BUILDING FAMILIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

For Immediate Release

Contact Esther Productions, Inc

202-829-0591

jonetta rose barras, Francis Gregory Neighborhood Library, Esther Productions, Inc

to present BUILDING FAMILY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

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Washington, D.C.—A coalition of nonprofit organizations and award-winning author, jonetta rose barras have joined forces this year to present on June 11 at the Francis Gregory Neighborhood Library (3660 Alabama Ave. SE.) from 2 PM to 4 PM an informative and provocative moderated conversation about the state of family in 21st Century America and what can be done to build that critical unit in American society. The event is free and opened to the general public.

The conversation which will feature national and regional leaders including Brittany Nicole Adams, MS Resident in Counseling and co-director Fatherless Daughter Reconciliation Project co-director of Esther Productions Inc.’s Fatherless Daughter Reconciliation Project; HyeSook Chung, director of D.C. Action for Children;, Darryl C. Green, Deep Forgiveness, and Frank Love (Yao Tyus), Host Frank Love Relationships Radio Show and author of “How to Gracefully Exit a Relationship.” Brother Yao (Hoke) Glover, assistant professor at Bowie State University will help moderate the conversation.

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Family is the bulwark against nearly every social problem. Whether we are talking about ending poverty, the state of black males, juvenile incarceration, substance abuse, or teen pregnancy, a strong, attentive, and nurturing family is the ultimate antidote. But without a sustained and powerful focus on family, the social challenges cannot be fully resolved.

In these times when family has begun to look differently but is no less significant, determining the best way to build it as a viable and critical element of an individual’s development, including parents, becomes increasingly important. Those participating in the conversation will offer their perspective on the continuing and unmatched role of family in this 21st Century. They also will provide tangible steps for strengthening existing families.

Biography of Participants

​Brittany Adams, MS, ATR is a Clinical Therapist at a Behavioral Health Center for adolescents. As an arts therapist, she works with adolescent, service providers, and families. She is also co-director of Esther Productions Inc.’s Fatherless Daughter Reconciliation Project. An accomplished artist, and arts administrator , Ms. Adams graduated from Hampton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts and minor in Criminology. She obtained her Masters of Science from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Art therapy and counseling. She also produced a mural for the Marriage and Family Thirty-Fourth Annual Conference, and a piece for the Hampton University Institute Proton Therapy Center. Ms. Adams was a highly celebrated artist on Hampton’s campus and in the International African American Journal Reviews.

HyeSook Chung is the executive director of DC Action for Children, child advocacy organization working to bring high impact outcomes by visualizing data in service to DC children. She serves on numerous advisory boards focused on social change and outcomes for children, including the Annie E. Casey’s KIDS COUNT national steering committee, DataKind and Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. In addition to having expertise on issues that affect young children, Ms. Chung is a data and technology enthusiast whose innovative vision for data work has highlighted at IMB Insight Data Conference, the list of Rockefeller Foundation’s Top 100 Innovative NGO’s, Unicef and SXSW Education.

Darryl C. Green is the president of Deep Forgiveness. As an advocate for the restoration of families and economic empowerment for the disenfranchised, he is a staunch proponent of reconciliation and forgiveness. Green has been characterized by industry professionals as an innovative change agent on mental health, healing, social welfare and social justice. He has served as program manager for a 60-bed facility for men transitioning from homelessness, incarceration and substance abuse under the auspices of Catholic Charities Baltimore, MD. He also was Male Service Facilitator for Casey Family Services, the direct service agency for the Annie Casey Foundation. Green was the lead consultant for Operation Safe Streets Southwest, an initiative by Mayor Rawlings Blake to combat shootings and murders in Baltimore, Maryland. He hold a master’s degree in Criminal Justice with special interest in Crime and Delinquency Prevention and Control from Coppin State University, a master’s in Social Work with special interest in Urban Children, Youth and Families from Morgan State University and a Bachelor’s Criminal Justice from Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina.

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Frank Love (Yao Tyus) is a loving mate, father of five and author, “How to Gracefully Exit a Relationship.” A native Washingtonian, he has degrees from both Howard and The George Washington Universities. He has spent years deal with relationship dynamics, including around issues of loyalty, trust and partnership. He served as host of the Frank Love Relationships Radio Show.

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Yao (Hoke) Glover is the former owner of Karibu Books and a poet whose poetry and essays have been published in African American Review, Obsidian III, Tidal Basin Review, Smartish Pace, Beltway Quarterly, Beltway, Spectre, Libations, Plougshares, and other journals and anthologies. Mr. Glover is also assistant professor of English at Bowie State University. Much of his work explores issues of inheritance and family. He and Karla Wilkerson-Glover have been married for twenty-four years; they have three children.