PHILADELPHIA, PA (USA) – August 24, 2022–In its leadership and organizing role as the City of Philadelphia’s Coordinator for the 2022 National Million Father March (www.millionfathersmarch.com), the House Of Umoja Inc. (www.houseofumoja.net) is issuing a “Call To Fathers” to usher in the 2022-2023 academic year which commences on Monday, August 29, 2022 by taking an active role in their children’s education. Fathers and Father Figures in every community and neighborhood throughout the City of Philadelphia are being asked to:
• Escort their child to school on Monday, August 29, 2022
• Meet their child’s teachers and the principal of their child’s school
• Foster a parent-teacher-school administrator partnership that positively enhances their child’s learning environment, creates and supports a “school-to-work” curriculum, disrupts the current “school-to-prison pipeline” curriculum, and exponentially improves proficiency levels in English and Mathematics
• Conduct “listening sessions” with their child that provide their child with an opportunity to talk about their daily experiences at school – e.g., their interactions with their classmates and teachers, their favorite subjects, their least favorite subjects, the physical condition of the school building – e.g., leaking ceilings, dysfunctional bathrooms, lack of heating, lack of supplies – textbooks, computers, etc.
• Obtain a copy of their child’s roster and the academic calendar for their child’s school, and the school’s budget for the 2022-2023 academic year
• Read to their child and have their child read to them
• Review their child’s homework assignments on a daily basis
• Review their child’s English and Mathematics literacy test scores
•Move their child to embrace nonviolence and peace by encouraging their children to sign the Imani Pledge™ (https://houseofumoja.net/imani-pledge.html).
On Monday, August 29, 2022 – the first day of the 2022-2023 academic year for students enrolled in the School District Of Philadelphia, the House Of Umoja, Inc. will join Fathers and Father Figures throughout the city in observing the National Million Father March with the staging of a march to Overbrook High School located at 5898 Lancaster Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Fathers are being asked to assemble at the House of Umoja, Inc.’s office located at 5625 West Master Street (David Fattah Way) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 7:00 A.M. (E.S.T) in preparation for the march to Overbrook High School which is located at 5898 Lancaster Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Under the theme “REAL DADS READ,” the City of Philadelphia will join at least 80 cities throughout the United States which, include: Cincinnati (Ohio), Atlanta (Georgia), Baltimore (Maryland), Aiken (South Carolina), Bardstown (Kentucky), Bloomington (Indiana), Brooklyn (New York), Chicago (Illinois), Dover (Delaware), Dallas (Texas), Gresham (Oregon), Los Angeles (California), Omaha (Nebraska), Washington, DC, Ypsilanti (Michigan), and Wichita (Kansas) in observing the 2022 National Million Father March. Under the House Of Umoja, Inc’s leadership, the National Million Father March’s “REAL DADS READ” theme is being expanded to include a focus on improving the English and Literacy proficiency rate of students at schools throughout the School District of Philadelphia. Leading by example, the House Of Umoja, Inc, an internationally acclaimed institution with a 54-year successful track record addressing and reducing violence and positively transforming the trajectory of the lives of over 3,000 adolescent males, will focus on helping to improve the English and Mathematics proficiency rates for students attending Overbrook High School.
On Wednesday, August 24, 2022, the House Of Umoja, Inc. donated the Wizenard Series published by The MacMillan Company (https://us.macmillan.com/ author/kobebryant), a literary collection created by the late Mr. Kobe Bryant in collaboration with prolific author Mr. Wesley King, to the Tustin Recreation Center. Selected books from the Wizenard Series will be available for Fathers and their children to read and discuss at the Tustin Recreation Center. It is not by chance that the Tustin Recreation Center will serve as a venue where Fathers and children can bond while reading selected books from the Wizenard Series created by the late Mr. Bryant. During his childhood, Mr. Bryant frequented the Tustin Recreation Center, where he played basketball.
When Mrs. Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Mr. Kobe Bryant, saw the need to provide a safe environment for young people to interact with each other and their families, and make basketball more accessible to them she selected Tustin Recreation Center as the site for the Kobe & Gianna Bryant Dream Court. The Kobe & Gianna Bryant Dream Court at the Tustin Recreation Center provides young basketball aficionados with two new basketball courts.
Cognizant of the important role that Fathers play not only in sustaining and moving their families forward, but also the impactful positive influence they have on our communities and our world, the House Of Umoja, Inc. utilizes the National Million Father March as an opportunity to recognize a gentleman who exemplifies the impactful role that Fathers play in our families and society. In Calendar Year 2021, the House Of Umoja, Inc. recognized the late Mr. Kobe Bryant as a “Father Of Excellence.” A loving husband and Father, the late Mr. Bryant was the author of the literary work “Dear Basketball” which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning short film, recipient of the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, founder of the Kobe Bryant China Fund and the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation, and co-founder of the Bryant-Stibel Company, a provider of technical assistance services to businesses.
In 2022, the House Of Umoja, Inc. will bestow the title of “Father Of Excellence” upon Mr. Joseph Washington Bryant, a former professional athlete whose career with the National Basketball League spanned sixteen (16) years, former head coach of the Women’s National Basketball Association Los Angeles Sparks team, husband, and father of two daughters and the late Kobe Bryant.
The Philadelphia 2022 National Million Father March is being supported by numerous individuals who include but are not limited to: Philadelphia City Councilmember The Honorable Curtis Jones, Jr.; Mr. Sheldon Robinson, President of the Tustin Recreation Center Advisory Council; Mr. Bilal Quayyum, Founder and Executive Director of the Fathers Rally Day Committee and a plethora of organizations from diverse areas of the City of Philadelphia that include Revolutionary Vision, We Embrace Fatherhood, Frontline Dads, Life Outside The Streets, West Philly Produce, and Stocks vs. Sneakers.
Established in 1968, the House of Umoja, Inc.’s successful track record of transforming the lives of and working with over 3,000 youths has moved universities and institutions that include, but are not limited to, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Prevention and the Center for Disease Control, to seek the expertise of Queen Mother Falaka Fattah and her late husband Mr. David Fattah in the areas of gang reduction, youth programming, and community organizing. Former United States Presidents The Honorable James Earl Carter and the late Honorable Ronald Wilson Reagan have recognized the House Of Umoja, Inc. for its pioneering work which has been documented in published articles such as A Summons to Life, by Robert Woodson of the American Enterprise Institute in 1981 and The Violent Juvenile Offender by Paul DeMuro and Richard Allison of the National Council On Crime And Delinquency in 1984.
For further information about Philadelphia’s observance of the 2022 National Million Father March, contact the House of Umoja, Inc. at (215) 473-5893 or send an e-mail to falakafattah@aol.com, or visit the organization’s website at https://houseofumoja.net.
For further information concerning the National Million Father March and Fathers Incorporated, visit its website at www.fathersincorporated.com or send an e-mail to: info@fathersincorporated.com.
