KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2025 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Fatherhood Summit Aims To Get Dads Involved In Kids' Education

On Saturday, the city of Phoenix is training its gaze on fathers.

The Head Start Birth to Five Program and My Brother’s Keeper are joining together to host the 2017 Fatherhood Summit. The goal is to engage the community to rally around a message for fathers: It’s OK to get involved in your kids’ education. In fact, it will help them be more successful in their early development.

My Brother’s Keeper is an initiative started by President Obama in 2014 to address opportunity gaps for young men of color. In Phoenix, they’re aiming to work to turn early learning programs into father-friendly environments and provide fathers with the tools they need to help their children in their education.

For more on this, I sat down with Martin Whitfield, My Brother’s Keeper coordinator for the city of Phoenix, and Latrisha Centers, Head Start Birth to Five Program specialist at City Hall.

The inaugural Fatherhood Summit: Helping Boys Thrive is Saturday at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Lauren Gilger, host of KJZZ's The Show, is an award-winning journalist whose work has impacted communities large and small, exposing injustices and giving a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.