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00:00:00Fishes are quiet, but big doggies are loud!
00:00:28Slippers are quiet, but mommy's shoes are loud!
00:00:50You don't have any books at your house?
00:00:52Well, we're going to try to help you guys get some books.
00:00:56In fact, just one of you guys answer this question.
00:01:00One of you three guys, okay?
00:01:02I did a book about quiet and loud.
00:01:06Nasir, can you name something that was loud?
00:01:10The dog, the big dog.
00:01:12Now y'all got a book out there.
00:01:14I'm from this community, but I didn't realize 61% of kids in poor communities don't have libraries.
00:01:30It was three kids.
00:01:31We gave them a book.
00:01:32They were literally dancing about this book.
00:01:34And those kids had nothing.
00:01:36And that's when we were like, wow, we need to start giving these kids more books.
00:01:48To get these couple of books, it's the smallest gesture, but it's the biggest gesture.
00:02:00Over the years, Akif and I worked in social services throughout Philadelphia, Camden, New Jersey.
00:02:06We would come across these amazing young men that were usually in some type of criminal trouble already
00:02:12through the schools we were working at, the programs we were working at.
00:02:16And one of the main things we noticed is that most of these kids could not read.
00:02:21Having worked in a juvenile detention center, it wasn't something that I would have thought of.
00:02:27I wonder if this kid here knows how to read.
00:02:30These kids are good kids.
00:02:31These are nice kids.
00:02:32But if you read their criminal jacket, they're not nice kids.
00:02:35Your choices are extremely limited when you can't read.
00:02:39Getting a job, starting a business, opening up a bank account.
00:02:43I mean, you could go on and on getting your driver's license.
00:02:46If these babies can't read, they don't see hope for themselves.
00:02:49If a child has physical access to go and pick up a book in their home at any time,
00:02:54that that greatly increases their ability to read.
00:03:01Chicago is like the epic center of violence right now.
00:03:04Go back to 2012.
00:03:06Chicago reading scores.
00:03:0817% kids were proficient.
00:03:102% were overly proficient.
00:03:12So 19% of kids in Chicago were efficient readers in 2012.
00:03:18Fast forward to eight years later.
00:03:20Who's killing each other in the streets?
00:03:22The 18, 19, 20-year-old eighth graders from eight years ago.
00:03:27People don't realize that when you don't know how to read and you're poor,
00:03:31there is basically, there's not a lot of options for you.
00:03:36Young man shot 18, 20-some times right here in North Philadelphia, you know, and these stories are almost common.
00:03:46We can ignore it all we want to, but this stuff is punching us in our face every day.
00:03:51That is why the message that we share is so relevant because we have to have more men with voices willing to step up in these communities.
00:04:03Reading is so essential.
00:04:04Outside of being fun, it's how we better ourselves, and it's going to impact our community, and it's going to move it forward.
00:04:13I've been reading books since I was about a baby, and I've loved them because my dad always read them.
00:04:25Ready?
00:04:26Yeah.
00:04:27Okay.
00:04:28So we've got to choose something to read.
00:04:33I got used to reading a lot more books than usual and finding out more kinds of books.
00:04:41I've been getting real interested in them.
00:04:43What would you like to read?
00:04:45We've got National Geographic over there.
00:04:48We've got magazines.
00:04:50We've got Beauty Basic.
00:04:52What I've learned about reading, let the child pick the book.
00:04:57Let them read the story the best that they can.
00:05:01You know, even if it is just looking at the pictures and reciting whatever it is they see and having fun with that.
00:05:08What's the author's name?
00:05:10Langston Hughes.
00:05:18It's Langston Hughes.
00:05:20Very good.
00:05:21That's a great try.
00:05:22It does look like, would you say, Huggies?
00:05:26Langston Huggies?
00:05:27Well, he's Langston Huggies today.
00:05:29Okay.
00:05:30And what's the title of the book?
00:05:32Let's read the black first and then the red.
00:05:35It gives the child their own new outlook on, hey, so I'm going to go on and explore and I'm going to go, you know, on a safari.
00:05:44I'm going to, I'm going to take this trip to London, England.
00:05:48I'm going to become a fashion designer all with this one book that I've chosen myself.
00:05:55So reading and early literacy is probably the most important thing in impoverished communities that we can give our kids.
00:06:05And it doesn't cause much.
00:06:08You get to pick a book, okay?
00:06:11And this is a book for you to have forever and ever.
00:06:14Amen.
00:06:15Okay?
00:06:16I want that one.
00:06:17No, no, no.
00:06:18What book do you want?
00:06:19What book would you get?
00:06:20Cinderella.
00:06:21I had a feeling you would pick things.
00:06:23Can we do that book for a princess?
00:06:25From zero to eight, zero to third grade, you learn how to read.
00:06:29From third grade on, eight, nine years on, you read to learn.
00:06:35That's why they say if you haven't got it by third grade, you're going to end up in a world of trouble because no one else is teaching you after that.
00:06:42Poor communities, I don't care if you're black, white, Hispanic, whatever, you don't have that money to spend on reading.
00:06:50So what happens is you end up falling into traps of your community.
00:06:55You end up dropping out of school.
00:06:57You end up falling into prison.
00:07:00A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
00:07:05That's why Akif and I say, let's start with the daycares.
00:07:08How do you break the cycle of something?
00:07:10Stop it in the beginning.
00:07:13Because when you look at the statistics around men weeding with children, the outcomes are astronomical.
00:07:20I am C, now I know my ABCs.
00:07:28Next time won't you sing with me?
00:07:32Yay!
00:07:33Great job!
00:07:34Woo!
00:07:35Woo!
00:07:36Woo!
00:07:38альный fillers
00:07:46I'm...
00:07:47That's what it means, especially now.
00:07:51úng
00:08:06between birth to five years old those years are very crucial we want to keep young beautiful
00:08:17black latino young men young poor children out of the prison system and the best way to do this
00:08:25to attack it when they're starting to learn how to do the most important thing kids will learn
00:08:30how to do and that is read say hey let's get these dads involved super early from the beginning and
00:08:36let's get them involved in literacy when i was two years old i was in a big custody battle i was
00:08:45removed from my father or he was removed from my life i didn't even know about my biological father
00:08:56until i was five years old and i was sitting in a barber shop with my mother and a man came up to
00:09:03me with two boys he said are you ikeef i'm like who is this man and he said i'm your dad and he said
00:09:11these are your two brothers as we're leaving up we're in the car and my mother didn't say anything
00:09:17to me and we're almost home and i said mom i said was that man my dad and she said i keep i got
00:09:26something to tell you being a committed father came from not having it
00:09:37my biological father he had left the household when i was two
00:10:07i did have a stepfather for about six seven years of my life
00:10:13we didn't have a close-knit relationship it was like i knew he was there you know it was a sense of
00:10:24security however we didn't have i would say meaningful conversations that could set me up for the future
00:10:35i have not faulted anyone for what has occurred because fatherhood is so
00:10:44important to me and something that i hold close
00:10:47back in april of 2008 i was at my mother's house and i was sick i had lost about 50 pounds
00:11:00and i was in denial my sister was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when we were younger and my
00:11:08mother had onset diabetes when she turned 50 years old it got to a point where my mother said
00:11:15ikeef you have to check yourself in to the hospital i'll be perfectly honest
00:11:22um i didn't want to have diabetes
00:11:25i was diagnosed on april 4th 2008 in 2009 i was married and became a father to our then 10 year old
00:11:41son and since that time my wife and i we've had two more children i i knew my diabetes was not under
00:11:49control and i had to start making a choice for myself in my life if i wanted to be here for our
00:11:57children thinking about our you know i'll call them our babies if i don't learn how to control this
00:12:05it you know the diabetes can eat me up inside uh me being a a father first first time around with an
00:12:14infant um there are things that i'm with him all day and i just want to make sure that my little man
00:12:20is okay and stays healthy diabetes and fatherhood
00:12:25you know i really i stay as positive as i possibly can
00:12:47because my wife and i are schedules there are a lot of times i'm i'm with our children
00:12:57just thinking back on moments when my blood sugar can drop really low and telling my children
00:13:07daddy doesn't feel good
00:13:09just what to do if daddy passes out because i could be anywhere with them and you know it could hit me
00:13:29me just like that and that that sucks
00:13:39i do it for our children so that i can be here present when you know to see them grow up and to
00:13:46see their their children you know become a become a grandparent uh even a great grandparent maybe great
00:13:54great
00:13:59well can you take your last few bites
00:14:15well go ahead and take your bites and i have a lot left
00:14:24go ahead you can eat some more
00:14:34i'll give you two minutes and we gotta go in okay
00:14:40i give our children the engagement the attention a million fold everything that i did not have
00:14:54i give them
00:15:03when we go into our lessons when we're talking to the kids in early childhood and in the daycares and i get to
00:15:10tell them my story on their level and i say you know mr a got got really sick
00:15:16and had to go to the hospital and the doctor told me that mr a you're gonna have to do some things
00:15:23different with your life and instead of all that you know candy or junk that you may have been eating
00:15:30uh you know start focusing on more fruits and vegetables to implant that into these children you
00:15:37know letting them know okay can do we want candy yes you know do we want soda sometimes or whatever
00:15:45juices one of the stories i've read was about a healthy snack who remembers well everybody what was
00:15:51the name of the healthy snack that i like popcorn yes it's just like okay we can have it but don't have
00:15:59too much of it and you know then we ask them what are some fruits that you eat you know what are some
00:16:05vegetables that you eat and we make a promise right there in that in that sitting it's like hey can
00:16:13you promise mr a that you'll eat more fruits and more vegetables anybody like hot sauce on their
00:16:18popcorn yes yes okay so this story is about hot sauce on my popcorn ready
00:16:29hot sauce on my popcorn i like to have hot sauce on my popcorn yeah i know it's weird but not as weird
00:16:39as hot sauce on the top of a beaver's beard i like hot sauce on my popcorn yeah i know it's strange
00:16:49but not as strange as hot sauce but not as strange as hot sauce on a handful of change well i like hot sauce
00:16:55and i like spicy things but i'm not a fan of hot sauce and popcorn kind of weird right oh yeah
00:17:04i like hot sauce on my popcorn yeah i know it's funny but not as funny as hot sauce on a beehive
00:17:12full of honey it's enough for me being a father and living with this diagnosis has opened my eyes
00:17:23to a new way of living and you know i
00:17:29i
00:17:34i enjoy taking that on i i accept the challenge
00:17:42my name is brent harris johnstone
00:17:44johnstone i have dyslexia
00:17:51as a person who struggles with reading you lose a lot of confidence it can be a very it can be a very
00:17:59scary place mr b started learning how to read man i started having some problems i started seeing
00:18:06words differently i started uh seeing words that wasn't there the words that was there i wasn't
00:18:13able to read them childhood literacy is my passion because i also realized where a lot of struggles in
00:18:20my life came from and insecurities in my life came from was being a struggling childhood reader
00:18:26so if you guys go to school and you start reading and you start having problems can you make me a
00:18:31promise can we make this to be a promise can you promise that you will tell your teachers you will
00:18:36tell your parents that you're having problems with reading can you do that for you do that
00:18:41we'll promise this will be that i didn't throw their hands in the air
00:18:44and wave them like you just don't care and wave them like you just don't care now listen up even
00:18:49though i have problems with reading and writing mr b graduated college and i'm also an
00:18:55author of two books so just because you're having problems doesn't mean you can't get help embrace
00:19:01reading with your child now when they're babies because one of the biggest things you're going to
00:19:07find out one is their interests what they like but if they're struggling when is the best time to
00:19:15find out if your kid is a struggling reader at 13 or at three because at 13 now they're surviving at
00:19:22three we can address these issues who knows why you read raise your hands why do we read
00:19:30you read it again my children don't know they impacted me before they even appeared here before
00:19:49i knew who they were at 18 19 20 years old when i knew in the future i wanted to have kids i wanted
00:19:57to work with them i wanted to help them with their homework i said i have to address this reading thing
00:20:03at some point i have to get better i have to tell people i have to ask for help
00:20:10my kids changed my life because without them
00:20:17i don't know if i ever would address my reading problem i don't know if i ever would talk to kids
00:20:21about reading parents the community i would have done none of that if i didn't even think i was going
00:20:29to have kids and wanting to be there for them so my kids changed my life for years before they was even
00:20:36born
00:20:48i got help for myself because i knew i was going to be a father god willing i knew that i wanted to have a
00:20:53family get it get you the muscles get the muscles going and that's when your pop pop was in the
00:21:02newspaper he was on front of the newspaper 2006. this was right before you was born before he started
00:21:09getting real sick they did a big article on naming the paper all these kids the pop pop helped thousands
00:21:18of kids and he started out just trying to help his own kids we had to throw a bunch of hay for everybody
00:21:25at the stable mace when you get older you're gonna be throwing hay boy i've been struggling with reading
00:21:31since the day i started reading where do i fit in in this world how can i be successful and these
00:21:38questions are starting to arise at 9 10 11 years old so it can be a dark place at a very early time for
00:21:47kids who struggle with reading you got to figure out how can i make it in this world without one of the
00:21:54greatest assets to have in this world reading
00:22:00mason's your friend no it's me right
00:22:04gianna you're for you no
00:22:08my dad told me how to read maps when i was young right and because of that i always felt
00:22:24like i could get a job i could be a trucker i knew how to read maps all you had to do was follow
00:22:29lines i could do that there's no reading involved before gps it's even easier now but he taught me
00:22:35how to read so i had some hope my oldest brother was a trucker i'm like i knew what type of money
00:22:40can make good money being a trucker so i had hope when you're a young person growing up in poor
00:22:45communities and you don't have hope you start looking for instant gratification he's not gonna
00:22:52bite you okay it's like when you're holding a hermit crab like when you're holding a hermit crab
00:22:58y'all go ahead yeah i'll show you i'll put it with you
00:23:04you did it feels funny huh did you get scared go ahead gianna
00:23:13like a holy crab
00:23:16like a boss like a boss by yourself go by yourself makes with the other hand you have more there you go
00:23:24little nibble peace out boy scout you scared of heights they're gonna fill all this up today
00:23:40they went to go get hay and they're gonna fill me up there's only four blocks so they're gonna throw
00:23:45it on top of you we're gonna leave you here and they're just gonna throw all the hay on top of you
00:23:50boy scout jump down come on i got you i got you just get me taking care of horses is good because
00:24:03you know you learn that you uh horse is totally dependent on somebody else like you guys how
00:24:09y'all depending on me and mommy so being a kid taking care of animals is a good way of learning how
00:24:16to take care of other people just depending on them if these people don't come and feed their
00:24:21horses they don't eat take charge there you go cool you're the leader he gonna follow you remember
00:24:28that if you're gonna be a leader you gotta make sure your people following you don't stand right in
00:24:33front of him because if he take off he could run you over right always stay to the side of him
00:24:39i don't think nobody's faster than daddy what you think golden baby who feed you yeah then where
00:24:48gianna moves at where gianna see if you like gianna moves go ahead gianna do you ah
00:24:55oh what was the uh he said get his boogies out he said get his boogies out
00:25:14i'm not the best helper with homework but like my dad i set expectations i try i try to put them
00:25:21around the best people who are good for homework my kids they don't know nothing else they changed my
00:25:26life and and and by doing that they change the lives of a lot of other young people i helped
00:25:36imagine if you ate that every day you're probably so fat
00:25:40i know for brent his struggles with dyslexia or having these struggles and not knowing
00:25:57what that was can be very challenging um and you know those are things as a parent that you just want
00:26:03to safeguard them you just want to protect them from all of that and to kind of give them all the
00:26:08tools that you can to be sure that they don't have those obstacles but if they do that you're
00:26:13there to assist and help them with those things thank god for my father my dad started working at
00:26:20temple university when you worked at temple university your kids could go to school for free
00:26:25and from the time we were born we knew that the expectation was y'all going to temple
00:26:31and as i got older i'm like wow that's amazing that this man not only set an expectation for us
00:26:37he created the pathway for us to actually do it i was fumbling around with going to different colleges
00:26:46and and temple university has showed up and they had offered a full scholarship to me because i was
00:26:52playing sports my grades were were fairly good um with the school system i was in and um i was actually
00:27:03going to go to another school because temple wasn't winning at the time my stepfather in in our house
00:27:09and i remember this he said it with conviction he said boy you're going to temple because that was the
00:27:15only school that offered a full ride i met brent at temple we both played football together and coming
00:27:25out of camp breaking camp he and another gentleman were the first you know interactions that i had as
00:27:33far as getting accustomed to the life um the college life i believe this relationship was destined to be
00:27:44all right keith and i are so much alike but we're so much different and i think that's the beauty in
00:27:49our relationship when you come into our readings uh you'll see me reading a lot it's funny because
00:27:55i'm a struggling reader i'll be reading a lot and this guy is flying around the room he's doing
00:27:59airplanes he's acting the book out and i'll be honest with you i'm not i wouldn't be that good at
00:28:05brent he is a goof now bring him back up to the sky who can touch the sky who can touch the sky
00:28:13where my dance is that where my dance is that there's a little dance room would you touch that
00:28:16sky okay now go back to them toes back to the toes brent's voice takes over the entire room he's so
00:28:24boisterous and he has this squeak to his voice and so the kid he's like a little cartoon character
00:28:30a little dance i see you over there playing look at that look at y'all he's loud
00:28:46from my observation of akif akif is maybe a little bit more serious
00:28:51nobody really sees akif's personality other than us he's a goof
00:29:14he's so serious out in public and to see him let that that shell down and just
00:29:20become that that's great because i know who that is they were sleeping so guess what he did
00:29:26he went to his closet he opened his closet he put on his pants he put on his boots he put on his shirt
00:29:31he put on his back he put on his jacket he put on his hat then he put on his what
00:29:38then he ran outside he started doing the snow angel and he started playing with ava they having fun
00:29:43she swinging her beats and guess who saw them next oh my god
00:29:46the corner said is that my friends out there having fun they look like they would be coming
00:29:51into a scare street when you first see them because they're huge you know what i mean but then
00:29:57when they lighten up and you you get to hear like this goofiness to them and how playful they are
00:30:03it makes you want to just kind of just jump in and do the things with them what's something that's loud
00:30:09they tell them to like tell their parents that please read this book like teach them how to beg
00:30:26their parents which is so funny to me and even um they they're going in the environments where some of
00:30:33the kids don't speak english but they can still feel you can still see them get excited and still
00:30:40see them understand what's going on and it might probably be the best thing to happen in their day
00:30:45it's powerful when i leave them i feel like superman because i'm like i'm able i'm able to do something
00:31:09that i i wish somebody i was calling for mr a and mr b to come help me with reading read every day okay
00:31:17every day i never told anyone i struggle with reading never except for my mom and some people
00:31:23at school when i fell down at temple university but i never mentioned even though every report card
00:31:29said it i never i never said it right but i thought i was dumb and because i thought i was dumb
00:31:35i took chances i shouldn't have taken i didn't see a future that many people might assumed i saw
00:31:42i didn't see a future that a lot of people who are great readers saw so when you're struggling with
00:31:47reading you're struggling with surviving so when i was your age and i couldn't read like i wanted to
00:31:52you guess what i used to do i would make up these stories i would grab my little pencil i hold my eyes
00:31:58and i would just make up all these fun stories because it was hard for me to read so right now what
00:32:03we're going to do we're going to make up a story together with my name being mr a and his name being
00:32:09mr b what we'd like to get started with is our abc raise your hand if you know your abc because we are
00:32:17in very rough neighborhoods um who who may not have those resources we know the difference that
00:32:27the books are going to make for these children for these parents i had a young guy who couldn't spell
00:32:35is it it sixth grade 13 years old literally couldn't spell is it it he's about to go outside and start
00:32:41to fight everybody just wants to be good at something right and be when you when you're not
00:32:47a good reader you're not doing good in school but you're still going to school you need to find where
00:32:52can i be good oh i cuss the teacher out good i run out of class good i beat people up good i disturb
00:32:59the class good you're looking for you where i get my love at right and that's natural people that are
00:33:05locked up are being locked up for things where they're really just trying to do something to
00:33:11provide for themselves and their family but they have limited options on what they can you know choose
00:33:17to do when you teach someone how to read that's love giving them the ability to be able to learn
00:33:24reading is love and so many of these young kids go from being these young loved individuals
00:33:30to these older angry upset individuals and a lot of it goes right back to reading
00:33:39so august 10th 1994 i was so scared that whole ride we talked about football and i wanted to be like
00:33:47dad i was scared i don't feel i was cool i'm scared i knew what and i couldn't i didn't feel
00:33:53like i could tell him that and i'm not sure how he would even responded to that my dad wasn't uh he
00:34:00wasn't me crying yeah he didn't cry that dude didn't cry him and my brother they don't cry i'm
00:34:04the cry baby and i always felt like and this is not enough with my dad no matter where my kids are
00:34:10i want them to be able to open up to me i do believe men of color can struggle with being
00:34:16intimate with their children family for whatever stigmas are out there not wanting your son to be
00:34:25soft come on grace yeah we do our own camera work i hug my boys we have the daughter you know i hug her
00:34:35as as well i give her a lot of hugs and kisses but i also kiss my boys you know i give them hugs
00:34:43i don't think that they're going to grow up to to be something that i would disapprove of they're going
00:34:49to be who they they are ultimately and i'm i'm going to love them regardless i never told my dad i love
00:34:57it he never told me he loved me we showed it right but we never had those moments like me and my son had
00:35:05when i was like yo i love you man i love you too daddy bottom of my age and around there haven't had
00:35:10those moments with their dads my pop passed years ago i miss my dad
00:35:27it's weird because i actually feel like me and my son my son replaces my dad and he doesn't know that
00:35:38i've never told him that but it's like i'm getting a second chance with my dad and my son oh my god
00:35:45miss it sounds like you're losing your voice are you losing your voice no you ready to go for a swim
00:35:54no you ready to go for a swim i didn't grow up sitting on laps i didn't grow up getting hugs
00:36:05that is definitely something that i had to create a nurturing side of me
00:36:09uh so when i go back and you know just seeing those experiences you know is this something that
00:36:16you know i'll have to to work through that was something that i always took from my relationship
00:36:22that i wanted to be able to be so open with my emotions with my kids that wherever they were at
00:36:29they can emotionally we can mostly connect look at the camera look at the camera boy when me and my
00:36:35daughter was young i was working two jobs at the time a lot of time when i was getting home it was
00:36:40time for her bath time bath and we read a book we we snuggled and we used read the same books over
00:36:47and over again the same one but it was so special and i think when dads do this they start to realize
00:36:57how much power they really had in the intimate part so when it comes to mothers being
00:37:04uh more of the nurturing type that's that's what i was for our children
00:37:13how do you scoop the game
00:37:18okay you take it like this and you just press it on the side okay okay
00:37:34okay all right i keep staples show that's my doctor tip do it all here don't say bye
00:37:44hey bye hey the boy is all that the boy is all all right let's go i can walk in the house and it could
00:37:55be 12 o'clock at night and they'll all still be on the couch watching tv and my first response could be
00:38:01you know why are they still up at 12 o'clock or why are they still on the couch but they're cuddled up
00:38:06and they're so just loving you know and i knew for my daughter what that was going to be like to be
00:38:15able to have her first love be her dad she made him mush where you know he was a little bit more rugged
00:38:20before her we talk about the uh you know fathers and being intimate that's when i learned that it's
00:38:29okay it is okay to give these children love especially at a young age i'll read some n-double-a-c-p
00:38:38as is now customary this combination of letters is not a natural syllabic sound like
00:38:47you don't have to be certified to read to your children you don't have to be certified to be
00:38:52engaged but we do know that when you take those actions change will happen but in doing so it
00:38:59creates new generational habits so now i'm giving my child um this experience and it creates this norm
00:39:05that my son doesn't have to learn right and so when he's now a parent that's not a new thing
00:39:10he has to pick up he will automatically read with his child
00:39:23january 6 1998 my freshman year
00:39:27i'm 18 years old and i come home on winter break i'm home with my older sister
00:39:39and we hear this loud sound and my sister desiree she ran up the steps she said i keith did you hear
00:39:46that and then about five seconds later she just starts screaming
00:39:50and i jump up and i'm just bumbling and fumbling and i'm making my way to the room and as i get to
00:40:02the door my sister is on top of my step five giving him cpr he had shot himself it was at that moment that
00:40:12my life literally flashed before my own eyes and the whole trajectory of my life changed in that moment
00:40:21and i'm sure it changed for my sister as well we both ended up taking on our own forms of therapy
00:40:29and as a result we both became addicts
00:40:32it was something that we had dealt with for a number of years
00:40:57i have two sisters
00:41:02and i and i lost one
00:41:22and it wasn't until i met my wife because our relationship happened so fast we we met
00:41:32and got married in 28 days i knew she had a son i hadn't met him i was still
00:41:39in my addicted phase at that time and we were about a month into our marriage and she sat me down
00:41:48i was coming in hanging out with friends you know it was alcohol she said i keith i can't do this
00:41:57and you're going to have to make a choice i keep she said you either stop or else if you don't i'm
00:42:07leaving it was in that moment that she said you're a dad now and i couldn't imagine what my father now
00:42:17i'm talking about my biological father i can't imagine what he felt like when he had his child
00:42:24taken away from him
00:42:31and to try and build that relationship and i'm 42 it's been 40 years i had the opportunity to celebrate
00:42:42my first birthday with my father since i was from two years old was when i turned 40.
00:42:50i myself could now change history and and what i always wanted in life was a family
00:42:59so my wife gave me the choice of having that family and it was that day september 26 2009 and she sat me
00:43:12down on that bed that i gave up drinking and i have not had one drink since
00:43:23and i always tell him this my oldest son that he changed my life by giving me that opportunity to be his
00:43:32father
00:43:38let's ask questions let's build powerful relationships win new business and influence others
00:43:46the fact that he just naturally picked up to do all those things and be present with them and then when
00:43:53you get reports from school and the teachers and other people are telling you how great your kids
00:43:59are and how amazing they are and i know that he is their caregiver 90 of the time i know that's nothing
00:44:05but him i didn't have my dad in my household growing up so seeing brent with the kids it's something that i
00:44:14can view and appreciate whether it's them chatting like i can see like sometimes mason and brent just having
00:44:21these long little chats gianna she confides in brent too like and brent something that brent does after
00:44:27he picks them up from school he'll have conversations with them just bring up combos like you know how
00:44:32was your day today and then that just kind of stirs the conversation but kind of you know after a long
00:44:38day of school or then going into after school and just kind of checking in with them and then it brings
00:44:44them to just talk and just whatever quality time that is within carving conversations which i think is
00:44:50good because then you kind of find out what's going on with your kids how was their day with math i
00:44:56really go to my dad about that because he's better at it than my mom
00:45:03my dad is clumsy i know you all too
00:45:09it's different when your mom holds you and kisses your boo-boos mom's supposed to do that but when dad
00:45:13still allows you to be gentle but then explain things to you why why he's toughening you up why he's
00:45:19pulling you back together to just let things go it it just gives a different support to their emotional growth
00:45:35oh we can get the after this i can go get the milk coach i just tell them stuff that happened
00:45:41like today or other days do you like being able to talk to your dad and mom yeah how does that make
00:45:50you feel happy why does it make you feel happy because other people don't have one little boys are
00:46:00almost raised to be robots like not human boys don't cry boys don't dance men for years were just to stop
00:46:08crying don't don't don't don't they never realize how to how do i regulate my own emotions not just
00:46:18shut them off because shutting them off ain't good how do i simmer down how do i go from 10 to one
00:46:26still being able to express myself emotionally well people always like to say we look at life
00:46:34what will is i cut myself i'm hurting you all right my man are you get that i'm gonna wash it off
00:46:56blah blah blah blah blah blah not shutting down someone's feelings and i think far too often
00:47:04men shut down little boys feelings and don't allow them to grow into who they are emotionally
00:47:11oh those jokes those jokes yeah they're not gonna tell me jokes
00:47:23i gotta remind them i'm not gonna tell you this is a chapter of my book called july 1st july 1st was the
00:47:30first day football magazines came up they previewed the season college nfl i love sports back then in the
00:47:3980s there was no internet right you couldn't just get stuff by pushing the button we would go to the
00:47:44shelterham mall to this bookstore every july 1st he would buy me like three four or five books but my
00:47:51dad never read the books he would go get them and i would go read them now at the time what i was really
00:47:57doing i was teaching myself how to read he has no idea he was that's how i was teaching to this day i use
00:48:02little skills to when i'm reading that's what taught me how to read i wanted to read so bad what was in that
00:48:09football book but i was struggling i wasn't going to tell him right i wasn't going to tell my mom i
00:48:14just go sit in my room forever and just keep reading these books and he doesn't know that and i wish
00:48:20i would have told him that before he passed but he played a big part in me becoming a better reader
00:48:30me and my dad was exactly like my dad couldn't read really well he couldn't write really well
00:48:36but i never knew that dad was the main stickler about education he is smart he is smart sometimes
00:48:43i used to mess me up dad i'm not smart and he like you got me smart gotta do your work when you really
00:48:49think about it reading is in everything reading is in you know filling out a job application or
00:48:56buying a home or anything reading is everywhere you go signs streets and if you are not equipped
00:49:04or don't have that knowledge it's a real struggle
00:49:18i'm beautiful i'm proud i'm beautiful i'm proud i'm gonna say it out loud i'm gonna say it out loud
00:49:27i love my hair i love my skin i love my hair i love my skin i love my smile every time i breathe i'm
00:49:37beautiful i'm proud i'm beautiful i'm proud i'm beautiful i'm proud once we read the stories we
00:49:45We wanted to gift the children with books, you know, with some literacy resources.
00:49:52Now, these books are books that we took from our own home when we started out.
00:49:56They were books from our children's shelves that, you know, they may they may not have been reading.
00:50:01And during our campaign at the time, we read in 30 day cares and 30 days.
00:50:07So we had to have at least around 100 books to give away because we were saying we were going to give three books away.
00:50:14It was great. You know, it was good. However, when you have a room full of 30 kids and only three of them are receiving a book,
00:50:25it was the kids and it was the children that were coming up and they were crying and they were like, well, I want a book.
00:50:35Where's mine at? And that's when Brent and myself, we really had to go back and we started asking or, you know,
00:50:42it either popped up or sure the universe showed up, giving us access to more books.
00:50:47That is always something that's stuck in my head is making sure that the kids have have access to books and that they get these books in their hands.
00:50:57Now, what was the title of the book? How many monkeys did the book start out with?
00:51:04Hold them on. You got to raise your hand. Everybody raise their hand. Can everybody answer it?
00:51:11How many monkeys was it?
00:51:12Five. Yes. Yes. Very good job.
00:51:16Well, Lee, you screamed our first five. There you go, buddy. You get a book today.
00:51:20What do I like to put on my popcorn?
00:51:24Hot sauce.
00:51:27She was first. Say it again.
00:51:29Hot sauce.
00:51:29Hot sauce. Very good.
00:51:32When you have individuals that look like you, that are not afraid to show up and be present and be of service,
00:51:43that, that is a difference maker.
00:51:47I remember this little kid we had in Kensington and anyone knows about Kensington?
00:51:50The biggest drug epidemic in the country right now, as far as opioids go.
00:51:56It's a rough neighborhood. And we were in there with these kids and he, we asked him, like, what's the most important thing?
00:52:03Whatever it was, he started speaking about father, how fathers were the greatest thing in this world.
00:52:09Because when we talk to them, we speak from that point of view.
00:52:13And the lady was crying. Lady worked there forever.
00:52:16For over 30 years, she was crying back there.
00:52:18She said, you know, that boy hasn't seen his father in years.
00:52:22This father was, like, locked up for, like, murder or something.
00:52:26He wasn't in his life.
00:52:27And she was, like, for him to have so much passion about what a father is, what it should be, what he took away from you guys.
00:52:35Like, she couldn't stop crying.
00:52:36And it's like, listen, even though this kid doesn't have a father, right, he understands that fathers are important, right?
00:52:45It may be the link that leads him to being a positive father in the future.
00:52:51It gives them a different view on what good men are, what passionate men are, what caring men are, and that it can be very cool to be this.
00:53:03But there was these two young teens, and this guy was fighting to get his son back.
00:53:06They get custody of his kid.
00:53:08And he said, so wait a minute.
00:53:09So I could read, because he was into Batman.
00:53:11This dude, he knew all about Batman.
00:53:13He said, so I could read Batman with my son?
00:53:15We were like, yeah.
00:53:16And we had some Batman books.
00:53:18And he was really like, wait, I can't, like, literally, like, I can do this?
00:53:22Like, yeah, you can do this with your son.
00:53:24He left there with maybe a dozen books, a lot of Batman, and with the idea that, oh, this is how I can connect with my child and help him become a better reader.
00:53:37I do know that given love, given resources, you could take your mind and your body anywhere in this world.
00:53:47Like, reading is love.
00:54:09Like, reading is really love.
00:54:11Like, teaching a person how to read or helping them in that journey, right?
00:54:15You may not be able to teach someone how to read, but you can help them in that journey.
00:54:19You can advocate.
00:54:21I'm a father who has to advocate for his son who struggles a little bit with education like I do.
00:54:27And, you know, that's the biggest thing you could do is advocate, teach your child, be alone for that journey.
00:54:35No one teach children how to read after third grade.
00:54:38Reading is love.
00:54:40That's what it means.
00:54:42It's exactly what it says.
00:54:45Because, you know, to me, when you look at the issues that we have in the world where that love is removed, it's like, OK, how did it get here?
00:54:56Because I always say, you know, we're not born innately mad at the world.
00:55:05If it's a mother, it doesn't matter if it's a parent, caregiver, whoever is with these children from a very young age or still even in the womb, because you can still read to children in the womb.
00:55:17I did it with our children.
00:55:19And that love is teaching or educating without having the certification, but just being willing to be in the moment with those children.
00:55:32And it doesn't have to be perfect.
00:55:34He always read with the kids and me watching them grow in their capacity for reading, especially daily.
00:55:43I mean, she's so expressed in her reading and it takes her away from the computer and the iPad and Bryce away from his gaming system.
00:55:55And it's like you get to become whatever's in the story.
00:56:00But it opens up your mindset to seeing things outside of where you are.
00:56:05And I think that opens up kids' minds to realizing that life is not just that one place that they're in and that there's way more to what they know than just where their home is or where their block is or their street or their neighborhood or anything like that.
00:56:23Just seeing that there's more to life than just that.
00:56:25Always been about the children, always been about helping the community, informing families.
00:56:30And because of that, because of their willingness to not be paid, their passion about the community has come out in their work.
00:56:38You get hit with so many closed doors, closed doors with funding, closed doors with reluctance in a community for people to open their doors to you and assist and say, yes, we see your value.
00:56:50Man, Ikeith literally did this with nothing for two years.
00:56:53No money, no vehicles, taking books from my kids' bookshelf.
00:56:58I remember, like, for a while, he, like, he would go through my bookshelf, just take some, or I'll just go through them, like, stuff I don't really read that much anymore.
00:57:08Whoever got it, they're enjoying it, too, like I did.
00:57:12I was in a good career working in social services.
00:57:15I was a dean in schools making good money.
00:57:19And I said, I'm done with it.
00:57:22I didn't like working in these agencies who I felt like, at the end of the day, we're not really trying to help this situation.
00:57:31We're trying to keep getting paid, right?
00:57:33I didn't feel like we were doing the best as we could for these kids and these families.
00:57:39So I walked away from it all.
00:57:41I literally got myself fired.
00:57:43I want to be honest with you, I wasn't in a position financially where leaving a full-paying job was smart, probably smart to do.
00:57:51And I was very surprised when my wife was like, all right, cool, I'll back your play.
00:57:54When it first started, it was kind of like, oh, I'm no longer doing my job.
00:57:59Okay, so then it's like, whoa, okay, and so what are we doing now?
00:58:03And, you know, kind of just going off on this idea and, you know, encouraging him because definitely I wanted to encourage him.
00:58:10I know that he had, when he left the previous employment, it was, you know, there was a lot of taxing emotions involved with that particular employment and just leaving them.
00:58:22But then also having that motivation and that thought that this idea was going to be the next thing and being able to foster him as best as I could.
00:58:33During that time, I got offered two jobs.
00:58:35There were way more money than I ever made in my life.
00:58:39But they were back in schools doing the same thing.
00:58:42And I turned both of them.
00:58:43One was six figures.
00:58:44I turned them both down.
00:58:45People looked at me like I was crazy when I did it.
00:58:47And I said, no, I'm making fathers read 365 for it.
00:58:51Like, man, I just got something amazing going on.
00:58:54What my wife has allowed me to do is be everything that I didn't have.
00:59:00I often had an issue in the beginning when we first started, you know, about finances because this job doesn't pay them, you know, a salary.
00:59:09So everything fell on me a lot.
00:59:11And I was resentful probably because that's what the world told me that a man was supposed to do.
00:59:18And it's taken years, you know, to really relax your mind and kind of see value totally different.
00:59:25He's the first person up in the morning getting them ready for school, making sure that everything runs on time.
00:59:31He's the conductor of the train.
00:59:32I pulled the caboose.
00:59:34Us being entrepreneurs and having a business where we can create our own schedules, I've been the one that's been home taking care of our children.
00:59:44I literally went to nothing.
00:59:45I went to working in clubs, going to charity four or five in the morning.
00:59:49I passed out from exhaustion one night because I would work all night so I could keep my days open.
00:59:55But then we only had one car, so I had to take my family to school in the morning, school and work.
01:00:01And then me and Akif would have some work to do.
01:00:03So sometimes I wasn't sleeping.
01:00:07Today, October 26th, in about a half an hour, my partner, Akif Staples and I are meeting with the mayor's office.
01:00:14When we got together last year to put this thing in motion, ultimately we knew we needed funding.
01:00:20We needed the support of people hired bigger than us.
01:00:23Programs, especially Black-led programs for children in the city, right, grassroots, just starting out.
01:00:38A lot of times these programs falter because we don't get the proper funding.
01:00:42Yes, that F word, funding.
01:00:45Funding, funding, funding.
01:00:47And being very honest, a lot of times it's not coming from our community that we're serving.
01:00:51We haven't necessarily learned how to be totally charitable to each other.
01:00:58And those big private foundations, they make you jump through loops and paperwork you to death and disqualification.
01:01:08They move the goalposts a lot.
01:01:09Because even when you're there, right, Akif and I, we're learning this.
01:01:14We're climbing this ladder.
01:01:15Ultimately, they come back and try to teach others.
01:01:17And we see how the goalposts, you know, you're a small organization because there's two of us, but another organization is big and they have five people and they get, you know, millions of dollars.
01:01:29Right now, North Philadelphia School giving kids 13 books apiece, pre-K and kindergarten students.
01:01:36We do two to three interactive readings with them.
01:01:40And, you know, that costs money, right?
01:01:43It costs $45,000 to get all those books.
01:01:46And we try to figure out how to do it.
01:01:48How can we do it for the whole school district?
01:01:49How can we do it for all the kids in the city and all the cities?
01:01:54We know how there's a path there.
01:01:56There's other blueprints there of organizations that have been successful throughout the country.
01:02:01But it doesn't happen without funding.
01:02:04The only way for you to survive is to have funds, some type of funds.
01:02:11And there are so many great organizations that don't see the light of day.
01:02:16You could have Miss Annie May, who has been on Westchester Avenue for 50 some odd years,
01:02:25just taking care of the kids, providing diapers, providing things for new mothers or new parents out there.
01:02:35And they don't get any recognition, but they just do it because of their love for their community, their love for people.
01:02:44And they ran in the house.
01:02:45And their parents say, don't you ever go outside?
01:02:47Don't you ever go outside again without asking for a school?
01:02:50A school?
01:02:50A school?
01:02:51Mission!
01:02:53Mission!
01:02:53Mission!
01:02:54Don't go outside without asking for permission.
01:02:56You just can't be a father to your kids.
01:03:00You have to be a father to your community.
01:03:02So one of the things we say is, Father's Week 365 is a father initiative that engages fathers
01:03:09and their kids' early literacy and kids in their community.
01:03:14He put on his boots.
01:03:15He put on his shirt.
01:03:16He put on his jacket.
01:03:17He put on his scarf.
01:03:18He put on his hat.
01:03:19Then he put on his...
01:03:20What do you put on?
01:03:21When you put on your hands when it's cold.
01:03:22He put the gloves on.
01:03:26Then he ran outside.
01:03:27We can just show up at a very early stage of their lives.
01:03:31And then they get to see us in that position and to be able to champion something like literacy,
01:03:40reading, making sure that you dream big in this life, we want them to know that it's coming
01:03:49from us and it may not look the way they expected, but now they have that possibility within themselves.
01:04:01And then we want to make sure that other men, fathers, father figures, caregivers out there who are with these children see us doing it and are able to take that on as well.
01:04:17You can't buy the type of energy that's put into these kids, not even from a babysitter.
01:04:24And it's nice to have that, you know, because I get to live a great life and really only have to do half of it.
01:04:32And he does a lot of the work in between.
01:04:35The homework is done.
01:04:37You know, the kids are well behaved.
01:04:39If there's ever an issue with them, all he has to do is walk in the room.
01:04:43Meanwhile, I'm screaming and hollering and try to, like, get everything, you know, in order and make them listen to me.
01:04:51They think I'm a joke.
01:04:52You know, mom's silly.
01:04:54Mom's goofy.
01:04:54She's, you know, she's not really serious when she's yelling.
01:04:57Meanwhile, he can walk into a room and just be quiet and stay in there and the room goes silent and everybody does what they need to do.
01:05:05You can't bottle that up.
01:05:07If I could bottle that up, I would be rich.
01:05:09I would.
01:05:10Peaches, peaches.
01:05:11Squeaky, leaky, rubber ducky, lucky, lucky, time to fly, rubber ducky going.
01:05:17Oh, my boy.
01:05:20Here we go.
01:05:21Rubber ducky.
01:05:22Bye, bye, bye.
01:05:24Bye, bye.
01:05:24Favorite jammies?
01:05:25Where do you think they going?
01:05:26Favorite jammies.
01:05:27Oh, girl, boy.
01:05:28There you go.
01:05:29Alien, little lambies, they going.
01:05:32Oh, girl, boy.
01:05:34Bunny wipers, they going.
01:05:37Oh, girl, boy.
01:05:39Uh-oh.
01:05:39Stinky bunny diapers, they going.
01:05:42Oh, girl, boy.
01:05:44When we realized, wow, you know, there's just not enough voices out here speaking about early literacy,
01:05:50especially in the communities that we're touching, all those ways that we can create content,
01:05:56um, to help better our community.
01:05:58Well, literally, when we started this, it was the second reading we've ever, we ever did.
01:06:03And, um, from there to now, it's like, wow, we, we've really done a lot.
01:06:08You know, we've read to over 8,000 children.
01:06:12We've, uh, given out over 50,000 books.
01:06:15Um, we've trained almost thousands of parents.
01:06:20I mean, for the first two years, we did this with no money.
01:06:22We did this with no money, really not even anyone knowing about us.
01:06:26And now to be featured on the news four or five times now, and we're actually impacting kids.
01:06:34Like, we're still doing what we set out to do from the beginning.
01:06:37I'm able to do something that I, I wish somebody, I was calling for Mr. A and Mr. B to come help me with reading.
01:06:45Telling kids that, hey, even if you're struggling with reading, you're going to be okay.
01:06:48It means a lot when you see someone going through what you do, what you went through, and you see them in a successful position.
01:06:54Because it's like, wow, okay, this is not a death sentence.
01:06:58There are not enough black male educators.
01:07:01And when they see us, um, we want that, we want to represent, uh, images or models that they can relate to in their own household.
01:07:18We want to make sure that that engagement lives on.
01:07:22You know, watching it start off as just an idea with them.
01:07:25And I see how much effort my husband puts into all of this.
01:07:31And I watch the kids, and I watch how exciting they, you know, the experience is.
01:07:36I'm so proud of them.
01:07:38You know, and I know they're out here in this community making a difference.
01:07:41And that's really all that matters.
01:07:44There's a lot of legwork behind it.
01:07:45It's almost a lot of, um, knocking on doors and hoping that someone will, you know, be able to believe in your idea and want to support your idea.
01:07:56And being determined and believing in your idea enough to go through all of these different steps to get it to where it is now.
01:08:04I have to thank, you know, he's my stepfather, but I call him dad.
01:08:11You know, I have two dads.
01:08:13And it was when I was in high school, my senior year, playing sports, playing athletics.
01:08:19It was my stepfather that chose my path for me.
01:08:23I mean, he said, boy, you're going to Temple.
01:08:26And Brent and I joke about this all the time because that's where we met.
01:08:32That's where we met at Temple and his father was on the police force at Temple for a number of years.
01:08:41It was written.
01:08:42Brent and I mentioned that a lot.
01:08:43It was written that our fathers had a lot to do for what is going on right now with the organization.
01:08:54Fathers are so important.
01:08:55The message that we're trying to bring across, you don't have to wait for Superman.
01:08:59Put on your own goddamn cape and get out there and start saving lives.
01:09:03You don't have to wait till you have this degree.
01:09:06You don't have to wait till you have this website.
01:09:08You don't have to wait till you have all this funding.
01:09:10Get into the community where you're trying to help.
01:09:13Develop a plan on how you want to help and do the work.
01:09:17We literally were told y'all will never get fully funded by the William Penn Foundation for your little program in your black and brown community.
01:09:26A week later, we got a call from William Penn Foundation saying, we want to work with y'all.
01:09:32To any mother out there, parents, individuals who have created children.
01:09:50Do the very best you can to show to continue to show love, not only to your children, but to each other, because not all relationships are going to work out.
01:10:10However, something that I took on, I say, whoever has my child, whoever births my child, whoever that woman is, I'm going to do whatever it is that I possibly
01:10:40It's just so much more we have to do and want to do and can't wait to do.
01:10:44That's the beauty of it.
01:10:45You see the tree is growing, growing from the ground
01:11:02Beautiful and pure energy
01:11:08This tree is growing, changing
01:11:10Beautiful, growing beautiful
01:11:15Beautiful, growing beautiful
01:11:19Beautiful, growing beautiful
01:11:28Oh, bye, bye, bye
01:11:29Oh, bye, bye
01:11:31Oh, bye
01:11:32Oh, bye
01:11:32Oh, bye
01:11:33Slaming me
01:11:35Oh, bye
01:11:35Oh, bye
01:11:37Oh, bye
01:11:38Oh, bye
01:11:39Oh, bye
01:11:40Oh, bye
01:11:41Oh, bye
01:11:42It's beautiful
01:11:43Oh, can I look you beautiful
01:11:45Oh, can I look it beautiful
01:11:46Oh, yeah
01:11:46Brown me, brown me
01:11:49They don't get drink gatorly
01:11:53They sip hatorly
01:11:54Oh, yeah
01:11:56And what happens when they go out, when we want to buy stuff?
01:12:06Hey, look at too many things.
01:12:12Too many things, hold on, we only want to do.
01:12:16What else we do?
01:12:20What's that?
01:12:26I love you, though.
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