From ‘crude vision’ to bedrock leader
Terron Edwards shapes men into fathers
It’s difficult for many Milwaukeeans to think about fatherhood initiatives without Terron Edwards coming to mind. ● At 42, he has spent years growing a network of support for fathers throughout Milwaukee – a path that first appeared when he became a teen dad. ● “(Before), it was hard for me to keep my purpose and my direction,” he said. “Then, my children became my purpose and my direction.” ● Starting out at Head Start, his experience at the New Hope Project and Running Rebels culminated in him founding the nonprofit Fathers Making Progress.
The organization was started 14 years ago when Edwards saw that many of Milwaukee’s fathers seemed to struggle to fit in the parenting landscape. The revelation has grown into regular meetings, a fatherhood course and wellness and mental health check-ins, along with employment, child support and family court support.
Fathers Making Progress, Edwards said, “started with a crude vision of wanting to do better and be better for (my children).”
As infectious as his laugh, his motivation spread through many of the fathers who have gone through the program, affectionately referred to as alumni. Shawn Mitchell, one of the co-founders and a board secretary at Fathers Making Progress, is one of those fathers.
Mitchell describes Edwards as the bedrock of the program, helping strengthen its community one father at a time. “At the end of the day, we believe strong fathers equal strong families, equal strong community.”
Teen father to fatherhood leader
Edwards had a rough start. At the age of 9, Edwards’ father was murdered. He and his mother moved from Flint, Michigan, to Milwaukee.
“In a lot of ways, I grew up falling into a lot of statistical categories,” he explained. “We were poor, I didn’t have my dad, I got in trouble as a teen father. There were a lot of odds against me succeeding.”
But he made an effort. He took two semesters of HVAC training, studied at Milwaukee Area Technical College’s TV broadcasting program and even recorded commercials for Rosen Kia.
As his sons got older and began Head Start, Edwards realized he enjoyed spending time there and started volunteering. That was when he noticed something else: He was the only man who would stay there.
“I would actually run into other men dropping their kids off,” Edwards recalled, “and they would say things like, ‘I’m dropping the baby off for her.’ I would say, ‘What do you mean? That’s your baby too.’ ”
“I got tired of being the only guy there, and I was fussing with the center director and she actually challenged me – like, what are you going to do about it?”
What he did was start mobilizing other fathers, which he continued to do after he was placed at the New Hope Project through an AmeriCorps-Public Allies apprenticeship.
That’s where he met Rachel Shoates, an office manager who became a good friend.
“When I first met Terron, he was very polite, very gentle, very passionate about the work he was doing,” Shoates recalled. “He is a very good example of how a father should be in the community.”
Shoates said that ever since she’s known him, Edwards has always sported a
At the fatherhood group “they’d say, ‘Hey I’m having a tough time. I’m feeling isolated or alone. I’m having a tough time with my son’s virtual learning. I’m having a tough time co-parenting.’ ” Terron Edwards Fathers Making Progress
robust laugh, a goofy side that loves comics and superheroes and earnest generosity.
When the New Hope Project was experiencing a shortage of money, Shoates said Edwards paid the salaries of several staff out of his own pocket. “He’s just a good guy,” she remarked. Edwards ran pilot fatherhood programs at New Hope, even partnering with the Next Door Foundation. Then he joined Walnut Way, where he helped develop a program called “No Longer an Island” meant to mobilize and garner resources for the community. Edwards also worked as a community organizer with Running Rebels in Harambee and Lindsay Heights.
Throughout that time, his work with fathers continued. Then the pandemic hit.
With more free time than ever, Edwards started considering formalizing the group into a nonprofit. But he was hesitant.
“My first thought was Milwaukee needs another fledgling, struggling nonprofit corporation like I need another hole in my head,” he said, laughing. But when he returned to Running Rebels, he realized that he couldn’t dedicate the time he wanted to the fatherhood group. After prayer and input from family and mentors, he decided to work on Fathers Making Progress full time and turn it into a nonprofit.
“I gave it a chance, and it was probably the best decision I made in my life,” Edwards said
Building a culture
Traditionally, Fathers Making Progress would hold weekly meetings, lead fatherhood courses and run a youth program called Boys to Leaders. As a rite of passage facilitator, Edwards also holds ceremonies for boys transitioning into manhood.
When the pandemic hit, Edwards saw the need increase.
The fatherhood group adapted, holding twiceweekly virtual meetings. At the meetings, Edwards said, many men struggled. “They’d say, ‘Hey I’m having a tough time. I’m feeling isolated or alone. I’m having a tough time with my son’s virtual learning. I’m having a tough time co-parenting.’ ”
The nonprofit helped members with food drives and other necessities. During the winter, Edwards helped institute Snow to Grow, a program that involved men cleaning up the streets and shoveling walkways for community elders. The nonprofit also works with the anti-human-trafficking HEMAD campaign, which Edwards said is a natural extension of his fatherhood work. “(We want) well-meaning men to be a part of the solution (and) be trained not to create spaces that are conducive to that type of behavior,” he said.
Mitchell explained that Edwards helps build a culture of community, often following up with fathers to help them stay on the right path.
“We were running Fathers Building Fathers (and) there was a young man who just got out of jail two days before. He had come to three of our classes altogether, but he needed employment. So Terron was integral in finding him employment. But when he got the employment, he didn’t have the proper equipment, he didn’t have boots. So Terron found the funds for boots so he could work. He worked that job for a while and then Terron got him another job. He stayed with the classes, and we (still) keep in touch.”
Shoates attributes Edwards’ success to his ability to connect with all types of fathers. “Terron can have a father in the fatherhood group who is from corporate America, someone fresh out of jail, a young father,” she said. “He’s been instrumental and impacted a lot of young men’s lives – even some men who are older than him.”
Mitchell first joined the group 10 years ago seeking support after the death of his brother. Since then, he said, “The profound thing I found was how much men need each other.”
In an endorsement of the nonprofit’s success in the community, Fathers Making Progress received a $1 million federally funded Equitable Recovery Grant.
Edwards said the organization plans to use the funds to expand programming and staff. They are interviewing for a program director and are building out their Fathers Building Fathers courses: three modules taught by dads who have been through the program focused on who men are before they become fathers, the quality of relationships men have with others, and the healthy types of fathers men can become.
“The plan is to have these classes in these spaces up and running in at least three different locations at all times,” Edwards said. “We’re developing a training institute where we’re training more men to hold these spaces and bolster our community mobilization project. That’s what we’re working towards.”