While attending a planning meeting with the Aim4peace organization in February of 2009, I mentioned that I thought that until we were able to reintegrate the black male back into the family that our efforts were akin to putting a band-aid on a gunshot victim while we may prolong the life of the patient his demise was inevitable. After making my statement I was asked a question that frankly dumbfounded me. The question was how do we reengage the black man back into the family? It seemed like a logical and appropriate question however I had no answer. I had facts and figures detailing the damage being inflicted on the children of these men, but I didn’t have an answer to what may be the biggest single issue facing the black community not only in Kansas City, but in the country. At that point I began a quest to study as much information as I could find to try to understand this problem. As I read study after study it became painfully clear to me that how we had initially structured our poverty eradication programs were flawed in that they dismembered the family into three distinct groups, the single mother, the children, and the absent fathers. By developing programs in this fashion we rewarded behavior that was contrary to our national goals and provided disincentives for families to form and remain together.

In March of 2009, ReEngage, Inc. was born. I began by reaching out to other organizations who were providing services to families and discussed this holistic approach that had begun formulating in my mind. After much discussion and consultation I enlisted the services of Dr. E. Thomas Copeland, a prominent local psychologist; Truman Behavorial Health, Anger Options, First Call, Reconciliation Services and other groups. In August of 2009 we convened an absentee father conference at UMKC where researchers presented data and participants discussed causes, symptoms, and solutions to this national epidemic. We were also fortunate enough to have Congressman Emanuel Cleaver to deliver our opening address.

Following our conference we had hoped to secure funding for a comprehensive initiative that would have included many of the services required to stabilize young families and help them to become incubators for healthy and successful children. The final outcome of this or any fatherhood initiative has to be safe, healthy, and successful children. Unfortunately, we have so far been unable to secure the funding necessary to provide all of these services put forth in our ReEngage and Renaissance programs. In the summer of 2010 we made a strategic decision to begin to provide some of the components of these larger initiatives separately as part of a reponsible fatherhood program. We will continue to seek collaboration and partnerships with those organizations that share our desire to provide a holistic approach to this national epidemic.

"It happens I have been involved in each of these efforts and I remain much impressed by the clarity with which some Republicans at least perceive poverty as a condition of not having enough money. But something more will be needed. Something, frankly, spiritual. These are our children and we're not looking after them right."- Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan