Jeffery Leving Presents on Fathers and Families at Howard University

U.S. Major General (retired) John Hawkins (left) lectured with Jeffery Leving at Howard University.

A father’s involvement is critical to his child achieving the best in school and the most out of life. That’s the message fathers’ rights attorney and advocate Jeffery Leving recently delivered at the Fatherhood & Healthy Families Conference at Howard University.

Leving, along with White House staff and national policy makers, presented during the three-day East Regional Conference of Fathers & Families Coalition of America, which sponsors events across the nation throughout the year to promote father involvement.

“The ultimate objective is to end mass incarceration of minority youth and young adults,” said James Rodriguez, Coalition president and CEO.

At Howard, Leving offered insights on the role fathers play in executing two of  President Barack Obama’s initiatives: Race to the Top Equity and My Brother’s Keeper.

A coalition member, Leving said the conference was important because of the alarming negative consequences of father absence — increased poverty and higher crime — which are compromising the very future of the country. Leving’s lecture, Fathers, Keep your Sons in the Race, addressed the three ways fathers can improve academic, emotional and physical well-being of their children.

U.S. Major General (retired) John Hawkins also spoke at the conference and called the issues of fathers and families “a matter of national security.”