OUR FOUNDER

I started The National Association of Honorable Black Fathers as I became frustrated with the representation of young black boys and men.

It seems every time the television was on the local or national news, there was violence being reported.

The somber part was not just the violent acts being reported, but the magnitude on which they were happening.

As I examined the violent acts a little closer, I began to notice a pattern. The offenders looked just like me, which made me feel guilty.

The question I posed to myself, what is going on with our youth? Where are the fathers?

Most of the time mothers were present, but without the financial support they needed.

The narrative began to answer itself. Fathers were either incarcerated, abandoned the mothers, homeless or missing in action all together.

I am passionate about the mission being that I was too one of these fatherless kids.

Facing homelessness at the age of seventeen was difficult. Unfortunately my parents divorced and they had eight children between them.

My oldest sister was in foster care. My mother took five of my siblings to a shelter, which was the limit.

Eventually through trials and tribulations we figured it out. It took me a couple of years of struggle to understand my worth, and I started to make stuff happen.

I obtained a job, and went back to school. I enrolled in a community college and almost two decades later became Dr. John Neal Jr. You see my story was similar to the fatherless children we recognize today.

Unfortunately just like my brother these kids aren’t so lucky, their stories usually take a turn for the worst.

They often end up in prison. Our goal is to educate every father who was forgotten, and encourage them to be the father they wanted to have.

We also want to encourage our youth to exercise healthy choices when it comes to life, and uplift each other.