Project Fatherhood : A Story of Courage and Healing in One of America's Toughest Communities

"When "Big Mike" Cummings asked Jorja Leap to co-lead a group for men learning how to father their children, she had no idea what to expect. What unfolds in these pages is the story of Project Fatherhood and its members as they meet every Wednesday night in Watts - the epicenter of violence in Los Angeles. The struggles the book illuminates are heartbreaking, infuriating and hilarious. Over time, the fathers both support and argue with one another about the best strategies for raising children and dealing with "significant others." Their family relationships are freighted with joy and uncertainty. But the story moves into deeper territory as the men confront long-term loss and trauma, the chronic pressure of poverty and the unquenchable desire to somehow do better and provide more for the next generation. Many fathers, newly released from incarceration, struggle to follow the road back from prison, which they navigate with equal parts skill and ineptitude. Others struggle to find jobs, observing, "A good father provides for his children." As the author spends time with these men outside of the group - they share secrets that shed greater light on their efforts to build a life on the ruins of the past. In the end, these fathers reveal a purpose beyond themselves: they want to heal the community they once sought to destroy. This is an intimate book about fatherhood written from the standpoint of someone who initially appears to have nothing in common with these men. Leap is told repeatedly, "You don't know what it's like to be us." Yet, over time, they all discover they share more than they ever imagined. Project Fatherhood offers a portrait of loss, deprivation and pain. But more than that, it offers a view of the human spirit and its unrelenting search for redemption"--;Watts -- The father wound -- Neighborhood -- Are you gonna leave us, too? -- Brothers -- Abuse -- Leelee -- Fatherhood -- Daddy's girl -- Baby mamas -- Men at work -- Job creation -- Big Mama -- The light comes in -- Checkmated -- The nation -- Hero of the neighborhood -- Twins -- We are all family -- Letter from Scotland -- Photo finish -- We are your daddies -- Hood Day -- Sugarbear -- Twelve more days -- Walking through the door -- Jamel -- Epilogue. A group of former gang members come together to help one another answer the question "How can I be a good father when I've never had one?" In 2010, former gang leader turned community activist Big Mike Cummings asked UCLA gang expert Jorja Leap to co-lead a group of men struggling to be better fathers in Watts, South Los Angeles, a neighborhood long burdened with a legacy of racialized poverty, violence, and incarceration. These men, black and brown, from late adolescence to middle age, are trying to heal themselves and their community, and above all to build their identities as fathers. Each week, they come together to help one another answer the question "How can I be a good father when I've never had one?" Project Fatherhood follows the lives of the men as they struggle with the pain of their own losses, the chronic pressures of poverty and unemployment, and the unquenchable desire to do better and provide more for the next generation. Although the group begins as a forum for them to discuss issues relating to their roles as parents, it slowly grows to mean much more: it becomes a place where they can share jokes and traumatic experiences, joys and sorrows. As the men repair their own lives and gain confidence, the group also becomes a place for them to plan and carry out activities to help the Watts community grow as well as thrive. By immersing herself in the lived experiences of those working to overcome their circumstances, Leap not only dramatically illustrates the realities of fathers trying to do the right thing, but she also paints a larger sociological portrait of how institutional injustices become manifest in the lives of ordinary people. At a time in which racial justice seems more elusive than ever--stymied by the generational cycles of mass incarceration and the cradle-to-prison pipeline--the group's development over time demonstrates real-life movement toward solutions as the men help one another make their families and their community stronger. From the Hardcover edition "When "Big Mike" Cummings asked Jorja Leap to co-lead a group for men learning how to father their children, she had no idea what to expect. What unfolds in these pages is the story of Project Fatherhood and its members as they meet every Wednesday night in Watts - the epicenter of violence in Los Angeles. The struggles the book illuminates are heartbreaking, infuriating and hilarious. Over time, the fathers both support and argue with one another about the best strategies for raising children and dealing with "significant others." Their family relationships are freighted with joy and uncertainty. But the story moves into deeper territory as the men confront long-term loss and trauma, the chronic pressure of poverty and the unquenchable desire to somehow do better and provide more for the next generation. Many fathers, newly released from incarceration, struggle to follow the road back from prison, which they navigate with equal parts skill and ineptitude. Others struggle to find jobs, observing, "A good father provides for his children." As the author spends time with these men outside of the group - they share secrets that shed greater light on their efforts to build a life on the ruins of the past. In the end, these fathers reveal a purpose beyond themselves: they want to heal the community they once sought to destroy. This is an intimate book about fatherhood written from the standpoint of someone who initially appears to have nothing in common with these men. Leap is told repeatedly, "You don't know what it's like to be us." Yet, over time, they all discover they share more than they ever imagined. Project Fatherhood offers a portrait of loss, deprivation and pain. But more than that, it offers a view of the human spirit and its unrelenting search for redemption"-- Provided by publisher