|
|
|
|
Facilitator |
|
Dr. Harris served as a consultant to the Paternal Involvement Demonstration Project (PIP), which was a collaborative partnership between local foundations, the Illinois Department of Public Aid and local nonprofit agencies. PIP was design to promote opportunities and remove barriers confronting low-income fathers, so that low-income fathers could be involved financially and emotionally in the lives of their children. In his capacity as consultant to PIP, Dr. Harris worked on evaluation issues, program design, and legislative matters. Dr. Harris went on to co-found the Center on Fathers Families and Public Policy (CFFPP). The Center served as the policy arm of the Strengthening Fragile Family Initiative , which was a well-known, Ford Foundation funded, national demonstration focused on the intersection between welfare reform, family support, and father involvement. Dr. Harris' work at CFFPP addressed how public policy and social service practice impeded the involvement of low-income fathers in the lives of their children and families. As an executive for Family Support America, a national organization that promoted family strengthening, Dr. Harris provided leadership for the introduction and cultivation of father involvement practices within the national network of family support providers. At Family Support America, Dr. Harris also created the shared leadership process as a practice standard for building a family support policy and practice agenda at the local and state level. Dr. Harris served as chairman of the Board for the National Practitioner Network for Fathers and Families. Dr. Harris is also a national consultant working on projects that sustain and advance national efforts to promote “father-supportive” practice and policy. Dr. Harris is a contributor to a book on the Hope VI project, published by the Urban Institute, entitled, “Public Housing and the Legacy of Segregation.” Dr. Harris' chapter entitled, Fathers from the Family to the Fringe: Practice, Policy, and Public Housing , addresses the issue of low-income fathers in the context of public housing. Dr.. Harris is the Founder of the School for Urban Planning and Architecture (SUPAR) an innovative, award winning and first of its kind charter high school that is link to the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. SUPAR services at risk urban youth by connecting the educational process to their families and communities. SUPAR's educational strategy is to connect with students where they are and to build a learning environment around those issues students most care about, so that youth stay in school and stay on a positive educational trajectory. A core value within the school's culture is that of fostering the involvement parents and caregivers, with a particular interest in outreaching to men and fathers. The Wisconsin Daily Reporter named Dr. Harris Architectural Leader and Newsmaker of the Year for his work related to the charter school. Dr. Harris possesses a master of public administration from the Martin School of Public Policy and Public Administration, University of Kentucky, a law degree from Thomas Jefferson Law School and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. Dr Harris is a member of the Georgia, Washington, DC and US Supreme Court Bars. |
