Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, June 1, 2010,
Item 3
3. Approve resolution recognizing the 10th annual father's day parade and fiesta sponsored by the river city youth foundation. Shy read a proclamation or did you -- should i read a proclamation or did you bring a reader with you?
>> go for it.
>> it reads whereas the fathers of 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, whereas river city youth foundation has been instrumental in producing a collaborated community event, the annual father's day parade and fiesta, whereas father's day parade and fiesta aims to increase the positive involvement of fathers in their children's lives, to foster success in school, personal growth, good citizenship and a brighter future, whereas the river city youth foundation fathers active in community and education face austin fire department, austin police department, capital area food bank and new york life are sponsoring the 10th annual father's day parade and fiesta on saturday, june 5th, 2010, and will include fathers, kids, bonding games, food and plenty of family fun and whereas the student winners of the writing contest will be announced. Now therefore be it resolved that the travis county commissioners court does hereby declare saturday, june 5th, 2010 as father's day parade and fiesta day in travis county, texas. Be it further resolved that we salute the river city youth foundation for its collaborative efforts and -- and its commitment to the betterment of our community and the future of our youth and families and i move approval.
>> mayor leffingwell: second.
>> good morning, good morning.
>> good morning.
>> good morning. I'm mona gonzalez, i'm the executive director for the river city youth foundation. 10 years ago when this first started as an idea, it started off with a lot of fathers and a lot of moms asking the question what can we do to get a message across that -- that dads are important. And so here we are, 10 years later, celebrating the 10th annual father's day parade and fiesta in dove springs. Joining me today are pastor santiago, the pastor of glad tidings in dove springs, to my right. Also we have with us the staff of our summer camps for 2010, at river city youth foundation. They are the young folks that are energetic and when i hired them i said i have one question for you, that is do you like to sweat? Around they do. And they do and they will. Because summer is important for kids, and we are launching our summer of safety, sos, in the -- in the dove springs area. South of williamson county, it's a very underserved area and then we have our main camp at river city youth foundation, then we also have at terry road baptist pastor dickerson has allowed us to use the church as well. The work of fathers, it's historical and a community-wide resource. It therefore needs to be taught from generation to generation. Not just families but valuable, by the community and through institutions. Parades are one venue for that community affirmation forks that best practice that we're all seeking. In a publication recently, in a time for commitment, it's a report by the national center for fathering, they recommend that -- that employers do work to let dads actually have time to get out into the school activities and into the things that their kids are doing and have more bonding time. They also recommend that communities do more to present this issue, this important issue, of -- of positive dads and the need to reduce the number of absent dads in our communities. And so what we do here is not just fun, it's the best practice, it's something that more communities need to do. This annual essay contest, sam, that you mentioned earlier, from that essay contest, there will be some winners. And we're going to crown the dad of the year in dove springs. That's correct. We have been doing it now all these years. And it's something that children look forward to and dads look forward to as well. And they are also going to get a chance to ride the -- the fire truck. They are going to be part raid marshals. Parade marshals. So i want to challenge more communities to do this type of activity. You can do it, really you can do it on a show string and with community support and a lot of in kind. Whatever you do, do something to celebrate the importance of dads. So this annual essay contest, it offers children an opportunity to reflect and to contribute to making visible not only what they see with their eyes and hearts about the work of fathers, but to help the adult community and its institutions not to lose sight of the work of dads. In a time of a great need to increase the number of students who graduate from high school and higher education, we need fathers to support students efforts to -- to take that challenging course, excel in the unchartered waters. It's in a time of the great need for strong and sound character. Fathers are essential at role models and bearers of the standards of high expectations for their children, for our children. Finally, when and where they are invited by schools, fathers respond. We have evidence of school district where fathers respond year after year with the most successful programs being during the school day. This is strong evidence that the workplace supports the involvement of fathers.
>> [indiscernible] was really wanting to be here with face, fathers active in communities and education, he sends his best wishes. He will be there on june 5th. But he is actually teaching a lot of fathers today in another county. Now, may have heard of this, the one billion dollar man, has anybody heard of that? This was a study through the national fatherhood initiative. It's the first of its kind, it provides an estimate of the taxpayer cost of father absence. It estimates the annual expebdtures made by the federal government to support father absent homes. These federal expenditures include those made on 13 means tested anti-poverty programs and the total expenditures added up to a startling $99.8 billion. All of this money was spent directly on single mom households. Now, that's the money end of it. We are also really concerned about the cost to the kids of absent dads. It's really, really high. The kids of single mothers pay their own costs for the absence of a father, such children do less well in school, then children of two parent families and generally have more emotional and behavioral problems generally have worse physical health, more likely to use drugs, tobacco and alcohol and generally are more likely to become delinquent. So we really want to get this message across to all of us, everybody, its in our best interests for dads to get seriously involved in the lives of their kids and to support them and to log them and i said this last year, it doesn't cost anything to love your child. To say i love you costs nothing. It's recession proof. So i want to thank everyone here. You have been faithful over the years. The county commissioners court has been supportive over the years and you have the real heart for the families and i appreciate that. I know all of us here do. Thanks to all our sponsors, thanks to you. This year i would really want y'all to come out if you can. Margaret you're watching hopefully on tv. I want to tell you that we love you and we really, really are praying for you and want you to get well. You are excused, downtown have to come. You don't have to come on saturday. But the rest of y'all, try to come. Okay? I've got a snow cone just for you, sam, it's cherry. Okay. I'm just joshing with you. But honestly this has been a privilege to have founded something that is unique not only to dove springs, but i'm finding out its unique to texas. I have not found another parade in texas sell celebrating this particular event. Here we go again. The austin area and travis county being singularly unique and creative. It truly is the place of ideas. So thanks to all of us that are here because they are the ones that do the hard, hard work. Remember, parents you are welcome tocome out on with your.
>> thank you, any other brief comments from anybody? Keep up the great work? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> we have in flyers for you.
>> we have a beautiful proclamation for you.
>> can i make one comment in passing praise of what they are doing. Also in we are in this idiotic word on pot smokers --
>> no, if you relate it to item no. 3 you can. Come forward at this time.
>> okay. It has to be related to item 3.
>> okay, just in relation to them, a comment to them what they were saying about fathers, that's all that i'm trying to say. If we want to -- one simple thing that we do is to end this war on pot smokers, that's 25% of non-violent marijuana offenders are filling our jails right now. That's where a lot of those fathers are. So i agree entirely with what they are saying and doing.
>> thank you mr. Reeferseed.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 2:35 PM
