To honor the past we must improve upon the present! This is the philosophy of the Native American Fatherhood and Families Association (NAFFA) who was recently awarded a cooperative agreement from the Administration for Native Americans to conduct a National Outreach campaign focused on promoting the importance of fatherhood in Native communities. NAFFA also believes fathers are the solution to addressing the problems faced by Native communities, that they are the greatest untapped resources, and that fathers must take the lead in keeping families together.
The Administration for Native Americans supports NAFFA’s philosophy and believes the capacity to be a responsible mother or father is formed over a lifetime. ANA continues to support community based approaches to strengthening families and Native Nations that allow for mothers and fathers to succeed as parents and providers for future generations.
In partnership with the Native American Fatherhood and Families Association (NAFFA), the Administration for Native Americans is conducting a National Native American Responsible Fatherhood Day on Saturday, June 15, 2013 to honor the role that fathers play in the daily lives of their children, their families, and their communities. The theme of this event is “Fathers Sound the War Cry – Keep Families Together”. ANA along with NAFFA would like to strongly encourage all Native communities throughout the United States, including American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands to organize events on this day to celebrate and promote Fatherhood.
Below are some ideas you can do in your community to participate in the National Native American Responsible Fatherhood Day:
· Encourage Tribal leaders to acknowledge the National Native American Responsible Fatherhood Day with an official endorsement, announcement or declaration.
· Organize community events or activities such as a seminar or gathering in your community focused on responsible fatherhood. Invite appropriate speakers such as an Elder father to address the community. Plan cultural and traditional activities for youth, Elders, and parents that educate, as well as, entertain and bring the parents and children together. Examples include: storytelling, lessons on traditional family and culture, etc.
· Invite local business organizations, merchants or other interested groups to sponsor activities or partner in events for National Native American Responsible Fatherhood Day.
· Ask members of the local media (newspaper, radio, television) to help promote National Native American Responsible Fatherhood Day.
· Conduct a Family Game Night with Parents and their children. Ask the children for nominations for the Best Parent Award.
· Organize community storytelling sessions about the importance of Fathers or Mothers and allow fathers or mothers to share stories of their childhood and their children.
· Organize a Father’s picnic and provide activities that show the importance of Fathers’ Involvement. Invite children to attend and participate.
· Partner with community schools, including Head Start and Child Care, to implement a Parent-Teacher night promoting Parents involvement in their children’s education.
· Conduct a camping trip for parents and their children. Include campfire stories, smores, and other camping activities that provide children the opportunity to interact with their parents. You can also conduct camping trips for fathers and sons/daughters or mothers and sons/daughters.
· Implement a poster contest titled “What I like best about my Dad” and award prizes for age categories.
· Conduct a Father and Child Feast. Provide cultural activities to bring the fathers and children together to promote the special bond fathers and children have. This can include drumming, singing, storytelling, and other traditional teachings on the value of family.
Please get involved in this important outreach campaign. For additional information on this event, please contact Elvira James at the Native American Fatherhood and Families Association at 480-833-5007. You may also go to the following link for additional information on this event and their outreach campaign: http://aznaffa.org/nnafi.html.