'S HIT SERIES, DIVORCE COURT

Dr. Jeffery M. Johnson,

President & CEO

National Partnership for

Community Leadership (NPCL)

Jeffery M. Johnson is President & CEO of the National Partnership for Community Leadership (NPCL). As a national non-profit intermediary organization, the mission of NPCL is to strengthen the service capacity of nonprofit and community-based agencies to empower youth and families. Prior to his work at NPCL, Dr. Johnson played an integral role in the planning and implementation of two of the nation's largest social welfare research projects involving low-income men. They are the Partners for Fragile Families Site Demonstration, and the Father's at Work Demonstration. These projects haveserved more than 6,000 men.

Since 1997, Dr. Johnson and NPCL have also convened the Annual International Fatherhood Conference that attracts cumulatively thousands of community-based and family-practitioners from around the world. Also, under Dr. Johnson's leadership, NPCL managed the National Youth Development Institute on behalf of The Institute trained four-thousand youth practitioners from across the country in effective approaches for working with young people 13-25 years of age.

Dr. Johnson is a nationally recognized authority in the areas of leadership, employment and training, urban poverty, and youth employment. A particular focus of Dr. Johnson's work has been on the plight of African-American men and families. He is regularly invited to testify before the United States Congress on matters pertaining to low-income fathers and strenghthening families. He played a principal role in the passage of the first national fatherhood legislation in congress, The Fathers Count Bill.

Website: http://www.npclstrongfamilies.com

Arne Duncan

U.S. Secretary of

Education

(Invited Opening Keynote

Speaker)

Arne Duncan was nominated to be secretary of education by President-elect Barack Obama and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009.

In his confirmation hearings, Duncan called education "the most pressing issue facing America," adding that "preparing young people for success in life is not just a moral obligation of society" but also an "economic imperative." "Education is also the civil rights issue of our generation," he said, "the only sure path out of poverty and the only way to achieve a more equal and just society." Duncan expressed his commitment to work under the leadership of President Obama and with all those involved in education "to enhance education in America, to lift our children and families out of poverty, to help our students learn to contribute to the civility of our great American democracy, and to strengthen our economy by producing a workforce that can make us as competitive as possible."

Prior to his appointment as secretary of education, Duncan served as the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, a position to which he was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, from June 2001 through December 2008, becoming the longest-serving big-city education superintendent in the country.

Website:

http://ed.gov/news/staff/bios/duncan.html

Carey Casey, President and

CEO, National Center for

Fathering (Confirmed)

Carey Casey is Chief Executive Officer of the Kansas City-based National Center for Fathering, joining the Center in March, 2006.

Through his work across the country, Casey has earned a reputation as a dynamic communicator, especially on the topic of men being good fathers, and as a compassionate ambassador, especially within the American sports community. He is also author of the book, Championship Fathering (2009).

Ken Canfield, founder of the National Center for Fathering, said: "Carey is exactly the leader NCF needs. Over the past 16 years, we built a solid base of research that underlies the materials, curricula, and other tools we developed for fathers. Carey brings the dynamism, the intellect and the talent to open new doors and get those tools to men who need them."

Casey joins the Center after 18 years in various roles with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, where most recently he was president of the FCA Foundation, gaining significant leadership experience with a large, successful, national nonprofit organization. His career has also included serving as chaplain at the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, and he had the same role for the Dallas Cowboys under Hall of Fame Coach Tom Landry. Carey and other members of the National Center’s staff are currently serving in a similar capacity for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Website:

http://www.fathers.com/

Robin Wright King, Author (Confirmed)

Papa Was A Rolling Stone

Robin Wright King iis an author living in Lathrup Village, Michigan. She holds a BS degree in Business Administration from Wayne State University and an MBA from the University of Detroit. Through her own experience, Robin Wright King highlights a catastrophic social and cultural issue plaguing the African American community: fatherless daughters.

Growing up without her father, who lived often within a five to ten mile radius, she longed to have the typical ‘father-daughter’ relationship. Her father chose, however, to have no involvement in her life. Reaching adulthood, she continued to be troubled by her fathers’ absence and began to study the father absence crisis in the United States. She was particularly interested in the impact that father absence has on African American women and girls. She found substantial data that reported the impact of father absence for boys in general and specifically, African American boys, but very little with regard to girls and almost nothing for African American girls.

Papa Was a Rolling Stone: A Daughter’s Journey to Forgiveness (2007), details her life and very personal experience with father absence. It speaks to the crisis that threatens to change the fabric of the traditional family structure, particularly for African Americans and the need for young men and women to be more discerning in their behaviors and choices to mitigate the impact of father absence.

Website: http://www.robinwrightking.com/theauthor.html

Jeffery M. Leving, Esq.,

Author (Confirmed)

Jeffery M. Leving received his Juris Doctor

from IIT-Chicago Kent College of Law in 1979. He is licensed to practice law in Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

He is the author of two groundbreaking books, Fathers’ Rights (Basic Books) and Divorce Wars (HarperCollins) and is the publisher of Leving’s Divorce Magazine. Mr. Leving's accomplishments include co-authorship of the new Illinois Virtual Visitation, Right to DNA Testing Notice, and Unlawful Visitation or Parenting Time Interference Laws as well as the Illinois Joint Custody Law. He has also delivered testimony before both branches of the Illinois Legislature on Joint Custody, Grandparent's Visitation and Child Support Accountability bills.

Mr. Leving holds the governor appointed position as Chairman of the Illinois Council on Responsible Fatherhood and is also the President Emeritus of the Fatherhood Educational Institute. In August 2009, Mr. Leving was selected by the White House Office of Faith-based & Neighborhood Partnerships as an expert resource to join senior White House staff and other community leaders at the first White House Community Roundtable and Town Hall Meeting on Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families in Chicago.

Website: http://www.dadsrights.com

Kenneth Braswell, President &

Founder, Fathers,Inc.

(Confirmed)

Kenneth Braswell is the founder of Father’s Incorporated (FI). The organization provided the platform necessary to explore the work of responsible fatherhood on a local and national level. Father’s Inc. was created not only to help dads navigate the child support system, deal with custody issues and become responsible fathers, it focused on helping to reaffirm the benefit of father involvement. FI’s main focus was on the development of fathers of all ages and the importance of understanding parental responsibility. With him Braswell brought to FI, over 20 years of experience in community development, event planning, network development, publishing, organization building, strategic planning, public speaking, program development, and advocacy skills to the mission and goals of Fathers Inc. It was Mr. Braswell’s previous work with Father’s Inc., which resulted in his being hired at New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. As the Director of the New York State Fatherhood Initiative he works within the Center for Child Well-Being where he leads in the implementation of more concentrated efforts to involve non-custodial parents in the economic and social well-being of their children. Currently Mr. Braswell manages a $9 million Fatherhood pilot program across New York State.

Website: http://www.kennethbraswell.com/

Judge Mablean Ephriam, Twentieth Television, Divorce Court (Confirmed)

Featured Guest Speaker: Spirit of Fatherhood Awards Luncheon, June 16, 12:30PM

Mablean Ephriam was born to Robert and Mable Ephriam in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. She is no stranger to achievement. Through hard, consistent and dedicated work, she strives to perform and do her God-given best. Since a child, she has always had that “spirit” of excellence and liberality about her. The ninth of ten children, you could always find her somewhere reading, studying, and asking countless questions that could drive you crazy. When she wasn’t doing that, she could be found fighting for the rights of strangers and family members. Her strong thirst for knowledge, equality and unselfishness parlayed into a rewarding, challenging, sometime agonizing and exhausting career in the practice of law, as a prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, civil attorney, and finally, what became her passion, Family Law.

Judge Mablean she has earned many awards as: 1997 Alumni of the Year-Whittier College; 1996 Zephyr Ramsey Award-Harriet Buhai [bew-high] Center of Family Law; 1996 Spencer Brandeis Award from the Family Law Section-Los Angeles Bar Association (she was the youngest recipient and first Black woman); 1996 Award of Excellence-State Women’s Department, Churches of God In Christ 1st Jurisdiction; 1995 Woman of the Year-California State Assembly 48th District; 1993 Distinguished Service-Women’s Lawyer Association of Los Angeles (WLALA); 1990 Outstanding Leadership-Board of Directors, Harriet Buhai Center & Outstanding Contribution to Pro Bono Legal Services-Board of Governors, California State Bar Association: 1985 Outstanding Service-National Association of University Women and the 1978 Achievement Award-State Youth Department, Churches of God in Christ 1st Jurisdiction. Judge Ephriam has volunteered in numerous organizations and worked many jobs, such as: Hearing Examiner-City of L.A. Civil Service Commission; Board of Directors-Union Rescue Mission (first black woman); Member of American Bar Association and National Bar Association; Lecturer-Upward Bound Program, CSUBL; Motivational Speaker-L.A. City Schools; Co-Founder-Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law which provides free legal services for economically disadvantaged persons); Board of Directors-Southern California Women’s Dept./Retirement Center Committee, Churches of God In Christ – So. Calif. 1st Jurisdiction, member and Past (1982-1983) President of Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.

In October of 1998, Twentieth Television selected this experienced, distinguished law practitioner and mediator to sit as Judge on the newly, revised half hour syndicated show “Divorce Court” (1999-2006), featuring Judge Mablean rendering legally-binding decisions. At present, she is working on the mission of her nonprofit foundation, The Mablean Ephriam Foundation, to build stronger families, educate minds, increase economic power among disadvantaged and lower economic persons and thus create better communities.

Website: http://www.judgemablean.com

Eric Snow, National Director, WATCH D.O.G.S.(Confirmed)

Eric Snow is the National Director of WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students), a safe school initiative of the National Center for Fathering. With extensive experience in operations management, sales, customer service, training, marketing and public relations, Eric comes to the National Center with skills perfectly suited to lead a dynamic team and to help manage and facilitate the phenomenal growth WATCH D.O.G.S. continues to enjoy.

In 1998, Eric played a key role in the very first WATCH D.O.G.S program at George Elementary School in Springdale, Arkansas. He and his friend, WATCH D.O.G.S. founder Jim Moore, helped develop the program to encourage fathers and father figures to be more involved in the educational process at their kids’ school. With the goals of increasing school safety and providing positive male role models, the first WATCH D.O.G.S. program was created. Eric was instrumental in helping Jim Moore realize his vision for WATCH D.O.G.S., and is credited with giving the program its name. Eric also served on the Board of Directors for WATCH D.O.G.S for more than 5 years.

Website: http://www.fathers.com/

Dana Ross, Author and Fatherhood Filmmaker (Confirmed)

Dana Ross is a filmmaker/author and President of purEquality Entertainment, LLC; the parentcompany of divisions designed to educate, entertain and promote positive images of culturesthrough multimedia. Dana has proven to be a determined young woman and is as opulent incharisma as she is in talent. She acquired her business savvy while working on Wall Street as a Legal Compliance Paralegal for a major investment banking firm and later specialized in Intellectual Property.

Dana is the filmmaker/author of “Black Fatherhood: Reconnecting with Our Legacy” and has researched and interviewed over 460 men within the past 7 years to bring forth an intriguing look at Black men in their roles as fathers from their time of enslavement to the present in both documentary and book formats. Dana has created an information hub for Black fathers via her website, www.BlackFatherhood.com. The website provides information on various issues and resources concerning parenting, child support, custody, legal assistance and news.

She is an NPCL licensed Master Trainer and facilitator for Fathers, Healthy Marriage and FragileFamily NPCL curriculums and a contributing writer for several on-line publications. In May, 2008 Dana founded and produced the African American Family Conference (AAFC); a free community event designed to provide answers, resources and guidance to African Americanfamilies and communities. The AAFC provides ongoing workshops for families and communitiesvia the AAFC After Care Program.

Website: http://dana-ross.com/

Jerry Tello, President, National Latino Fatherhood and Family Institute

(Confirmed)

Jerry Tello comes from a family of Mexican and Texan roots and was raised in south central Los Angeles. He is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of family strengthening, community mobilization and culturally based violence preventation / intervention issues. He has extensive experience in the treatment of victims and perpetrators of abuse and in addictive behaviors, with a specialization in working with multi-ethnic populations.

Over the last 30 years Mr. Tello has dedicated his efforts to preventing and healing the pain of relationship / community violence, teen pregnancy, fatherlessness, and internalized oppression by speaking on these issues to over half a million people across the nation. Mr. Tello has motivated, trained and mentored thousands of individuals, organizations, and community groups and is the author of various curriculums addressing male rites of passage, violence prevention, teen fatherhood, pregnancy prevention, family strengthening, and fatherhood literacy. He served as a principal consultant for Scholastic Books on an international bilingual literacy curriculum, has authored a series of children's books and is the co-editor of Family Violence and Men of Color. Mr Tello has appeared in Time, Newsweek, and Hispanic magazines and has received many major awards including the Presidential Crime Victims Service Award, presented by president Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno, as well as two California Governor's Awards for his violence prevention and intervention advocacy work and from Rotary International he received the Ambassador of Peace award.

Website: http://www.jerrytello.com/

Dr. Ronald Mincy, Professor, Columbia University (Confirmed)

Dr. Ronald B. Mincy is the Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice at the Columbia University School of Social Work, and Director of the Center for Research on Fathers, Families, and Child Well-being (CRFCFW). He teaches graduate courses on social welfare policy, program evaluation, advanced methods in policy analysis, and microeconomics. He has published widely on the effects of income security policy on child and family poverty, family formation, and child well-being; responsible fatherhood, the urban underclass, and urban poverty. His most recent book, Black Males Left Behind (Urban Institute Press, 2006) examined the consequences of the 1990s economic boom for less-educated men.

More on Dr. Mincy: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/faculty/profiles/mincy.html

Vicki Turestsky, Commissioner, Office of Child Support

Enforcement (Confirmed)

Vicki Turetsky was appointed as the Commissioner for the Office of Child Support Enforcement in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. As Commissioner, she oversees the child support program operated by each state and by many tribes.

Ms. Turetsky brings more than 25 years of experience as a public administrator and advocate for low-income families. She is a nationally recognized expert in family policy, and has been instrumental in efforts to boost child support payments to families and to establish realistic child support policies that encourage fathers to work and play an active parenting role. Prior to her appointment, she served as the Director of Family Policy at the Center for Law and Social Policy, where she specialized in child support, responsible fatherhood, and prisoner reentry policies. The author of numerous publications, she was a visiting lecturer at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and has received several national awards.

She also has held positions at the U.S. Corporation for National and Community Service, MDRC, Union County Legal Services in New Jersey, and the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. As a division director at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, she received one of the state’s first “reinventing government” awards. She received her B.A. from the University of Minnesota and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.