your the representation of what a man should look like to your daughter is you whether you there or not recently Milwaukee's office of africanamerican Affairs hosted its annual fatherhood Summit at the Milwaukee Academy of Science it featured a number of keynote speakers in classroom workshops offering resources to fathers it stressed the importance of fathers helping one another create a sense of unity amongst Milwaukee dads hundreds of fathers attended the fathers were of all ages some even grandfathers 20-year-old natavan Owens was one of the youngest having his baby daughter at 16 years old Rel like I didn't know what to feel at that time frame when I end up figuring out that I was having a child I was only 16 so it was like it was kind of it was all over the place it's a real hard it's real hard to explain exactly how I was feeling through about that time frame it was just a loop of emotions all I know is that I was like I know I have to do this for my child you know I know I have to be there for this kid cuz she didn't ask to be brought into this world I made the responsibility to go and lay down so you know I had to make sure I stepped up for my child and I did just that what are some ways that this event today has helped you become a better father it has opened my eyes to a lot of different outlooks a lot of different people who have different ways of learning how to be a father they have went through different experiences that I have so me opening my mind up to hear those different people has brought different ways for me to be able to go out and Implement those things in my life as a father the different resources out there like housing insurance and then just you know employment our program is called word of Hope Ministries we're nonprofit social service program what we do and what we're connected with today is employment what we do is connect people who are looking for work with the employers who are hiring all of our services are totally free and we help people in Central City Milwaukee as well as those in throughout Milwaukee calendar what we're going to do is provide them with free services to connect them with that employment we want to direct them to the type of work that they're looking for but we want to assist them by overcoming their barriers they have a barrier of not having a resume we're going to help them develop one they have a barrier with driver's license we want to direct them to resources to receive that I was fortunate uh to have my father uh and not just my father my stepfather and so many other father figures uh in my life but to know that my peers uh many times did not have that um coming here just reminds me that there are challenges in some of the neighborhoods here in our city that we continue to have to work on in order to make better for the kids the young people who look like me who grow up to be mayor uh and other things uh that they still experience each and every single day this keeps us grounded in that and helps us to continue on uh forward to make sure that their dads stay in their lives uh so that they can move forward in their own lives uh to be successful contributing members to society and I think that's critically important because of the lack of a father thought process but for provide and protect was you go out go work this job bring this check back home and everything be cool I'm going to be the person that wasn't there you get what I'm saying wasn't there I want to add into that right because I'm not happy let me go out and pursue my happiness so I can be in a healthier place to be a better dad for my child and hence your example once you got out that situation your life flourish you became a a happier person which made you a better father right things of that nature right you left your situation found found the love that you supposed to have and became a better father so we put it on ourselves to think that we have to be in this household with this woman for our children ain't granted it's not a bad notion but if it's not healthy who isn't really healthy ain't helping nobody see she mad you mad and then the kids mad the session I did today was uh co-parenting without cohabitation it's extremely important because unfortunately the relationships may not always sustain but we may have a child as that byproduct of the relationship so we have to maintain consistency and do what's best for the child no matter what household that child is going to be in well in my session today alone there was uh four dads that had similar ages and children similar stories and dealing with their child's mother so by having that Network you meet a c camaraderie of fellas who actually going through the same experiences so you get the ability to learn from other men as to what best practic is and um also too just to have a safe spaced event um big part of my session was just me unpacking a lot of things that was going on um within their particular situations and that's how we were able to find out the grounds between the other fathers within the room just by having other men with like-minded situations and um and scenarios within their lives uh it's incredibly important for events like this to continue in Milwaukee because I think it's easy to scream the need like we need fathers to be better but we don't often offer resources to help them become better so an annual event that kind of just reminds fathers to come together build community which there isn't much Community for fathers and then to give them access to resources to say hey here's how you be a better father I think it's a it's critical for the community one of the main things that helped me grow not only as an individual but as a father is the environment and the people that help me and support me throughout this journey that I've been and I'm still going through as a father [Music]