It is entitled “Intersection Exploration: Girl Gangs and Father Absence”--promises to be both informative and provocative, and is moderated by Richard Flintrop, former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Public Policy Analyst, D.C. Healthy Families/Thriving Communities Collaborative, along with panelists, David Miller, Urban Leadership Institute; Sandy Dang, Asian American LEAD; Ron Haskins, co-director Center on Children and Families, Brookings Institution, and Penelope Griffith, Shaw/Columbia Heights Collaborative.

According to statistics, there are approx 15 percent of females joining gangs. “Some reasons girls join gangs are:
• For a sense of acceptance.
• For a sense of respect and power. The gang becomes more like a family to them than just friends and peers.
• For protection because they are being picked on by other gangs and other people.
• Some grow up in a neighborhood where it is almost a way of life.”

The National Daughter-Daddy Reunion Tour is a new advocacy and service model that provides the first ever focus in the fatherhood movement on the plight of fatherless daughters. It advocates on behalf of this population, which is estimated at over 30 million, by lobbying service providers and practitioners to design programs that respond to their needs. The Tour also advances a program that encourages the reconciliation of daughters and once-absent dads. And, the Tour seeks to inspire healthy, long lasting relationships and marriages for fatherless daughters by providing them the resources they need to overcome the adverse consequences of absence.

The National Daughter-Daddy Reunion Tour was founded in 2005. This year’s event is sponsored by CIGNA Healthcare, MedStar Health, The D.C. Metropolitan Healthy Marriage and Relationship Coalition-Together is Better Campaign, The Summit Fund, The National City Christian Church. Additional support is provided by Verizon, Washington, PEPCO,EmergeDC, LLC, The Downtown Cluster of Congregations, Bill Regardie, Nigel Parkinson Sr. and The Friends of the National Daughter-Daddy Reunion Tour.


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