On Saturday, October 14, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will bring together more than 400 fathers, social service providers and community leaders to gather during an all day, city-wide summit aimed at identifying ways to get men to proactively embrace their role as fathers. Milwaukee’s first Fatherhood Summit will be held at Mother Daniels’ Conference Center, located at 35th and Hampton Avenue.

Last year, at the invitation of the Mayor Barrett, more than 25 community leaders participated in a two-day training and planning session, with staff from the National Fatherhood Initiative office. A Planning Committee evolved from this conference, with the goal of organizing this summit.

"We need to invest in the young people of our city," said Mayor Barrett. "We need to give them strong families to support them during the most critical time in their lives and strong neighborhoods where they feel safe and see hope for the future. None of this can happen unless we successfully address the crisis of absentee fatherhood that plagues so many families, and encourage dads to stay involved in their children’s lives."

Barrett continued, "My office has teamed with the National Fatherhood Initiative, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization with a broad-based mission to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible and committed fathers in their lives."

During the summit, a variety of breakout sessions will be held with topics ranging from mental health and depression, to reconnecting to families after incarceration, to the issues and resources related to noncustodial dads. At lunchtime, a keynote address will be delivered by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author of "Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood Leonard Pitts."

The overall objectives of the summit are to empower the latent strength in families and the community, and to create a multi-level initiative that builds and supports Milwaukee’s men as they work to become better fathers.

"Responsible fatherhood is an issue and opportunity that crosses cultural, political, geographic and economic lines in our city," said Terence Ray, chair of the Planning Committee. "Involved fathers can strengthen Milwaukee’s children, families and, thus, the community as a whole for generations to come."

The overall mission of the Mayor’s Community Leadership Committee is to improve the well being of all children by increasing the number of children growing up with involved, responsible and committed fathers in their lives. The mission will be achieved through engaging all sectors of society--business, healthcare, civic, philanthropic, social services, media, government, education and faith in positively promoting responsible fatherhood.