Don Unger

Talking Across the Lines of Gender, Race, and Class: The New England Fathering Conference Turns Twenty Don Unger

The Founding Parent of the New England Fathering Conference was . . . a mother: Donna Cabral. In the late 1990s, when the Clinton Administration "discovered" fathers, Donna-the director of a Head Start program in Somerville, Massachusetts-took advantage of a modest, early, federal grant and created a pilot program for men. From that seed grew an annual conference that quickly came to include participants from all of the New England states. This "fathering conference founded by a woman" was unique in a variety of other ways as well: it created a space both for the providers who serve fathers in need of support and for the men themselves who are regular attendees and participants; and it has been a place where serious, substantive, discussions are married to nurturance and respect, a model of functional and effective cooperation across the lines of race and class. For Twenty Years now, NEFC has provided an example of how we can get past our differences and get to work on some of the most vexing social problems our country needs to face.