By Franklyn M. Malone, CEO, The 100 Fathers, Inc.

May 23, 2016

There is much concern in the Washington, D.C. area by community leaders about the lack of options presented to our youth in the area of sustainable community programs! After attending a community meeting in the Mayfair community last week with Charles Eaves of the Ward 7 Drug Free Community, it became clear that in order for our community and our youth to co-exist peacefully there must be many more “Sustainable” community supports in place.

The community to prison pipeline only gives us more incarceration. It has created, over the years, an unsustainable alternative that now has “hundreds (and maybe thousands) of returning citizens” to a city that must be prepared to offer jobs, counselling, fatherhood support groups, flexible and accessible social support services, long-term connection services, family re-building services, housing and character enhancement just to name a some of what is needed.