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Keynote: Brandon McGee ties mentorship, housing and restorative justice to fatherhood
Summary
Brandon McGee urged fathers and communities to use mentorship to close opportunity gaps, linked housing stability and reentry supports to stronger family outcomes, and described investing cannabis tax revenue as restorative justice for communities harmed by mass incarceration.
Brandon McGee, chief executive of the Social Equity Council, delivered a keynote tracing how mentorship and structural policy shape fathers' capacity to parent. McGee recounted his upbringing in Hartford's North End, his participation in Project Concern/Open Choice, and how access to better-resourced schools shaped opportunity.
McGee cited a local statistic — "over 38% of households in Hartford County fall into the ALICE category" (asset-limited, income-constrained, employed) — and said economic strain makes consistent father engagement more difficult for many families. He argued that programs that improve housing and employment access help fathers show up for their children.
Describing his current role at the Social Equity Council, McGee said the agency works to ensure that Connecticut's cannabis industry benefits communities most harmed by the "war on drugs," and framed reinvesting tax revenue into education, reentry support and entrepreneurship as a form of restorative justice that helps reunify and stabilize families.
McGee also stressed mentorship as "a form of modern fatherhood," naming pastors and community mentors who shaped his life and urging attendees to view fatherhood as a long-term, community-backed commitment rather than an individual burden. He closed by urging fathers and father-figures to "keep showing up" and for institutions to invest in programs and policies that support sustained presence.
The keynote was personal and programmatic: he tied individual mentorship to broader policy levers (housing access and reentry programs) without proposing specific new legislation during the webinar.
