MANSFIELD — Father’s Day is Sunday and Carlos Christian would like nothing more than to give Richland County dads the gift of empowerment.
The founder of The Starts Within Organization, Christian will present the Fighting For Fatherhood Summit at the North End Community Improvement Collaborative from June 19 to 21. Sessions will run from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., noon to 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., each day.
Christian, along with guest speakers Glenn Harris and Ebony Taylor, will discuss a wealth of topics ranging from the legalities of fatherhood, to building parental influence through communication and the foundational elements of an exemplary father figure. The event is free, but participants must pre-register for one of the three daily sessions.
“Fighting for Fatherhood is a seminar to give fathers information to go at being a father in a better way,” Christian said.
Originally from Oberlin, Christian draws on his own difficult experiences to deliver his uplifting message. He spent 10 years in the Marion Correctional Institution from 1997 to 2007.
“I started selling drugs when I was 13 years old,” he said. “I spent six years in the streets and got incarcerated when I was 19.”
Christian graduated from Marion Technical College’s business management program. He relocated to Columbus after his release, where he bought a home and won custody of his son.
That experience was the impetus for his fatherhood workshop.
“Navigating the legal system can be overwhelming if you don’t have the resources,” Christian said. “I went to the courts and just tried to figure it out. And remember, I was just out of prison and working for about eight dollars an hour, so I didn’t have money to pay a lawyer.”
Christian founded The Starts Within Organization in 2011 to help decrease Ohio’s recidivism rate — recidivism is the tendency of a convicted criminal to re-offend. Ohio’s rate of 29.26 percent is well below the national average of 49.7 percent.
“How do you decrease the recidivism rate? You increase the value and the minds of those incarcerated,” Christian said.
For more information on the event or to pre-register, call 614-741-6748 or email etaylor.startswithin@gmail.com.