Today we’d like to introduce you to Kenneth Braswell.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kenneth. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to belong to something. When I was a child, I wanted to be liked by ALL my friends, as a result of this desire, I learned to navigate between both the best and worst of influences. As a teenager, I began to realize how much I believed I was alone in the world. I was the oldest of three siblings in Brooklyn, New York, however, my brother and sister were seven and eight years my junior. By the time, they were old enough to establish a sibling relationship with me, I was off to the Army seeking out something I could belong to. Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t a loner; just alone, wandering and wondering in the midst of people.
At 23 years old, I stumbled upon an element of my search I didn’t even know I was looking for; my father. My story already included being a high school dropout, a teenage father, an immature husband, and a veteran. Now, I was suddenly faced with the reality that I was a fatherless son too. I felt like I had found a pair of my favorite lost socks and they no longer fit.
For years, I searched for something to belong to, only to realize that searching for something you can’t explain nor comprehend leads you to travel on a long, isolated and often wearisome journey. Suddenly your journey becomes nothing more than a distraction from the very things that are designed to act as your support system (ex. family, friends and community). Searching for my father became my distraction from the things in life I needed. Things that would mature me and mold me into the person I was meant to be.
I firmly believe we all have an innate desire to belong. We possess a desire to accomplish goals together, to be validated by one other, to learn from our mistakes and to know that someone has your back. I discovered that the quest to know my dad was not unlike many others. Ultimately the journey is about what you learn from the process, not the satisfaction of how you feel by obtaining the goal.
In my work, fathers are at the core of everything I create, implement and advance. Even today, I continue to learn from that search, which began so many years ago. That search is the lens through which I see my own role as a father and how I see fathers as a viable, impactful and untapped solution to many of the social problems we face today.
Studies have shown that a child’s proficiency to read by the 3rd grade is the most significant predictor of his or her school success, high school completion, and future economic stability. We also know that approximately 80% of low-income children will not achieve this crucial milestone. Although there is countless research documenting the benefits of father engagement in education, they are often an overlooked resource when it comes to improving children’s reading proficiency.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Many, who know me, will tell you that my work is laser-focused, some may even say to a fault. In my speeches, I usually tell people that for 57 years I have been a Black Man. It’s the one thing on my resume that can’t be faked, dismissed or altered. Because of my reality, my lens is intentionally focused on how I view my life and others that are just like me. I absolutely have empathy, love, and admiration for every perspective, but it is to this one I must remain true. It helps me to understand the world and I believe it plays a role in how the world understands me.
When my wife told me eight years ago, we were having a boy, my heart dropped. Not because I wasn’t excited to have a son, but because I had not considered the magnitude of responsibility of raising a black boy in the world in which we currently live and a vile past that continues to creep into our modern day society. It is through this progression of my life, my journey to understand and learning to forgive my father along with today’s social indicators that have all lead me to focus my primary attention on Black families in general and Black Men and Boys more specifically.
In today’s society, there is nothing more important than to honor, stabilize and support families. For me, my family, my work, and my ministry, I am unapologetic, unwavering and unmovable in advancing the reality that fathers must be included in not only the problems of the world but the solutions and successes as well. Family is the one thing we all belong to and it is the one thing that matters the most.
In a strange way, my dad taught me that.
Alright – so let’s talk about your work. Tell us about Fathers Incorporated – what should we know?
As Executive Director of Fathers Incorporated (FI), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves as a leader in the promotion of responsible fatherhood, my responsibilities include the development and oversight of the organization’s international, national, and local media and outreach activities focused on improving father engagement in the lives of children through various projects, programs, and cause-marketing campaigns, including Real Dads Read, FI’s two generational literacy program, and serving as the Prime/Director of the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC), among others. The NRFC is the only national resource for fathers, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. FI’s contributions to the fields of fatherhood and black male achievement have been featured by Essence, NPR, CNN, New York Times, BET, and Huffington Post. In 2012, I was awarded Ebony Magazine’s MANifest Honors for Black Male Achievement and recently became a BE (Black Enterprise) Modern Man and awarded by Susan Taylor with the National Cares Partnership Award.
Four years ago, I had the chance to recompete for the federal National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) contract that would allow Fathers Incorporated to continue its work of serving as the number one national resource for fathers and families. The recompete was highly competitive, as many of my/FI’s contemporaries submitted proposals believing they could perform and deliver a higher level of service. As with most competitive atmospheres, where gaining or losing a project can contribute to a healthy bottom line, I was well aware that the consequence of winning or losing would be the difference between gainful employment and unemployment. However, while I understood the necessity of having to engage in the process, I also understood that it was my job to manage the reality of my team’s performance in the face of this stressful, and often backbiting, situation.
The stress of this time was magnified by my decision to move Fathers Incorporated to its now home-base in Atlanta, along with my entire family, including my youngest daughter and her mom. The entire move relied on my income, which was grounded in the fact that we had this major contract. I understood the high anxiety level of both my family and the individuals who worked for us. I also was aware of the impact of the daily dose of doubt, gossip, and uncertainty my team faced. However, I had faith in our ability–even more so than when we won the contract for the first time in 2010.
The first time we won the contract I was green to the process and could hardly believe that my little nonprofit was bidding for a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract, in addition to having companies as sub-contractors with budgets well into the hundreds of millions. In 2010, I had confidence in myself, but not in this arena. I hoped and prayed we would win, but with not that much to lose.
By 2014, I had it all–faith, confidence, and a 2010 winning proposal. In 2018, after seven years navigating this competitive environment, I have garnered the trust and confidence of both my family and staff. I believe in them, but more importantly, they believe in themselves–so much so that we make success look easy, so easy that it looks doable to those who seek to replace our presence in the work. Through it all, I remain calm and my team continues to excel. We never profess to be perfect; however, our expectations of each other is that of excellence. As a result, we have and will continue to WIN! So much so, we won the contract again in October of 2018 for the 3rd time. Thus winning the largest contract awarded for responsible fatherhood at $19 Million.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I have a lot of people in my life who deserves credit for who I am today. The biggest credit belongs to my mom, who raised my siblings and me in Brooklyn, New York and never complain. Even within my work around responsible fatherhood and telling the story of not having my father in my life, she has supported me and understood the importance of me not having that critical component in my life. Equally to my mom is my wife, Tracy who saw the potential of a broken man with a calling. She has had the same smile on her face since I first kissed her, she loved me when the lights were off in our apartment, cars repossessed and continued to love me all the way to now building Fathers Incorporated to a $5 Million a year budget. My children round off the credit for my life, KJ, Nzinga, Amber, Tiarrah and Monica has defined who I am and why I’ve been blessed with a calling to “Speak to the Hearts of Men”.
The professional mentors include Art Mitchell (RIP) who helped me understand how to advocate for the voiceless. Dr. Jack Conway who raised my consciences about a culture that wasn’t his own. A white Irish man who understood my greatness was in understanding and embracing where I came from. Also, Aaron Dare, whose wisdom I came to understand and heart I broke as a friend and brother. He awoke the drive in me to never accept “no” for an answer and that while people may have more intellect than me, they will never outwork me. Lastly, an awesome accountability circle of brothers; Patrick Patterson, Darryl V. Freeman, Lamont Jones, Lawrence Wilbon, Furthering Fathering and Discover Life Church.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2394 Mt. Vernon Road
Dunwoody, GA 30338 - Website: http://www.fathersincorporated.com
- Phone: 770.804.9800
- Email: fathersincorporated@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FathersIncorporated
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Fathersincorp
- Other: http://www.dadspadblog.com
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