Young Fathers
/I had been in Administration in San Francisco State’s Head Start Program, hen the new administration took over and eliminated my position. I decided to take a position in direct service. I wanted to work awhile longer to qualify for my pension. I landed in the Western Addition of San Francisco and found myself recruiting to fill up our child care centers. Along with PSAs, flier postings, word of mouth, and traveling with the SF Library Adult Literacy Van, I decided to chance street canvassing. In my early days I would stand outside the McDonalds, grocery stores and small neighborhood businesses, and pass out my fliers. As I took to the streets, I would usually spot a group of young men on the corner peddling their wares, I would avoid that corner.
When I felt the young men were familiar with my presence in their hood, I decided to approach them. “Do y’all have any babies between the ages of 2 and 4 that need to be in school? I work at that childcare center across the street”. “Yeah, I told my girl to put Dante in school, I will have her come to see you,” taking my flier. “Yeah, my babies’ Momma is trifling, she know my son needs to be in school.” I received varying other comments that were encouraging.
Next week the young men are at their usual corner and I approached, “How is everyone today, any luck yet with the kids coming to school?” “She didn’t come to see you yet, I’m gonna have to get on her.” “Yeah, I told me girl too.” At this point I told them I would do weekly check ins.
On the 3rd week as I approached with my,” How’s it going guys?” They began to question me asking had I been contacted, when I said no, one of the young men said, “I will take you to my baby’s house right now.” He did, and with that escort and more referrals, I began to get more kids from that public housing complex than we had space for. I created a waiting list. The kids were getting a head start and their young fathers had opened up that opportunity for them. Hopefully, their futures would be bright.
