Haki Nkrumah is a passionate man. One who has dedicated countless hours over the past 11 years to mentor more than 1,000 young fathers in Central Florida.
- Haki Nkrumah: Fatherhood is a difficult job
- He said that there is not enough resources for young dads
- Nkrumah founded Young Fathers of Central Florida
"Fatherhood is probably the most difficult job they’ll ever have in their life but it’s a job that brings a lot of joy and pleasure as well," said the founder of Young Fathers of Central Florida. "We really wanted to help these teen and young fathers understand that them being a father is not a death sentence."
Tevon Campbell, a member of the group, said that everyone has said something good about what they learned from Nkrumah.
"People ask me often, was I a young father and I said, 'No I wasn’t,'" Nkrumah said.
However, that does not mean he did not see the need to provide young dads with parental training, mentoring and the overall support needed to be responsible fathers.
"I just saw the struggles that these young men were going through as teen fathers and there were no resources. It seems as if all the resources were for young mothers," Nkrumah reflected.
Young Fathers of Central Florida also focuses on character development, to prevent young boys from becoming parents before they are ready.
"So helping them and not just telling them how to be responsible fathers is what our mission is," he said.
Nkrumah, who has now written two books on young fatherhood, believes the next step is a statewide fatherhood initiative in Florida, to shed light on the overall social impact of fatherless families.
"We wanted to recognize young fathers, we wanted to provide services and support so that they could be responsible and not run away from their obligations of being fathers," he said.