DATE: Wednesday, July 9, 1997               TAG: 9707090419

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   72 lines

BEACH LEADER TO HEAD FATHERS CAMPAIGN

Ron J. Clark, who coordinated several efforts here to promote respectful and responsible behavior among male teen-agers, has been named director of the Virginia Fatherhood Campaign.

The 2-year-old initiative aims to get more fathers involved with their children, even if the men do not live with their offspring.

Clark, 31, who starts his new job Thursday, grew up in a fatherless household in an Orlando, Fla., public-housing neighborhood. He hopes to instill lessons of his grass-roots perspective into the campaign.

Children, he contends, are more at risk of succumbing to various social problems if they grow up without a positive adult male in their homes.

``We talk a lot about the effect of poverty, but this is even a stronger factor,'' Clark said. ``It's a greater risk factor for teen pregnancy, drug use, criminal involvement, poor performance in school, all the social ills.''

Initially, much of his work will focus on consciousness raising, through public forums, publicity campaigns and improved communication among community groups.

``The Virginia Beach community has been really good to me. . . . I wouldn't have been successful here without that support,'' Clark said. ``I hope to facilitate the same sort of support around the state, to have communities come together. There's a need to get people to buy in and feel they are contributing.''

In Virginia Beach, most of Clark's efforts targeted teens and young men - either to head them off from becoming fathers before marriage or to encourage them to accept responsibility for children they already produced.

Clark worked with the city's Community Services Board for 2 1/2 years. His efforts included the Fatherhood/Manhood Empowerment Program, the Virginia Beach Male Institute, and CHIP - the Co-Parenting Health and Issues Project - a support group for teens who already are parents or are expecting a child.

The programs addressed topics such as responsibility, respect for women and the community, budgeting, education, careers, child and spousal abuse, health and stress.

Clark chaired the city's Dad's Appreciation Day, which included children's essays to recognize the importance of fathers and significant males in households.

In his new job - under the Virginia Department of Health - Clark will try to promote a sense of community ownership of fatherhood issues.

The campaign will issue seed grants to community efforts across Virginia but will emphasize the importance of partnerships and collaboration among local institutions and grass-roots efforts, Clark said.

``I don't want them to become more dependent on government,'' he said. ``I want them to depend on folks in their communities - the YMCAs, the PTAs - not on Richmond.''

Clark said he is aware that parenting issues often become fodder for political rhetoric.

``I think it's a non-partisan issue. I don't think anybody could stand up and say they are against fathers being more involved with their kids,'' he said. ``. . . The fact that they are at least talking about it is exciting. But all of us who are talking about it have to come to the table.''

Clark said he doesn't want the project to get ensnarled in debates about the rights of fathers vs. the rights of women.

``I'm not telling women to go through hell just to have a man in the household,'' he said. ``If she is being abused, I tell her she needs to be out of there for her safety and the outcome of the children.''

Clark and his family plan to move from their Salem Woods neighborhood to Yorktown. He and his wife, Lisa, will commute in opposite directions. She's assistant director of multicultural student services at Old Dominion University.

He also intends not to let his new job interfere with spending adequate time with their two children. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

As director of the Virginia Fatherhood Campaign, Ron J. Clark will

promote responsible behavior by male teens.

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