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 A Look at Kenneth
Braswell
Awards and
Recognition |
Media
Quotes and Appearances
 Kenneth
Braswell brings a spirit and passion to the work of Responsible
Fatherhood and Community Development. It was his own experience with
his 2 daughters, ages 28 and 9 that has heightened his awareness to
the challenges faced by men seeking to establish or maintain parental
relationships when there is a divorce or separation. This knowledge
is the catalyst for the formation of Fathers Incorporated and the
future publishing of “When The Tear Won’t Fall.”
In 1992 Braswell began freelance writing for a community newspaper,
The South End Scene. The paper began publishing in the early
70’s in Albany, New York. In 1991 the newspaper folded and there was
a void of community news and information. During this time he met a
mentor; Arthur Mitchell.
Mr. Mitchell was a long time community activist, newspaper founder,
co-founder of the Albany NAACP, a Negro League Baseball player and one
of the first African American’s to have is own radio show in Albany.
1992, at 78 years old, Art founded another community newspaper, the “Community
Chronicle”. Although Braswell didn’t like the focus of the
newspaper, he respected it for its focus and purpose. Through the
years, Art became his mentor. He taught him about community service,
integrity, pride, understanding, compassion, and most of all about the
importance of media.
The relationship with Art, led Braswell into another communication
arena; radio. He graduated from the New School of Contemporary Radio
in 1992 and immediately began doing shows on college and commercial
radio.
In 1994, he founded WHAZUP! Newspaper. Desktop publishing
wasn’t what it is today. He spent many a nights on his living room
floor cutting and pasting articles and ads. Braswell published
WHAZUP! for seven years, until he began working for the Urban
League of Northeastern New York.
There he was responsible for communications and public relations.
While working for the Urban League, he learned more about the business
of community service through at a national level. It helped him to
further increase his understanding of community, in turn giving him
the ability to articulate that understanding through his journalistic
writing. Working at the Urban League was bitter sweet. During this
employment he stopped publishing WHAZUP! Newspaper, but after the
closing of the League, began publishing Urban Voices Newspaper.
The birth of his second daughter, Nzinga Anasa preceded the birth of
Urban Voices, but not by much. In unique ways, they brought joy to
his life and an increased appreciation for both journalism and
fatherhood. As a result Braswell recognize a calling to share his
experiences with other fathers. It was his hope that they too, would
positively engage in the most precious gift god can give – a child.
In 2003, he created Father’s Incorporated (FI). The organization
provided the platform necessary to explore the work of responsible
fatherhood on a local and national level. Father’s Inc. was created
not only to help dads navigate the child support system, deal with
custody issues and become responsible fathers, it focused on helping
to reaffirm the benefit of father involvement. FI’s main focus was on
the development of fathers of all ages and the importance of
understanding parental responsibility. With him Braswell brought to FI,
over 20 years of experience in community development, event planning,
network development, publishing, organization building, strategic
planning, public speaking, program development, and advocacy skills to
the mission and goals of Fathers Inc.
 It was Mr. Braswell’s previous work with Father’s Inc., which resulted
in his being hired at New York State Office of Temporary and
Disability Assistance. As the Director of the New York State
Fatherhood Initiative he works within the Center for Child Well-Being
where he leads in the implementation of more concentrated efforts to
involve non-custodial parents in the economic and social well-being of
their children. Currently Mr. Braswell manages a $9 million Fatherhood
pilot program across New York State. Research clearly shows that
children who grow up with the active influence of both parents and the
benefits of two incomes have better outcomes than children with only
one involved parent. Through OTDA’s Strengthening Families through
Stronger Fathers Initiative, Mr. Braswell also manages the first and
only Non-custodial Earned Income Tax Credit as well as an evaluation
begin conducted by the Urban Institute and Dr. Ron Mincy of Columbia
University.
Mr. Braswell notes that the importance of responsible fatherhood is
beginning to gain attention throughout the country and as a result has
begun to impact public policy. He came to OTDA because he believes
that New York is a real leader in this effort. In addition to
empowering and enabling responsible fathers, there is a need to
address those who have made an apparent choice to not adequately
fulfill their responsibilities as fathers, financially or emotionally.
Specifically, Mr. Braswell said, there is a need to address the
growing number of fathers between the ages of 16 to 24 who are too
often a disconnected portion of society who for the most part have no
practical experience in being fathers. The intergenerational impact
of fatherlessness cannot be overstated. Where there has been no
father or father figure, most young men struggle, frequently
unsuccessfully, to get a picture of the importance of being good
fathers themselves. Without intervention, this becomes an
inter-generational cycle and has devastating results. Studies
continually show that children without involved dads are 3 to 4 more
times likely to be poor, drop out of school, become a teen parent, use
drugs, and go to jail.
Braswell is a loving and devoted father and attributes who he is today
to the 47 years of his life’s experiences. As a result he is a
concerned and passionate community activist, an accessible and caring
friend, a wise and experienced mentor, motivated and focused; but more
importantly and blessed child of GOD.
Braswell sits on several boards, committees and tasks forces. He has
served in the U.S. Army and attend both Albany Business College and
Russell Sage College. Braswell says, “if his work would slow down just
a little bit, he wants to complete a degree in psychology.” Mr.
Braswell has published “What You Should Know About Teen Parenting
Period,” “Creating a Friendly Fatherhood Support and Services
Environment,” and a report “Teenagers and their Attitudes towards
Fatherhood.” Fathers, Inc. and Braswell has been featured in
Essence, Gospel Today, BSI
International’s “IN SEARCH OF
FATHERHOOD®”, Times Union, The Record, Capital news9, Philadelphia
Inquirer, Youth today, Jessie Lee Peterson Show and various other
media forums. (Click here
for more media)
Mr. Braswell is the father of three beautiful daughters, Tiarrah,
Amber,
Nzinga and son, Kenneth Jr.
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Media Quotes and Appearances
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Date |
Title |
Media Outlet |
Comments |
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June 10, 12 & 13, 2004 |
“Black and Latino Achievers Awards Banquet” |
Timewarner 3 |
Recognition of 30 Albany, Schenectady and Troy Achievers doing
great things in their community. |
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June 9th, 2004 |
“King’s Window to Praise Program” |
Times Union; Page:B1 |
Civil rights leader to talk at ceremony honoring 30 achievers
Colonie Coretta Scott King, wife of the late civil rights leader
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will visit the Capital Region |
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June 8th, 2004 |
“Black and Latino Achievers Awards Banquet |
WTEN – Ch10 |
Interview by Tanisha Mallett, reporter. |
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March 7th, 2004 |
“There’s Good News For Minority Readers” |
Times Union; Page CC44 |
3 Albany publications are united in purpose for underserved black,
Hispanic communities |
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October 27th, 2003 |
“Group Aims to Break Barriers” |
Times Union; Page B1 |
Black and Latino professional association aids members through
networking Albany After noticing there were few networking
opportunities for black professionals in the Capital Region, |
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September 18th, 2003 |
“Job fair aims for diversity, easy access” |
Times Union; Page B5 |
First Diversity Job Fair and Community Expo this weekend to help
bring jobs and services to black and Latino communities. |
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September 13th, 2003 |
“Diversity Job Fair” |
WGY – Joe Gallager |
Promoting the Diversity Job Fair |
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September 22, 2003 |
“Growing black community fighting for clout” |
Times Union; Page A1 |
Population figures reveal a rising share of a shrinking city |
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June 20th, 2003 |
“2 years later, urban league remains shattered in pieces”
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Times Union; Page B1 |
Albany African-American leaders describe void left in wake of
organization's demise |
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May 30th, 2003 |
“Call is heard to help others achieve” |
Times Union; Page B4 |
Albany YMCA mentoring program aims to help young blacks, Latinos
reach goals When Urban Voices editor Kenneth Braswell set out to
find people willing to mentor African-American and Latino young
people, he was hoping to get 100. |
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March 15th, 2000 |
“A New Voice For the Community” |
Times Union |
Times Union
covered the emergence of Urban Voices on the front page of
its Capital Region section. |
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February 28th, 2000 |
“New paper seeks to address minority concerns” |
Capital District Business Review |
Capital District Business Review
covered the debut of Urban Voices |
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February 25th, 2003 |
“Teenager leads on court and off” |
Times Union; Page B1 |
Albany "Urban Voices" newspaper honors girl who excels in hoops
and in life |
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September 2002 |
Public Forum |
Fox23/UPN4 |
Panelist on Fox23’s public forum “An Ounce of Prevention” A
discussion of School Violence |
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February 2001 |
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Fox Focus – WXXA-TV23 |
Interviewed by Ardell Hearst for Black History Month |
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October 16th, 2000 |
“March delegation bound for capital” |
Times Union; Page B6 |
Albany About 300 people were expected to board six buses at the
Corning Preserve early this morning to go to the Million Family
March in Washington, D.C. |
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March 2001 |
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District Issues - WB Network |
Interviewed for Women’s History Month |
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February 11th & 12th, 2000 |
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WRGB-TV6 |
Broadcasts of WRGB-TV 6 (local CBS affiliate) covered the debut of
Urban Voices on February 11 and 12. |
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August 17th, 2000 |
“New Monthly Newspaper seeks to inform as it serves blacks and
woman” |
Daily Gazette |
The Daily Gazette
covered the emergence and growth of Urban Voices on the
front page of its Lifestyles section. |
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March 2000 |
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Upstate Edition – WMHT |
Interviewed by Gary Carter |
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