Organizers have counted 865 black, school-age males in a target area in north Omaha. The goal, he said, is that 100 percent of them graduate and go on to some kind of post-high school education.
“We don’t want to lose a single young man,” Barney said.
Also participating in the Omaha conference were Phillip Jackson, executive director of the Black Star Project in Chicago; Kenneth Braswell, executive director of Fathers Incorporated in Albany, NY; and Shawn Dove, manager of the Open Society Foundation’s Campaign for Black Male Achievement, described as the largest of its kind in the country.
Jackson said he came to learn how to take initiatives to scale.
His organization already sponsors a number of programs focused on education and parental involvement, including a mass black male graduation ceremony, the Million Father March back-to-school event, Take a Black Male to Worship and a Father’s Club that organizes free monthly events for families. Omaha groups already have sponsored the march and worship efforts.
“Success is not one program,” he said. “It’s the layers of successful programs.”
Braswell said Fathers Incorporated aims to promote responsible fatherhood and mentoring. It also contracts with the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He has produced a documentary called “Spit’N Angry — Venom of a Fatherless Son,” about the importance of fathers.
Creating success for black men will help move the needle for families, he said. For 40 years, the focus has been on helping single moms. But there hasn’t been a focus on supporting men so that they can support their families to the level they can go off public assistance programs.
He said more cities across the country are hosting summits like the one in Omaha. Bringing people together is a start. But it needs to happen frequently and come with incremental — and measurable — goals.
“This is an excellent start,” he said. “But it can’t end here.”