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"Fishes are quiet, but big doggies are-"

Loud!

"Thinking, thinking you got to be quiet,

but singing is-"

Loud!

"Slippers are quiet, but mommy's shoes are-"

Loud!

More than willing to share.

You don't have any books at your house?

Well, we are going to try to help you guys get some books.

Matter of fact, just one of you guys answer this question,

one of you three guys, okay?

I did a book about quiet and loud.

Nasir, can you name something that was loud?

The dog, the big dog.

I'm from this community,

but I didn't realize 61% of kids in poor communities

don't have libraries.

It was three kids, we gave them a book.

They were literally dancing about this book,

and those kids had nothing.

That's when we were like,

"Wow, we ought to start giving these kids more books."

To get these couple of books,

it's the smallest gesture, but it's the biggest gesture.

Over the years,

Akeiff and I worked in social services

throughout Philadelphia, Camden, New Jersey,

we would come across these amazing young men

that were usually in some type of criminal trouble

already through the schools we were working at,

the programs we were working at.

One of the main things we noticed is that most

of these kids could not read.

Having worked in a juvenile detention center,

it wasn't something that I would've thought of,

"I wonder if this kid here knows how to read?"

These kids are good kids, these are nice kids,

but if you read their criminal jacket,

they're not nice kids.

Your choices are extremely limited when you can't read,

getting a job, starting a business,

opening up a bank account.

I mean you could go on and on,

getting your driver's license.

If these babies can't read,

they don't see hope for themselves.

If a child has access, physical access,

to go and pick up a book in their home at any time,

that increases, greatly increases, their ability to read.

Chicago is like the epicenter of violence right now.

Go back to 2012.

Chicago reading scores, 17% kids were proficient,

2% were overly proficient.

So 19% of kids in Chicago were efficient readers in 2012.

Fast-forward that eight years later,

who's killing each other in the streets,

the 18, 19, 20-year-old eighth graders

from eighth years ago.

People don't realize that when you don't know how to read

and you're poor, there is basically,

there's not a lot of options for you.

A young man shot 18, 20 some times right here

in North Philadelphia.

These stories are almost common.

We can ignore it all we want to,

but this stuff is punching us in our face every day.

That is why the message that we share

is so relevant because we have to have more men

with voices willing to step up in these communities.

Reading is so essential outside of being fun

is how we better ourselves,

and it's going to impact our community,

and it's going to move it forward.

I've been reading books since I was about a baby,

and I've loved them because my dad always read them.

Ready?

Okay.

So we got to choose something to read.

I got used to reading a lot more books than usual,

and finding out more kinds of books.

I've been getting real interested in them.

What would you like to read?

We got National Geographics over there, we got magazines.

We got Beauty Basic.

What I've learned about reading,

let the child pick the book,

let them read the story the best that they can,

even if it is just looking at the pictures

and reciting whatever it is they see

and having fun with that.

What's the author's name?

Langton Huggies.

This is Langston Hughes.

Very good, that's a great try.

It does look like, what did you say Huggies?

Langston Huggies.

Well, he's Langston Huggies today, okay?

What's the title of the book?

Let's read the black first and then the red.

It gives the child their own new outlook on, hey,

so I'm going to go on and explore

and I'm going to go on a safari.

I'm going to take this trip to London, England.

I'm going to become a fashion designer,

all with this one book that I've chosen myself.

Reading and early literacy is probably

the most important thing in impoverished communities

that we can give our kids.

It doesn't cost much.

You get to pick a book, okay?

This is a book for you to have forever and ever, amen.

Okay? - I want this one.

No, no, no. - What book do you want?

What book do you want?

That's "Cinderella."

I had a feeling you're going to take that.

Nice.

This book for our princess.

From zero to eight, zero to third grade,

you learn how to read.

From third grade on, eight, nine years on,

you read to learn.

That's why they say if you haven't got it by third grade,

you're going to end up in a world of trouble

because no one else is teaching you after that.

Poor communities, I don't care if you Black, white,

Hispanic, whatever, you don't have that money

to spend on reading, so what happens

is you end up falling into traps of your community.

You end up dropping out of school,

you end up falling into prison.

♪ A, B, C, D, E, F, G ♪

That's why Akeiff and I said,

"Let's start with the daycares."

How do you break the cycle of something?

Stop it in the beginning.

Because when you look at the statistics around men reading

with children, the outcomes are astronomical.

♪ Y and Z ♪

♪ Now I know my ABCs ♪

♪ Next time won't you sing with me ♪

Yay, great job.

Between birth to five-years-old,

those years are very crucial.

We want to keep young, beautiful, Black Latino young men,

young poor children out of the prison system.

And the best way to do this, to attack it

when they're starting to learn how

to do the most important thing kids will learn how to do,

and that is read.

Say, "Hey, let's get these dads involved super early

from the beginning,

and let's get them involved in literacy."

When I was two-years-old, I was in a big custody battle.

I was removed from my father, or he was removed

from my life.

I didn't even know about my biological father

until I was five-years-old and I was sitting

in a barbershop with my mother and a man came up

to me with two boys.

He said, "Are you Akeiff?"

I'm like, "Who is this man?"

He said, "I'm your dad."

He said, "These are your two brothers."

As we're leaving up, we're in the car,

and my mother didn't say anything to me.

And we're almost home, and I said, "Mom," I said,

"Was that man my dad?"

She said, "Akeiff, I got something to tell you."

Being a committed father came from not having it.

Okay, ready?

My biological father, he had left the household

when I was two.

I did have a stepfather for about six,

seven years of my life.

Mm-hmm.

We didn't have a close-knit relationship.

It was like I knew he was there.

It was a sense of security.

However, we didn't have,

I would say meaningful conversations

that could set me up for the future.

I have not faulted anyone for what has occurred,

because fatherhood is so important to me,

and something that I hold close.

Back in April of 2008, I was at my mother's house

and I was sick.

I had lost about 50 pounds, and I was in denial.

My sister was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes

when we were younger, and my mother had onset diabetes

when she turned 50-years-old.

It got to a point where my mother said,

"Akeiff, you have to check yourself in to the hospital."

I'll be perfectly honest, I didn't want to have diabetes.

I was diagnosed on April 4th, 2008.

In 2009, I was married and became a father

to our then 10-year-old son.

And since that time, my wife and I,

we've had two more children.

I knew my diabetes was not under control,

and I had to start making a choice for myself

and my life if I wanted to be here for our children.

Thinking about our, I'll call them our babies,

if I don't learn how to control this,

the diabetes can eat me up inside.

Me being a father first time around with an infant,

there are things that I'm with him all day,

and I just want to make sure that my little man

is okay and stays healthy.

Diabetes and fatherhood.

I really, I stay as positive as I possibly can,

because my wife and I,

our schedules, there are a lot of times I'm

with our children just thinking back on moments

when my blood sugar can drop really low.

I'm telling my children, "Daddy doesn't feel good."

You did?

All right.

Just what to do if Daddy passes out

because I could be anywhere with them,

and it could hit me just like that, and that sucks.

Daddy.

That was a nice lunchbox.

Thank you.

I do it for our children, so that I can be here present

to see them grow up, and to see their children.

Become a grandparent,

even a great-grandparent maybe great, great.

Can you take your last few bites?

I don't know if I can eat it all.

Well, go ahead and take your bites.

I have a lot left.

Go ahead, you need to eat some more.

I'll give you two minutes and we got to go in, okay?

I give our children the engagement,

the attention a million-fold.

Everything that I did not have, I give them.

When we go into our lessons when we're talking

to the kids in early childhood and in the daycares,

and I get to tell them my story on their level.

I say, "Mr. Ray got really sick and had to go"

to the hospital, and the doctor told me

that 'Mr. Ray, you're going to have

to do some things different with your life,

and instead of all that candy or junk

that you may have been eating, start focusing

"on more fruits and vegetables'."

To implant that into these children,

letting them know, okay, do we want candy?

Yes.

Do we want soda?

Sometimes.

Or whatever juices.

One of the stories I read was about a healthy snack.

Who remembers, well, everybody,

what was the name of the healthy snack that I like?

- Me, popcorn. - Popcorn, yes.

It's just like, "Okay, we can have it

but don't have too much of it."

Then we ask them, "What are some fruits that you eat?

What are some vegetables that you eat?"

And we make a promise right there in that sitting.

It's like, "Hey, can you promise Mr. Ray

that you'll eat more fruits and more vegetables?"

Anybody like hot sauce on their popcorn?

Me!

Yes, yes.

Okay, this story is about hot sauce on my popcorn.

Ready?

"Hot sauce on my popcorn."

I like to have hot sauce on my popcorn.

Yeah, I know it's weird, but not as weird as hot sauce

on the top of a beaver's beard.

I like hot sauce on my popcorn.

Yeah, I know it's strange, but not as strange

"as hot sauce on a handful of change."

Well, I like hot sauce and I like spicy things,

but I'm not a fan of hot sauce and popcorn.

Kind of weird, right?

Yeah.

"I like hot sauce on my popcorn.

Yeah, I know it's funny, but not as funny as hot sauce

on a beehive full of honey."

It's enough for me.

Being a father and living with this diagnosis

has opened my eyes to a new way of living.

And I,

I enjoy taking that on.

I accept the challenge.

My name is Brent Harris Johnstone.

I have dyslexia.

♪ Y and Z ♪

♪ Now I know my ABCs ♪

As a person who struggles with reading,

you lose a lot of confidence.

It can be a very scary place.

Mr. B started learning how to read, man,

I started having some problems.

I started seeing words differently.

I started seeing words that wasn't there.

The words was there, I wasn't able to read them.

Childhood literacy is my passion

because I also realized where a lot of struggles

in my life came from and insecurities in my life

came from with being a struggling childhood reader.

If you guys go to school and you start reading

and you start having problems, can you make me a promise?

Can we make Mr. B a promise?

Can you promise that you will tell your teachers?

You will tell your parents

that you're having problems with reading?

Can you do that for me? - Can you do that?

Who promised Mr. B that?

Throw your hands in the air.

Throw your hands in the air.

Wave them like you just don't care.

Wave them like you just don't care.

Now, listen up, even though I had problems with reading

and writing, Mr. B graduated college,

and I'm also an author of two books.

So just because you're having problems

doesn't mean you can't get help.

Embrace reading with your child now when they're babies,

because one of the biggest things you're going to find out,

one is their interests, what they like.

But if they're struggling, when is the best time

to find out if your kid is a struggling reader,

at 13 or at three?

Because at 13, now they're surviving.

At three, we can address these issues.

Who knows why you read?

Raise your hands.

Why do we read?

Silly Billy.

Silly Billy.

I'm not silly.

My children don't know they impacted me

before they even appeared here, before I knew who they were.

At 18, 19, 20-years-old when I knew

in the future I wanted to have kids,

I wanted to work with them.

I wanted to help them with their homework.

I said, "I have to address this reading thing at some point.

I have to get better.

I have to tell people I have to ask for help."

My kids changed my life because without them,

I don't know if I ever

would've addressed my reading problem.

I don't know if I ever would've talked to kids

about reading, parents, the community.

I would've did none of that if I didn't even think

I was going to have kids and wanting to be there for them,

so my kids changed my life years before they was even born.

I got help for myself because I knew I was going

to be a father, God-willing,

I knew that I wanted to have family.

Get it, show the muscles, get the muscles going.

Ah.

That's when your Pop-Pop was in the newspaper.

He was on the front of the newspaper, 2006.

This was right before you were born,

before he started getting real sick.

They did a big article on him in the paper.

All these kids, your Pop-Pop helped thousands of kids.

He started out just trying to help his own kids.

We had to throw a bunch of hay for everybody at the stable.

Mase, when you get older,

you're going to be throwing hay, boy.

I've been struggling with reading

since the day I started reading.

Where do I fit in this world?

How can I be successful?

These questions are starting to arise at nine, 10,

11-years-old, so it can be a dark place

at a very early time for kids who struggle with reading.

You got to figure out how can I make it

in this world without one of the greatest assets

to have in this world?

Reading.

Mason's your friend?

No.

It's me, right?

It's me.

Gianna your friend?

No.

- You're not Daddy. - See the bulls get along.

He's not your friend.

No, you trying to set his up.

I feel this (indistinct).

My dad taught me how to read maps when I was young, right?

Because of that I always felt like I could get a job.

I could be a trucker.

I knew how to read maps.

All you had to do was follow lines.

I could do that.

There's no reading involved before GPS,

it's even easier now, but he taught me how to read,

so I had some hope.

My oldest brother was a trucker.

I knew you could make good money being a trucker,

so I had hope.

When you are a young person growing up in poor communities,

and you don't have hope, you start looking

for instant gratification.

He's not going to bite you.

You want to try?

It's like when you holding a hermit crab.

Like when you holding a hermit crab.

Yep, go ahead.

I'll show you.

I'll put it with you.

Hermit crab.

- You did it. - You did it, Mase.

See?

Feels funny, huh?

Did you get scared?

Go ahead, Gianna.

Like a hermit crab.

- Like a boss. - Like a boss.

By yourself.

Go by yourself, Mase.

With the other hand, do you have more-

There you go.

Whoa, little nibble.

A little nibble.

A little nibble.

Peace out, boy scout.

- I'm scared of heights. - You're scared of heights?

- It's on you. - They going to fill all this up today.

They went to go get hay.

They going to fill me up.

There's only four blocks high.

They're going to throw on top of you.

We going to leave you here.

- No. - Peace out, boy scout.

They just going throw all the hay on top of you,

boy scout.

No.

Jump down.

No.

Come on, I got you.

No, I might drop it.

I got you.

Just get me.

Baby.

Taking care of horses is good because you learn

that horses is totally dependent on somebody else.

Like you guys.

How y'all depending on me and mommy.

Being a kid, taking care of animals is a good way

of learning how to take care of other people

that's depending on them.

If these people don't come and feed their horses,

they don't eat.

Take charge, there you go.

Call him, you're the leader.

He going to follow you.

Remember that.

If you're going to be a leader,

you got to make sure your people following you.

Don't stand right in front of him because if he take off,

he could run you over, right?

Always stay to the side of him.

I don't think nobody faster than daddy.

What you think? - Golden baby.

Golden baby?

Yep.

Who feed you?

Yeah.

Then where Gianna moves at?

Where Gianna?

See if you like Gianna moves.

Go ahead, Gianna.

Do it.

Pick out the nose.

Pick out the nose.

He said get his boogies out.

He said get his boogies out.

Hey, get your friend from school.

I'm not the best helper with homework, but like my dad,

I set expectations.

I try.

I try to put them around the best people

who are good for homework.

My kids, they don't know nothing else.

They changed my life.

And by doing that, they changed the lives of a lot

of other young people I help.

Imagine if you ate that every day.

You probably be so fat.

- Bye yes horse. - Ah, bye yes horse.

We will always miss you.

I know for Brent his struggles with dyslexia,

or having these struggles and not knowing what that was,

can be very challenging.

Those are things as a parent that you just want

to safeguard them.

You just want to protect them from all of that,

and to give them all the tools that you can to be sure

that they don't have those obstacles.

But if they do, that you're there to assist

and help them with those things.

Thank God for my father.

My dad started working at Temple University.

When you worked at Temple University,

your kids could go to school for free.

And from the time we were born,

we knew that the expectation was, "Y'all going to Temple."

As I got older I'm like, wow,

that's amazing that this man not only set an expectation

for us, he created the pathway for us to actually do it.

I was fumbling around with going to different colleges,

and Temple University showed up,

and they had offered a full scholarship to me

because I was playing sports.

My grades were fairly good with the school system I was in.

I was actually going to go to another school because Temple

wasn't winning at the time.

My stepfather in our house, and I remember this,

he said it with conviction.

He said, "Boy, you're going to Temple."

Because that was the only school that offered a full ride.

I met Brent at Temple.

We both played football together.

And coming out of camp, breaking camp,

he and another gentleman were the first interactions

that I had as far as getting accustomed to the life,

to college life.

I believe this relationship was destined to be.

Akeiff and I are so much alike,

but we're so much different,

and I think that's the beauty in our relationship.

When you come into our readings,

you'll see me reading a lot.

It's funny because I'm the struggling reader.

I'll be reading a lot and this guy is flying

around the moon and doing airplanes.

He's acting the book out.

I'll be honest with you, I wouldn't be

that good at doing it.

- Brent, he is a goof. - No.

Bring them back up to the sky.

Who can touch this guy?

Touch this guy where my dancers at, where my dancers at?

Little dance with you touching that sky.

Okay, now go back to them toes.

Back to the toes.

Brent's voice takes over the entire room.

He's so boisterous, and he has this squeak to his voice.

And so to the kids, he's like a little cartoon character.

Where's your dance?

I see you over there playing.

Look at that.

Look at y'all.

He's loud.

Uh-oh.

Where y'all think that's going?

Overboard.

From my observation of Akeiff,

Akeiff is maybe a little bit more serious.

♪ The itsy-bitsy spider went up the water spout ♪

Nobody really sees Akeiff's personality other than us.

He's a goof.

♪ Washed the spider out ♪

♪ Out came the sun and dried up all the rain ♪

♪ And the itsy-bitsy spider went up the spout again ♪

He's so serious out in public,

and to see him let that shell down and just become that,

it's great, because I know who that is.

They were sleeping.

So guess what he did?

He went to his closet.

He opened his closet, he put on his pants,

he put on his boots, he put on his shirt,

he put on his back, he put on his jacket.

He put on his hat.

Then he put on his what?

Gloves.

Then he ran outside.

He started doing a snow angel.

Then he started playing with Ava.

They're having fun.

She's swinging her (indistinct).

Guess who saw them next?

Dakota said, "Is that my friends out there having fun?"

They look like they would be coming in to

into a scared straight when you first see them

because they're huge.

You know what I mean?

But then when they lighten up,

and you get to hear this goofiness to them,

and how playful they are, it makes you want

to just jump in and do the things with them.

What's something that's loud?

- Tell him. - Say it loud.

- Airplane. - Huh?

- Airplane. - Airplane, yay.

Good job.

Great job.

They tell them to tell their parents

that please read this book.

Teach them how to beg their parents,

which is so funny to me.

They're going in the environments where some

of the kids don't speak English, but they can still feel,

you can still see them get excited,

and still see them understand what's going on.

It might probably be the best thing to happen in their day.

It's powerful.

I didn't get a high-five.

I didn't get a... Everybody going to get one.

Everybody going to get one.

Everybody.

Everybody in the club.

Clouds are white.

Clouds are white.

An ant is...

When I leave them, I feel Super Man, because I'm like,

I'm able to do something that I wish

somebody I was calling for Mr. A and Mr. B

to come help me with reading.

Read every day, okay?

Every day.

I never told anyone I struggle with reading, never.

Except for my mom, and some people at school

when I failed out of Temple University.

But I never mentioned, even though every report card

said it, I never said it.

I thought I was dumb.

And because I thought I was dumb,

I took chances I shouldn't have taken.

I didn't see a future that many people

might have assumed I saw.

I didn't see a future that a lot of people

who are great readers saw.

So when you're struggling with reading,

you're struggling with surviving.

When I was your age and I couldn't read like I wanted to,

guess what I used to do?

I would make up these stories.

I would grab my little pencil, I'd close my eyes,

and I would just make up all these fun stories

because it was hard for me to read.

So right now, what we're going to do,

we are going to make up a story together.

With my name being Mr. A and his name being Mr. B,

what we'd like to get started with is our ABCs.

Raise your hand if you know your ABCs.

Because we are in very rough neighborhoods

who may not have those resources,

we know the difference that the books are going to make

for these children, for these parents.

I had a young guy who couldn't spell is or it.

Sixth grade, 13-years-old, literally couldn't spell

is or it.

He was about to go outside and start to fight.

Everybody just wants to be good at something, right?

And when you're not a good reader,

you're not doing good in school, but you're still going

to school, you need to find where can I be good?

I cussed the teacher out good.

I run out of class good.

I beat people up good.

I disturb the class good.

You're looking for where I get my love at, right?

And that's natural.

People that are locked up are locked up for things

where they're really just trying to do something

to provide for themselves and their family,

but they have limited options on what they can choose to do.

When you teach someone how to read, that's love.

Giving them the ability to be able to learn.

Reading is love.

And so many of these young kids go

from being these young loved individuals to these older,

angry, upset individuals.

And a lot of it goes right back to reading.

August 10th, 1994, I was so scared.

That whole ride we talked about football.

I wanted to be like, "Dad, I'm scared.

I almost failed out of school, and I'm scared."

And I didn't feel like I could tell him that.

And I'm not sure how he would've even responded to that.

My dad, he wouldn't be crying.

He didn't cry.

That dude didn't cry.

Him and my brother, they don't cry.

I'm the cry baby.

And I always felt like, and this is not a knock on my dad,

no matter where my kids are, I want them to be able

to open up to me.

I do believe men of color can struggle

with being intimate with their children, family,

for whatever stigmas are out there,

not wanting your son to be soft.

Come on, Brice.

We do our own camera work.

I hug my boys.

We have the daughter, I hug her as well.

I give her a lot of hugs and kisses.

But I also kiss my boys.

I give them hugs.

I don't think that they're going to grow up to be something

that I would disapprove of.

They're going to be who they are ultimately,

and I'm going to love them regardless.

I never told my dad I loved him.

He never told me he loved me.

We showed it, right?

But we never had those moments like me and my son had

when I be like, "Yo, I love you, man."

He be like, "I love you too, daddy."

A lot of men my age and around there

haven't had those moments with their dads.

My Pop passed years ago.

I miss my dad.

It's weird because I actually feel like me and my son,

my son he plays with my dad.

And he doesn't know that, and I haven't told him that,

but it's like I'm getting a second chance

with my dad through my son.

Oh my god, Mason.

It sounds like you losing your voice.

Are you losing your voice, huh?

No.

You ready to go for a swim?

No.

You ready to go for a swim?

You said (indistinct).

I didn't grow up sitting on laps.

I didn't grow up getting hugs.

That is definitely something that I had

to create a nurturing side of me.

So when I go back and just seeing those experiences,

it's something that I'll have to work through.

That was something that I always took

from my relationship that I wanted to be able

to be so open with my emotions with my kids

that wherever they were at, we can emotionally connect.

Gianna, look at the camera, bub.

When me and my daughter was young,

I was working two jobs at the time.

A lot of times when I was getting home,

it was time for her bath time.

Bath and we read a book.

We snuggled, and we read the same books over

and over again, the same one.

But it was so special.

And I think when dads do this,

they start to realize how much power they really have

in the intimate part.

When it comes

to mothers being more of the nurturing type,

that's what I was for our children.

I'll use whipped cream.

Okay, take it like this and you just press it

on the side, okay?

Okay.

Okay there.

All right, Akeiff Staples' show.

That's my doctor tip, do it all here.

Don't we?

Say bye.

Say bye, say bye.

Mmm.

The boy's all there.

The boy's all there.

All right, let's go.

I can walk in the house and it could be 12:00 at night,

and they'll all still be on the couch watching TV.

And my first response could be,

"Why are they still up at 12:00?"

Or, "Why are they still on the couch?"

But they're cuddled up, and they're so just loving.

I knew for my daughter what that was going to be like

to be able to have her first love be her dad.

She made him mush where he

was a little bit more rugged before her.

We talk about the fathers and being intimate.

That's when I learned that it's okay.

It is okay to give these children love,

especially at a young age.

"I'll read some NAACP as is now customary."

This combination of letters

"is not a natural syllabic sound like..."

You don't have to be certified to read to your children.

You don't have to be certified to be engaged.

But we do know that when you take those actions,

change will happen.

In doing so, it creates new generational habits.

Now I'm giving my child this experience,

and it creates this norm that my son doesn't have to learn.

When he's now a parent,

that's not a new thing he has to pick up.

He will automatically read with his child.

January 6th, 1998.

My freshman year, I'm 18-years-old,

and I come home on winter break.

I'm home with my older sister, and we hear this loud sound.

My sister, Desiree, she ran up the steps.

She said, "Akeiff, did you hear that?"

Then about five seconds later she just starts screaming.

And I jump up, and I'm just bumbling, and fumbling,

and I'm making my way to the room.

As I get to the door, my sister is on top of my stepfather,

giving him CPR.

He had shot himself.

It was at that moment that my life literally flashed

before my own eyes, and the whole trajectory

of my life changed in that moment,

and I'm sure it changed for my sister as well.

We both ended up taking on our own forms of therapy.

And as a result, we both became addicts.

It was something that we had dealt

with for a number of years.

I have two sisters,

and I lost one.

It wasn't until I met my wife,

because our relationship happened so fast,

we met and got married in 28 days.

I knew she had a son.

I hadn't met him.

I was still in my addicted phase at that time.

And we were about a month into our marriage

and she sat me down.

I was coming in, hanging out with friends, it was alcohol.

She said, "Akeiff, I can't do this."

"You're going to have to make a choice, Akeiff."

She said, "You either stop or else if you don't,

I'm leaving."

It was in that moment that she said, "You're a dad now."

I couldn't imagine what my father,

now I'm talking about my biological father,

I can't imagine what he felt like

when he had his child taken away from him,

and to try and build that relationship.

I'm 42, it's been 40 years.

I had the opportunity to celebrate my first birthday

with my father since I was from two-years-old was

when I turned 40.

I myself could now change history.

And what I always wanted in life was a family,

so my wife gave me the choice of having that family.

And it was that day, September 26th, 2009,

and she sat me down on that bed, that I gave up drinking,

and I have not had one drink since.

I always tell him this, my oldest son,

that he changed my life by giving me that opportunity

to be his father.

Let's ask questions.

Let's build powerful relationships when new business

and influence others.

The fact that he just naturally picked up

to do all of those things and be present with them.

And then when you get reports from school

and the teachers and other people

are telling you how great your kids are

and how amazing they are,

and I know that he is their caregiver 90% of the time,

I know that's nothing but him.

I didn't have my dad in my household growing up,

so seeing Brent with the kids, it's something

that I can view and appreciate.

Whether it's them chatting, I can see sometimes Mason

and Brent just having these long little chats.

Gianna, she confides in Brent too.

Something that Brent does after he picks them up

from school, he'll have conversations with them.

Just bring up convos like, "How was your day today?"

And then that just stirs the conversation,

but after a long day at school or then going

into after school, and just kind of checking in with them.

Then it brings them to just talk

and just whatever quality time that is

within having conversations, which I think is good.

Then you find out what's going on with your kids.

How was their day.

In math, I really go to my dad about that

because he's better at it than my mom.

My dad is clumsy, you know you are too.

It's different when your mom holds you

and kisses your boo-boos.

Mom's supposed to do that.

But when dad still allows you to be gentle

but then explain things to you, why he's toughening you up,

why he's pulling you back together to just let things go,

it just gives a different support to their emotional growth.

Nice.

Can I do that?

After this, I can go get the no-codes.

I just tell them stuff that happened

like today or other days.

Do you like being able to talk

to your dad and mom?

Yeah.

How does that make you feel?

Happy.

Why does it make you feel happy?

Because other people don't have moms.

Little boys are almost raised to be robots,

like not humans.

Boys don't cry.

Boys don't dance.

Men for years were just told, "Stop crying.

Don't, don't, don't."

They never realized how do I regulate my own emotions?

Not just shut them off,

because shutting them off ain't good.

How do I simmer down?

How do I go from 10 to one, still being able

to express myself emotionally?

Well, people always like to say we look alike,

and I always like to say it... It's not true.

Yeah, no way.

He ain't close to looking as good.

I'm happy I don't look like you.

You should be happy you look like me.

What's real is I cut myself, I'm hurting.

"You all right, my man.

Get that, I'm going to wash it off."

Ba-ba-ba.

Not shutting down someone's feelings.

I think far too often men shut down little boy's feelings,

and don't allow them to grow into who they are emotionally.

Oh.

Those jokes.

Those jokes.

We're not going to tell them your jokes.

I got to remind him that (indistinct).

This is a chapter on my book called July 1st.

July 1st was the first day football magazines came out.

They previewed the season in college, NFL.

I love sports back then.

In the '80s there was no internet, right?

You couldn't just get stuff by pushing a button.

We would go to the Shellham Mall

to this bookstore every July 1st.

He would buy me like three, four, or five books.

My dad never read the books.

He would go get them, and I would go read them.

Now at the time, what I was really doing,

I was teaching myself how to read.

He has no idea, that's how I was teaching,

to this day I use little skills when I'm reading.

That's what taught me how to read.

I wanted to read so bad what was in that football book,

but I was struggling.

I wasn't going to tell him, right?

I wasn't going to tell my mom.

I was just go sit in my room forever

and just keep reading these books.

And he doesn't know that, and I wish I would've told him

that before he passed, but he played a big part

in me becoming a better reader.

Me and my dad was exactly alike.

My dad couldn't read really well,

he couldn't write really well, but I never knew that.

Dad was the main stickler about education.

Be smart, being smart.

Sometimes it used to mess me up, "Dad, I'm not smart."

He like, "Dog, you got to be smart.

Got to do your work."

When you really think about it, reading is in everything.

Reading is in filling out a job application,

or buying a home, or anything.

Reading is everywhere you go, signs, streets.

And if you are not equipped, or don't have that knowledge,

it's a real struggle.

I'm beautiful, I'm proud.

I'm beautiful, I'm proud.

I'ma say it out loud.

I'ma say it out loud.

I love my hair.

I love my skin.

I love my hair.

I love my skin.

I love my smile every time I grin.

I love my smile every time I grin.

I'm beautiful, I'm proud.

I'm beautiful, I'm proud.

I'm beautiful, I'm proud.

I'm beautiful, I'm proud.

Once we read the stories, we wanted to gift the children

with books, with some literacy resources.

Now, these books are books that we took from our own home.

When we started out,

they were books from our children's shelves

that they may not have been reading.

During our campaign at the time, we read in 30 daycares

in 30 days, so we had to have at least around 100 books

to give away because we were saying we were going

to give three books away.

It was great, it was good.

However, when you have a room full of 30 kids,

and only three of them are receiving a book,

it was the children that were coming up

and they were crying and they were like,

"Well, I want a book.

Where's mine at?"

And that's when Brent and myself,

we really had to go back and we started asking,

or it either popped up, or the universe showed up

giving us access to more books.

That is always something that's stuck in my head

is making sure that the kids have access to books,

and that they get these books in their hands.

Now, what was the title of the book?

How many monkeys did the book start out with?

- Five. - Hold on.

Got to raise your hand.

Everybody raise their hand.

Can everybody answer it?

How many monkeys was it?

Five.

Yes, very good job.

Well, Lee, you screamed down first five.

There you go, buddy.

You get a book today.

What do I like to put on my popcorn?

Hot sauce.

Oh.

She was first, say it again.

- Hot sauce. - Hot sauce, very good.

You got to pick one, one of these two books.

When you have individuals that look like you

that are not afraid to show up, and be present,

and be of service, that is a difference maker.

I remember this little kid we had in Kensington,

and anyone knows about Kensington,

the biggest drug epidemic in the country right now

as far as opioids go.

It's a rough neighborhood.

And we were in there with these kids.

We asked him what's the most important thing,

whatever it was, he started speaking about father,

how fathers were the greatest thing in this world.

Because when we talked to them,

we speak from that point of view.

And a lady was crying, lady worked there forever,

over 30 years she was crying back there.

She said, "You know, that boy hasn't seen his father

in years."

His father was locked up for murder or something.

He wasn't in his life.

And she was like, "For him to have so much passion"

about what a father is, what it should be,

"what he took away from you guys," she couldn't stop crying.

It was like listen,

even though this kid doesn't have a father,

right, he understands that fathers are important.

It may be the link that leads him

to being a positive father in the future.

It gives them a different view on what good men are,

what passionate men are, what caring men are,

and that it can be very cool to be this.

It was these two young teens and this guy was fighting

to get his son back, to get custody of his kid.

And he said, "Wait a minute, so I could read?"

Because he was into Batman.

This dude, he knew all about Batman.

He says, "So, I could read Batman with my son?"

We was like, "Yeah, and we had some Batman books."

He was really like, "Wait, literally I can do this?"

"Yeah, you can do this with your son."

He left with maybe a dozen books,

a lot of Batman, and with the idea that,

"This is how I can connect with my child

and help him become a better reader."

I do know that given love, given resources,

you could take your mind and your body anywhere

in this world.

Reading is love.

Reading is really love.

Teaching a person how to read, or helping them

in that journey, you may not be able

to teach someone how to read,

but you could help them in that journey.

You can advocate.

I'm a father who has to advocate

for his son who struggles a little bit with education

like I do.

That's the biggest thing you could do is advocate.

Teach your child, be along for their journey.

No one teaches children how to read after third grade.

Reading is love, that's what it means.

It is exactly what it says.

To me, when you look at the issues that we have

in the world, where that love is removed, it's like,

"Okay, how did it get here?"

Because I always say we're not born innately mad

at the world.

If it's a mother, it doesn't matter,

if it's a parent, caregiver,

whoever's with these children from a very young age,

or still even in the womb because you can still read

to children in the womb, I did it with our children.

And that love is teaching, or educating,

without having the certifications, but just being willing

to be in the moment with those children,

and it doesn't have to be perfect.

He always read with the kids.

And me watching them grow in their capacity for reading,

especially Daley, I mean she's so expressed in her reading.

It takes her away from the computer and the iPad.

Brice away from his gaming system.

It's like you get to become whatever's in the story.

It opens up your mindset to seeing things outside

of where you are, and I think that opens up kids' minds

to realizing that life is not just that one place

that they're in, and that there's way more

to what they know than just where their home is,

or where their block is, or their street,

or their neighborhood, or anything like that.

Just seeing that there's more to life than just that.

Always been about the children, always been

about helping the community and forming families.

Because of that, because of their willingness

to not be paid, their passion about the community

has come out in their work.

You get hit with so many closed doors, closed doors

with funding, closed doors with reluctance

in a community for people to open their doors

to you and assist and say, "Yes, we see your value."

Me and Akeiff literally did this with nothing

for two years, no money, no vehicles.

Taking books from my kids' bookshelf.

I remember for a while he would go through my bookshelf,

just take some, or I'll just go through them stuff

I don't really read that much anymore, whoever got it,

they're enjoying it too like I did.

I was in a good career working in social services,

I was a dean in schools making good money,

and I said, "I'm done with it."

I didn't like working in these agencies

who I felt like at the end of the day,

we're not really trying to help this situation.

We're trying to keep getting paid.

Right?

I didn't feel like we were doing the best as we could

for these kids and these families,

so I walked away from it all.

I literally got myself fired.

I'm going to be honest with you,

I wasn't in a position financially when leaving

a full paying job was probably smart to do.

I was very surprised when my wife was like,

"All right, cool, I'll back your play."

When it first started, it was like,

"I'm no longer doing my job."

Okay, so then it's like, whoa, okay,

and so what are we doing now?

And just going off on this idea and encouraging him,

because definitely I wanted to encourage him.

I know when he left the previous employment,

there was a lot of taxing emotions involved with

that particular employment and just leaving them.

But then also having that motivation and that thought

that this idea was going to be the next thing,

and being able to foster him as best as I could.

During that time, I got offered two jobs

that were way more money than I ever made in my life,

but they were back in schools doing the same thing,

and I turned both of them, one was six figures.

I turned them both down.

People looked at me like I was crazy when I did it.

I said, "No, I'm making FathersRead365 work.

Me and Akeiff got something amazing going on."

What my wife has allowed me to do is be everything

that I didn't have.

I often had an issue in the beginning

when we first started about finances,

because this job doesn't pay them a salary,

so everything fell on me a lot.

And I was resentful,

probably because that's what the world told me

that a man was supposed to do.

It's taken years to really relax your mind

and see value totally different.

He's the first person up in the morning,

getting them ready for school,

making sure that everything runs on time.

He's the conductor of the train, I pull the caboose.

Us being entrepreneurs and having a business

where we can create our own schedules.

I've been the one that's been home

taking care of our children.

I literally went to nothing.

I went to working in clubs, doing security 4:00 or 5:00

in the morning.

I passed out from exhaustion one night

because I would work all night so I could keep my days open.

Then we only had one car, so I would had

to take my family to school in the morning, school and work,

and then me and Akeiff would have some work to do.

Sometimes I wasn't sleeping.

Today, October 26, in about a half an hour, my partner,

Akeiff Staples and I are meeting with the mayor's office.

When we got together last year to put this thing in motion,

ultimately we knew we needed funding.

We needed the support of people higher, bigger than us.

Programs especially Black-led programs for children

in the inner city, grassroots, just starting out,

a lot of times these programs falter

because we don't get the proper funding.

Yes, that F-word.

Funding, funding, funding, funding.

And being very honest, a lot of times it's not coming

from our community that we're serving.

We haven't necessarily learned how

to be totally charitable to each other.

Those big private foundations,

they make you jump through loops,

and paperwork you to death, and disqualification,

and they move the goalposts a lot.

Even when you're there, Akeiff and I, we're learning this.

We're climbing this ladder, and ultimately to come back

and try to teach others.

And we see how to goalpost...

You're a small organization, because there's two of us,

but another organization is big, and they have five people,

and they get millions of dollars.

Right now a North Philadelphia school

giving kids 13 books a piece,

pre-K and kindergarten students.

We do two to three interactive readings with them,

and that costs money, right?

It costs $45,000 to get all those books.

And we try to figure out how to do it.

How can we do it for the whole school district?

How can we do it for all the kids in the city,

and all the cities?

We know how, there's a path there,

there's other blueprints there of organizations

that have been successful throughout the country,

but it doesn't happen without funding.

The only way for you to survive is to have funds,

some type of funds.

And there are so many great organizations

that don't see the light of day.

You could have Ms. Annie May

who has been on West Chester Avenue

for 50 some odd years, just taking care of the kids,

providing diapers, providing things for new mothers

or new parents out there,

and they don't get any recognition,

but they just do it because of their love

for their community, their love for people.

They ran in the house.

Don't you ever go outside?

Don't you ever go outside again

without asking for- - Permission.

Don't go outside without asking for permission.

You just can't be a father to your kids,

you have to be a father to your community.

One of the things we say is Father365

is a father initiative that engages fathers

and their kids early literacy and kids in their community.

He put on his boots.

He put on his shirt.

He put on his jacket.

He put on his scarf.

He put on his hat.

Then he put on his, what do you put on?

You put on your hands when it's cold?

Gloves.

Gloves!

He put gloves on, then he ran outside.

And we can just show up at a very early stage

of their lives, and then they get to see us

in that position, and to be able to champion something

like literacy, reading.

Making sure that you dream big in this life.

We want them to know that it's coming from us,

and it may not look the way they expected,

but now they have that possibility within themselves.

And then we want to make sure that other men, fathers,

father figures, caregivers out there who are

with these children, see us doing it and are able

to take that on as well.

You can't buy the type of energy

that's put into these kids, not even from a babysitter.

It's nice to have that.

I get to live a great life, and really only have

to do half of it.

He does a lot of the work in between, the homework is done,

the kids are well-behaved.

If there's ever an issue with them,

all he has to do is walk in the room.

Meanwhile, I'm screaming and hollering,

and try to get everything in order

and make them listen to me.

They think I'm a joke.

Mom's silly, mom's goofy.

She's not really serious when she's yelling.

Meanwhile, he can walk into a room and just be quiet

and stand there and the room goes silent,

and everybody does what they need to do.

You can't bottle that up.

If I could bottle that up, I would be rich.

I would.

"Peaches, peaches.

Squeaky, leaky, rubber ducky, lucky ducky.

Time to fly, rubber ducky throwing-"

Overboard.

Here we go.

"Rubber ducky, bye-bye-bye.

"Favorite jammies," where do think they going?

Overboard.

There you go.

Little lamby, they going?

Overboard.

Bunny wipers, they going?

Overboard.

Uh-oh.

Stinky bunny diapers, they going?

Overboard.

When we realized, wow, there's just not enough voices

out here speaking about early literacy,

especially in the communities that we're touching.

All those ways that we can create content

to help better our community.

Literally when we started this,

it was the second reading we ever did.

From there to now, it's like, wow, we've really done a lot.

We've read to over 8,000 children.

We've given out over 50,000 books.

We've trained almost thousands of parents.

I mean, for the first two years we did this with no money.

We did this with no money,

really not even anyone knowing about us.

And now to be featured on the news four or five times now,

and we're actually impacting kids.

We're still doing what we set out to do from the beginning.

I'm able to do something that I wish somebody,

I was calling for Mr. A and Mr. B

to come help me with reading.

Telling kids that, "Hey, even if you're struggling

with reading, you're going to be okay."

It means a lot when you see someone going

through what you went through and you see them

in a successful position, 'cause it's like,

"Wow, okay, this is not a death sentence."

There are not enough Black male educators.

And when they see us, we want to represent images,

or models, that they can relate to in their own household.

We want to make sure that that engagement lives on.

Watching it start off as just an idea with them,

and I see how much effort my husband puts into all of this,

and I watch the kids,

and I watch how exciting the experience is.

I'm so proud of them.

I know they're out here in this community

making a difference, and that's really all that matters.

There's a lot of legwork behind it.

It's almost a lot of knocking on doors,

and hoping that someone will be able to believe

in your idea, and want to support your idea.

And being determined, and believing in your idea enough

to go through all of these different steps

to get it to where it is now.

I have to thank, he's my stepfather, but I call him dad.

I have two dads.

And it was when I was

in high school my senior year playing sports,

playing athletics.

It was my stepfather that chose my path for me.

He said, "Boy, you're going to Temple."

And Brent and I joke about this all the time

because that's where we met.

That's where we met, at Temple.

And his father was on the police force at Temple

for a number of years.

It was written, Brent and I mention that a lot.

It was written that our fathers had a lot

to do for what is going on right now with the organization.

Fathers are so important.

The message that we're trying to bring across,

you don't have to wait for Superman.

Put on your own goddamn cape and get out there

and start saving lives.

You don't have to wait until you have this degree.

You don't have to wait until you have this website.

You don't have to wait until you have all this funding.

Get into the community where you're trying to help,

develop a plan on how you want to help, and do the work.

We literally were told,

"Y'all will never get fully funded

by the William Penn Foundation

for your little program in your Black and brown community."

A week later, we got a call

from William Penn Foundation saying,

"We want to work with y'all."

To any mother out there, parents,

individuals who have created children,

do the very best you can to continue to show love,

not only to your children, but to each other,

because not all relationships are going to work out,

that's just the truth.

However, something that I took on, I said,

"Whoever has my child, whoever births my child,

whoever that woman is, I'm going to do whatever it is

that I possibly can to remain in the life of my child

"or children."

We've done a lot.

It's just so much more we have to do,

and want to do, and can't wait to do.

That's the beauty of it.

♪ I can see the tree is growing ♪

♪ Growing from the ground ♪

♪ Beautiful and pure ♪

♪ And magic ♪

♪ And magic ♪

♪ Beautiful, growing beautiful ♪

♪ Beautiful, growing beautiful ♪

♪ Beautiful, growing beautiful ♪

♪ Beautiful, growing beautiful ♪

♪ Oh, oh, it is lovely ♪

♪ Oh, oh, it is lovely ♪

♪ Beautiful, beautiful ♪

They don't drink Gatorade, they sip haterade.

What happens when they go out, when you want to buy stuff?

What?

I don't know, too many things.

Too many things?

Hold on, we don't even want to...

You talking about too many.

What else are we doing?

You gotta clue me in on this.

Love you, dog.