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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: December 23, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - There's an anecdote Luis Leon likes to tell to illustrate his position on fatherhood:

A greeting card company once distributed free Mother's Day cards to the prison population. Thousands were sent. So the same company decided to give out free Father's Day cards. There were no takers.

For Leon, that's a snapshot of the cycle he encounters every day when a father is missing from the family. His mission is to fix it.

Actually, that's the Rev. Clarence Clark's mission, too, and the goal of the many organizations that partner with him. You can meet them all on Monday, Dec. 29, at a "grand opening" celebration at Kennedy Park.

Technically, "grand opening" is a bit of a misnomer. Clark launched his organization, Shiloh Problem Solvers, two years ago. Its roots are in the Brooksville congregation he leads: Shiloh New Beginnings Pillar of Truth.
Problem Solvers is housed in a small outbuilding on the perimeter of Kennedy Park. Inside is a bank of computers open to kids for homework help, research on school papers and improving online literacy.

Setting the bedrock for children's education and moral turpitude was the founding principle behind Problem Solvers. Clark initially assumed that parents would be interested in the program after witnessing a turnaround in their children's grades or behavior. But he was wrong.

"We were viewed as a baby-sitting service," he said.

So Clark set out to find ways to draw in the adults, too. Specifically, he wanted to mentor and counsel fathers who were absent from their children's lives. His experience has shown him that neglectful fathers often had no paternal role model themselves.

Clark recognized early on that it would take tact and compassion to approach this group. That's why he enlisted the help of Leon, who focuses on dads through his position with Head Start as the parent male involvement coordinator.

Leon showed him how to counsel dads without belittling them and tactics to get around their defenses. He offered practical aid in the form of finding more manageable ways to make child support payments.

Together they brought in more allies in groups such as the Anti-Drug Coalition, the Dawn Center and The Harbor. This network gives the referrals Clark needs when someone comes to him with a problem and vice versa.

Ultimately, it's Clark's vision that the community will take advantage of these resources to grow stronger. That's why he's hosting the post-Christmas shindig: to promote awareness.

It's said that it takes a village to educate a child, but it should really be it takes an "educated" village, Clark said.

If You Go:

What: Grand Opening of Shiloh Problem Solvers.

When: 1-4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 29.

Where: Kennedy Park in Brooksville (Off Jefferson Street, near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard).

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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