A Celebration of Black Fathers for Black History Month

(Toronto, February) This year, Black Daddies Club (BDC) will be celebrating Black History month by honouring the rich black culture of the present, instead of focusing on the contributions from the past. The weekend events take place on February 27th and 28th.  

Events:

·         Saturday, February 27, 2010 from 1pm to 5pm- Black Daddies Club (BDC) presents “Daddy and Me at the AGO”. BDC along with Kids up Front Foundation, a charitable organization that provides access to events for underprivileged children, will host an exciting outing featuring black fathers and their children as they discover and explore the Art Gallery of Ontario. The men highlighted at this event, will be various successful black fathers from different industries. Media is invited to cover this event at the AGO (317 Dundas Street West) from 1-2pm on February 27th, 2010, but will be required to check in at the Information Desk upon arrival.

·         Sunday, February 28, 2010 from – Black Daddies Club will be conducting a barbershop session entitled "The importance of fathers parenting". Along with various fathers groups within the city, the community will learn about the available resources that help black fathers be better parents. The event takes place at the Onyx Barbershop, 219A Yonge street (across from Eaton centre), phone number: 416-363-8408 (http://www.onyxbarbers.com)

The Black Daddies Club was founded in 2007 by Brandon Hay in response to the lack of forums and spaces for Black men to discuss parenting issues as well as the issues facing the Black Community as a whole. The main goal is to change the image of the black father in the media, from a neglectful figure to a responsible, involved and loving role model. The mandate for BDC is to develop a continuous support system for Black fathers to share their challenges and or experiences, host events featuring various speakers both high-profile and “everyday” people who can inspire and encourage positive practices for Black fathers and community members generally, and to work with the media to provide alternate images of Black fathers. 

Kids Up Front provides unique opportunities for kids to attend theatre productions, concerts, sporting events and cultural activities by redistributing unused tickets.  Kids Up Front creates partnerships with child-serving charitable agencies, who in turn select the ticket recipients from within their programs. By implementing a program that wraps a process around tickets "in" and tickets "out," including quality control measures, Kids Up Front is able to distribute tickets fairly and efficiently to thousands of children in need. Kids Up Front Foundation (Toronto) was incorporated in 2006.

                                                                        -30-

For more information, please contact:

For more information:

Rehema Vuo

Black Daddies Club

Publicist/Outreach

Rehema@blackdaddiesclub.com

www.blackdaddiesclub.com

or

Lindsay Oughtred, Executive Director

Kids Up Front Foundation (Toronto)

416-530-2352

Lindsay@kidsupfronttoronto.com