Travis County Commissioners Court
June 6, 2006
Item 3
Number 3 is to approve resolution recognizing the sixth annual father's day rally and parade. Commissioner Gomez? If some of the parents who work with her in southeast Travis County. Whereas the fathers in our community are a precious resource and play a vital role in the well-being of our children and their future and the future of our community and whereas river city youth foundation has been instrumental in a collaborative event, the annual father's day rally and parade. It aims to increase the positive involvement of father's in their children's lives to foster success in school, personal growth, good citizenship and a brighter future, and whereas river city is foundation southeast Austin community development program, southeast corner alliance neighbors, auto zone and fathers active in communities and education, face, are sponsoring the sixth annual father's day rally and parade on Saturday, June 10th, that will include father-kids bonding game, food and plenty of family fun and whereas the student winners of the dad essay contest will be announced. Now therefore be it resolved that the Travis County Commissioners court does here by declare Saturday, June 10th, 2006 as father's day rally and parade in Travis County, Texas. Be it further resolved that we salute the river city youth foundation for their collaborative efforts and their commitment to the betterment of our community and the future of our youth and family. And I would move approval. And I would congratulate ramona for receiving an award from the exchange club for her 30 years of work in this area of trying to help children in southeast Travis County. Congratulations.
>> thank you very much. I’m ramona gonzales and I’m joined here today by our dear friend and president of fathers active in communities and education, face, and also by ms. Dorothy patton, a resident of dove springs and was recently named Commissioner on the community development commission representing dove springs. She's a grandmother and one of the many father figures in our community. Why do we do this annual event? It's important to say that our theme is tick tock, time on the clock, spend time with your child. It is time for fathers to spend more time with their children. We do it for the value and importance of fathers and father figure in their children's lives and community. We do it to bring together schools, families and neighborhood to develop a community of fathers and father figures. You know we asked the kids what do you want most from your dad? They can say ipods, lots of those electrical gadgets, material things, but you know what they said was we want time. We want our dad to spend time with us. And that is why we do this. We want very much for dads to hear this message loud and clear that why, you can put food on the table, you can put clothes on their back, but it's more than that. Spend time and listen to your child. Our attorney general, greg abbott, has endorsed our activity this year. I would like to turn to the president of face to speak a little bit about the statistics that are related to fatherhood.
>> good morning to all of you. I’m the president of fathers active in communities and education. Just for your information, I have been devoting my life to developing models and programs to ininvolve fathers and father figures in the development and education of children and youth since 1998. I’ve been involved in schools since my kids were little, going back to the 80's, but my focus on fathers and father figures really began in 1998. I’ve traveled the country. I’m working with several school districts throughout Texas. And I’ve learned a lot. And the question becomes why isn't there more time being spent by fathers with their kids. Why? And I want to give you an answer that may be a little bit surprising. And one of them is because we as communities, as social systems and structures, don't expect them to. The involvement of fathers involves whole community change, for all of us to think and reflect how do we regard the involvement of fathers in the workplace, in our government agencies, in our local agencies, in the nonprofit communities and in the schools. And one of the strategies that I’ve used, which is very, very effective and it's the good news that I’m going to leave with you this morning, is that when you unpack the term parental involvement into the audience of fathers and masculine parenting and mothers and family parenting and you write invitations directed to fathers, fathers respond, fathers respond. I’m talking about black fathers, I’m talking about brown fathers, I’m talking about asian fathers, I’m talking about anglo fathers, I’m talking about immigrant fathers who are holding two or three jobs at the same time. And they're coming to schools on school days during working hours. Contrary to the perception of many teachers, because I do quite a bit of staff development, who never even think about inviting fathers because they assume that dads won't show up because they're working. A national study was released during the mid 1990's about the impact of fathers on student achievement. First time they had ever done that. And they found that even though fathers who live in the same household with their children are only half as likely as mothers to be highly involved in their children's education. So this is not only about divorced fathers, it's about fathers across the board. And we have to respect the different audiences of fathers, but the good news is that at least in my experience, many, many of the fathers that otherwise would not be involved with schools are coming in. They're in the door. And they are really affecting the whole environment of education and of their communities because these single fathers are now asking their boss, hey, boss, can I take time off to go to my child's program during the school day? And many bosses are saying yes. And some of these bosses didn't think it was necessary because they didn't know that it existed. But because we offer these opportunities, it is happening. Time is limited, and I just wanted to come full circle and say that the importance of this program is that just as ramona has been recognized for her 30 years for her devotion to this community, this sixth annual is a sign of the commitment and ongoing effort to bring about the awareness that it takes. It takes several years at a time without stopping and keeping on going for there to be genuine change. We have programs all over the country that are wonderful, but they come and go. They come and go. You have school boards that change, superintendents that change. You have principals that change, you have political figures that change. And with them often goes the programs. So that's the challenge. And the beauty of this is that at least in southeast Austin we have kept the course and we invite the collaboration here at the bottom of this flyer that you will get if you don't have it already is that we have a good chance that we will make lasting change and that we will turn the wheel around of the tremendous amount of both absence of fathers and the other very important thing, the invisibility of fathers. There are many fathers that are not there at all, there are many fathers that are around, but they're not seen because they're not invited. And that's where -- one area in which I have great news and hopefully it will impact across the board in the next five, 10, 15, 20 years. Thank you very much.
>> thank you. I want to add also that you mentioned collaboration. Can't do this without strong collaboration out there. And maxwell chrysler south is providing the convertibles for the kids to ride in. The southeast alliance of neighbors. Margaret you mentioned scan, the car club. These are low rider antique cars that I know a lot of dads that are listening today are going to want to come out and see. My favorite is the blue truck. You've got the 78744 community youth development program. They're going to have booths of information there so that people can know what other services exist in our community. And you've also got groups like home depot and lowe's and grande communications and a lot of churches. Church of glad tiedings international. This is truly a collaborative event. We want to thank everyone for helping. And like he was talking about, it's important to have something that's consistent. And when we're long gone, hopefully the tradition will continue. Not only in Austin, Texas, but I will tell you that in australia, in a little place called sydney australia, there's interest in doing this type of event for the people who live there, for the aborgine indians. And in other countries there is interest. So when it -- so what started in Austin, Texas, in southeast Austin of all places, has had already some global impact. Thank you very much for your time.
>> thank you very much.
>> all in favor of the motion? That passes by unanimous vote with Commissioner Davis temporarily off the dais.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, June 7, 2006 12:54 PM