{"id":12487,"date":"2015-05-07T10:46:25","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T14:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/?p=12487"},"modified":"2015-05-07T10:46:25","modified_gmt":"2015-05-07T14:46:25","slug":"hacfm-announces-fifth-annual-juneteenth-fathers-day-celebration-event-promotes-president-obamas-nationwide-fatherhood-and-mentoring-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/2015\/05\/07\/hacfm-announces-fifth-annual-juneteenth-fathers-day-celebration-event-promotes-president-obamas-nationwide-fatherhood-and-mentoring-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"HACFM announces Fifth Annual Juneteenth Father\u2019s Day Celebration; Event promotes President Obama\u2019s nationwide Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

FORT MYERS, Fla. (May 7, 2015) \u2013 In partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County and Lee County Black History Society, Inc., the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers<\/a> will host its Fifth Annual Father\u2019s Day Celebration, an initiative created to strengthen families and communities by supporting dads, on Saturday, June 20 from noon to 4 p.m. at Roberto Clemente Park, located at 3265 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Father\u2019s Day Celebration will be filled with a variety of fun and entertainment for the entire family to enjoy, including youth and adult basketball competitions, flag football, music, stage performances, food and drinks, various kids\u2019 activities and more. Event attendees will also have an opportunity to receive free information from community businesses in the areas of wealth, health, education, job training, employment, housing, corporate and government services, and more.<\/p>\n

The HACFM will be\u00a0combining its Father\u2019s Day festivities with the Lee County Black History Society\u2019s \u2018Juneteenth\u2019 celebrations.<\/p>\n

As part of President Obama\u2019s Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative, the HACFM\u2019s annual Father\u2019s Day event is a nationwide day of events encouraged by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative partners with the Administration for Children and Families, White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, fathers, mothers, family-serving organizations and other leaders from across the country who wish to be positive role models and mentors for the children in their lives and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the goal of the HACFM to encourage all fathers, especially absent fathers, to become a strong and vital part of their children\u2019s lives,\u201d said Marcus D. Goodson, executive director of the HACFM. \u201cWe hope to inspire and encourage our fathers to be a positive role model for their children by providing an atmosphere of love, support and entertainment during the Father\u2019s Day weekend and for the rest of their lives. It is our belief that with a strong family unit in place, children will thrive and become an instrumental part of the communities in which they live.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to U.S. Census data, 24 million American children live in a home without a father.\u00a0National Fatherhood Initiative<\/a>\u00a0(NFI), an organization created in 1994 to raise the awareness of the importance of fathers, states that children in homes without a father are five times more likely to be poor and more likely to drop out of school or be incarcerated. This is why the involvement of fathers in the lives of their children is crucial. The focus on Father\u2019s Day is meant to be a starting point \u2013 either a celebration of existing relationships or a reason to form first connections.<\/p>\n

Federal partners of this year\u2019s Father\u2019s Day event include the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

According to HUD, since 2011, the initiative has experienced tremendous growth with 1,281 Father\u2019s Day events having been held in Public Housing Agencies (PHA) and in HUD assisted housing communities across the country. More than 22,000 fathers, children, mothers and partnering organizations participated in the annual events. Last year, 446 agencies held events, compared to 209 events in 2011. To date, 263 HUD assisted housing organizations have registered to host activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so appreciative to the local businesses that have joined us in supporting this positive initiative,\u201d said Twaski Jackson, director of client services for the HACFM. \u201cEvery night, one-out-of-three children go to bed in a home without a father. Our goal is to help bring fathers and their children together, while connecting dads to the community resources that will help them succeed, including job training, health screenings, education, outreach and many other opportunities. By participating in this year\u2019s event, our community\u2019s businesses demonstrate their commitment to improving the quality of life for children and their family units.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sponsorships for the Fifth Annual Father\u2019s Day Celebration are now available up to $5,000. To become an event sponsor or to provide free information on social and economic resources and services, contact Twaski Jackson at 239-344-3251.<\/p>\n

The Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers serves as a catalyst for increasing access to safe, stable and sustainable housing and to help develop, preserve and revitalize communities through affordable rental housing. The agency is dedicated to empowering families with the means to become as self-sufficient as possible through its Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) and HOPE VI Community Supportive Services (CSS) programs, encouraging and facilitating movement toward financial independence beyond the need for HACFM services. The HACFM also aims to instill pride and a desire for an enhanced quality of life for families and serves the greater Fort Myers community in a manner that demonstrates professional courtesy, respect and caring, while recognizing the needs and limitations of the mentally and physically disabled, aged and infirmed.<\/p>\n

For more information, call 239-344-3220 or visit\u00a0www.hacfm.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 FORT MYERS, Fla. (May 7, 2015) \u2013 In partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County and Lee County Black History Society, Inc., the Housing Authority…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[150,1185,4561,29,678,4562,4563,4564,2965,1190,4565,30,1580,2966,685,4566,819,4567,2967,4568,16,1046,908,716,672,2205,1416,4569,1191,19,2311,828,2662,1995,2663,2264,2665,2666,2667,2968],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}