Nationally-Recognized Girls For A Change Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Citywide Celebration 

Ten years ago, a group of girls enrolled in a program offered by Girls For A Change (GFAC) – a nonprofit organization empowering girls of color – and as part of a social change project, created Date With Dad to celebrate dads and change the perception that dads, especially of color, were absent from girls’ lives. Now, ten years later, GFAC will celebrate ten years of recognizing and strengthening the bond between fathers and daughters with Date With Dad 10.0 – a month-long anniversary celebration that is an upgrade from the previous three-day weekend event.

Date With Dad 10.0 will feature more than 10 educational and fun experiences for dads and daughters at several locations throughout Richmond –Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Trinity Family Life Center, Richmond Public Library, Downtown YMCA, Science Museum of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Children’s Museum of Richmond and The Richmond City Justice Center. Among the experiences is the anticipated annual father-daughter dance, which will be held Saturday, March 18 at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden from 4-9 p.m. Tickets are $60 per father-daughter couple. Another annual dance, Dance of Their Own, will be held for girls with incarcerated fathers Sunday, March 19 at Richmond City Justice Center. This event is closed to the public. Olympic gold medalist Michelle Carter will be the keynote speaker at the Date With Dad Dance at Lewis Ginter. Inspired by her father, 1984 shot put Olympic silver medalist and San Francisco 49ers nose guard, Michael Carter, Michelle will share her personal story with participants.

“Date With Dad Weekend began with an idea from a group of black girls who believed that they could change how the world viewed black fathers,” says Angela Patton, CEO of Girls For A Change. “It’s amazing to see this event evolve and attract fathers and daughters of all races, experiences and backgrounds. That’s exactly what social change is meant to do.”

Creating social change in her own right, pioneering hip-hop icon Roxanne Shante´ will lecture Wednesday, March 15, 6-8 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library, exploring women who have made positive contributions in hip-hop culture.

Annually, more than 600 people, including dads and daughters, attend Date with Dad Weekend, traveling from as far south as Atlanta and as far north as Philadelphia. Date with Dad Weekend has been covered by national media including ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, Inside Edition and most recently CNN’s This Is The Life with Lisa Ling.

For a complete listing of events, visit datewithdad10.eventbrite.com.