“I never had my dad or nobody tell me they were proud of me until this program..." —William Jones, recent graduate of NFI's InsideOut Dad® skill-building program for incarcerated fathers.
At National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI), we implement two main strategies for engaging society about fatherhood. 1) Top-down: through communications campaigns and social media and 2) Bottom-up: our "boots on the ground" -- our work with community-based organizations and other civic partners to train and equip leaders to better serve the fathers in their communities.
One such example is our work in jails and prisons. The Richmond Times-Dispatch recently featured a program that's impacting the capital city of Virginia. The city jail uses our InsideOut Dad® program that helps prisoners to be better dads.
First Things First of Greater Richmond, a nonprofit organization focused on strengthening families, presented the course. “Nobody else can take this from you,” said Dennis Fries, who facilitated the program for First Things First of Greater Richmond. Fries is with AmeriCorps, a federal agency that enlists volunteers and paid employees to work in local communities.
“The goal is to get everybody to communicate with their kids, to relearn some parenting skills you never knew you had,” Fries continued. At the completion ceremony, the men shared how the program affected them. Below are excerpts from the news article:
- Ronnell Glasgow, 26, said he grew up without his father in his life and was repeating that pattern with his own children, daughters ages 7 and 9.
- Glasgow is behind bars at the Richmond City Jail, but even when he was out he said he thought giving them material things was enough.
- Just weeks into a fatherhood skills training program at the jail, Glasgow said he had reached out to his own emotionally distant father and was communicating more with his daughters, who he said are no longer shy around him.
- “I understand the importance of not having a father,” Glasgow said, adding that with his own father he was “building a relationship as a father and a man.”
- One man described having a 15-minute telephone conversation with his daughter, who he rarely spoke to before.
- Another described overcoming fear of rejection and reaching out to an adult daughter and his surprise at her welcoming response.
- Another talked about writing to his 6-year-old son and getting a reply.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that one recent graduate said after the program, “Being there for my kids is better than any gift,” said William Jones, 22, father of four children. Jones is in jail on a probation violation and plans to enter an addiction-treatment program when he is released.
A new 12-week session of InsideOut Dad® at the Richmond City jail starts soon.
The InsideOut Dad® group-based program can be easily shortened for use in jails and other short term stay facilities. Download our new FREE InsideOut Dad Guide for Jails which provides a road map for modifying the program to either 12 or 8 hours.
Image: [Daniel Sangjib Min/TIMES-DISPATCH] Dennis Fries (left) an instructor for the InsideOut Dad® program, gets a hug from William Jones, a participant in the class who wants better relationships with his four children.
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.
This is a guest blog post from Christopher Brown, Executive Vice President, National Fatherhood Initiative.
The federal government, many state governments, and many private funders continue to place an emphasis on funding evidence-based programs. Indeed, many funders now require the use of evidence-based programs for receipt of funds.
What is lost on many funders is how difficult it is to implement evidence-based programs with fidelity (i.e. as designed). The primary reasons are:
- How difficult (and often impossible) it is to replicate the controlled environments in which evaluations are conducted.
- Lack of access to the resources (e.g. funding and staffing) in which programs are rigorously evaluated.
- The desire to implement evidence-based programs with populations or in settings that are different from the populations or settings in which programs are evaluated.
These reasons are compounded by one of the unintended consequences of the emphasis on funding only evidence-based programs—it sends the message that evidence-based programs are the only kinds of programs worthy of funding and implementation. Consequently, an organization might not be willing to use a program that could work well with the population it serves and in its setting simply because it hasn’t undergone a rigorous evaluation.
Fortunately, there is a growing awareness among some funders of the difficulty in implementing evidence-based programs with fidelity and that there are other programs worthy of implementation that haven’t undergone rigorous evaluations. (These latter programs are typically called “promising programs”.) Some funders now allow grantees to modify the content and delivery of evidence-based programs, within certain limits, and the populations that participate in the programs that they fund. Other funders allow the organizations they fund to implement promising programs that have been shown to be effective based on less rigorous evaluations and programs with content that is informed by evidence. (These latter programs are typically called “evidence-informed programs”.)
This flexibility is wise because an organization that wishes to use an evidence-based program might lack the resources, staff, and organizational culture to implement that program with fidelity. That organization might serve a population and operate in a community that are quite different from those in which the program was evaluated, and it might be better served using a promising or evidence-informed program.
How do NFI’s programs and workshops address these difficulties? NFI provides Facilitator’s Manuals with all of our programs and workshops (and training institutes on our programs) that guide organizations on how to implement them with fidelity. When implementing with fidelity isn’t an option, the modular structure of our programs and workshops provides the flexibility to customize them based on organizations’ resources, cultures, populations served, and community-based settings.
Based on feedback from the organizations that use our programs and workshops, we know that most of them don’t implement our fatherhood programs and workshops exactly as they’re designed. These organizations value the ability to create customized programs by combining portions of our programs and workshops (and often adding our other resources) that best meet their needs and the needs of the fathers and families they serve.
In closing, please don’t hesitate to contact our Program Support staff at programsupport@fatherhood.org or 240-912-1270. They can help you to create a customized solution for your organization that draws from our more than 100 resources, several of which are either evidence-based, evidence-informed, or promising programs.
For more information on all of our programs, workshops, and other fatherhood resources, visit www.fathersource.org
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.
This is a guest blog post from Christopher Brown, Executive Vice President, National Fatherhood Initiative.
One of the primary challenges faced by non-custodial fathers is how to effectively navigate the child support system. Research shows that when these fathers consistently pay their child support that their involvement in the lives of their children increases.
So how can you help them?
Helping fathers to effectively navigate the child support system is, consequently, a challenge for organizations that serve these fathers. A recent report from Public/Private Ventures (P/PV), Navigating the Child Support System: Lessons from the Fathers at Work Initiative summarizes this challenge within the context of workforce development and provides guidance that can help.
The report “aims to help meet this challenge by providing information, resources and tools to use at the intersection of workforce development and child support enforcement. The guide is based on lessons from the Fathers at Work initiative, a three-year, six-site demonstration funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which was designed to help young, noncustodial fathers achieve increased employment and earnings, involvement in their children's lives, and more consistent financial support of their children.” Moreover, it “describes child support enforcement regulations, policies and actions that can affect fathers' willingness to seek formal employment and participate in the system, and provides examples of four services that organizations might offer to benefit fathers and their families.”
While this report can prove to be helpful for organizations working with fathers, National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) offers a new tool that organizations can use now to help meet this challenge.
Available through FatherSOURCE™.org, the new FatherTopics™ Collection for Non-Custodial Dads contains five workshop sessions that organizations can use as stand-alone workshops or to complement their fatherhood programs (e.g. 24/7 Dad®) to address selected topics that are very important and helpful for non-custodial fathers.
Most importantly, The Collection includes a session that helps fathers to better understand the importance of providing child support. They learn what this type of support means for their children and for their self-identification as a father. And beyond that, it emphasizes the value of all types of support given by a father (e.g. financial, emotional, and physical). As part of the Child Support Session content, fathers meet a local child support expert/representative and learn about child support enforcement and how to navigate the child support system.
Other sessions in the collection focus on several additional critical challenges faced by these fathers:
- Access and visitation
- Workforce readiness
- Money management
- Fathers’ rights and responsibilities.
In fact, the collection of workshops for fathers was field tested for one year by practitioners in New York City as part of the city’s fatherhood initiative; the feedback from these practitioners and the fathers who participated in the sessions was overwhelmingly positive.
FatherTopics™ Collection for Non-Custodial Dads offers a total of five 2-hour sessions your organization can run for non-custodial fathers to help them succeed as involved fathers. Click the button below to learn more about how to implement these sessions with non-custodial fathers you serve.
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.
As fatherhood program facilitators and those working in our communicties, prisons, and military bases with fathers and families, be sure to watch the upcoming three-part series on Fatherless Sons, premiering Sunday May 5 at 9/8 CT on the Oprah Winfrey Network, OWN.
Iyanla Vanzant joins Oprah Winfrey for a two-hour special event to address the growing epidemic of fatherless sons in America. Joined by expert Roland Warren from the National Fatherhood Initiative and over 150 fatherless sons, Vanzant and Winfrey discuss the growing crisis affecting 24 million children in the United States today as they help heal the men in need and show how this crisis affects us all. Also, NBA superstar Dwyane Wade talks about the life-changing impact of his father’s presence, and the importance of his role to his own sons.
This dynamic, interactive show allows Lifeclass viewers and students from over 200 countries worldwide to be a part of the experience by joining in the conversation via Oprah.com and Twitter using #Lifeclass.
Checkout the video below for a seak peek at the upcoming show, Fatherless Sons.
Stay tuned for more details about the show in our Dad Email and on The Father Factor Blog. For more about the series, visit Oprah's LifeClass.
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.
Posted by
Kerry Cole on Thu, Apr 18, 2013 @ 10:00 AM
NFI is proud to support the upcoming film, Home Run, opening Tomorrow, April 19.
Baseball all-star Cory Brand knows what it takes to win in the big leagues. 
But off the field, with memories of his past haunting him, his life is spiraling out of control. Hoping to save her client’s career and reputation after a DUI and a team suspension, Cory’s agent sends him back to the small town where he grew up.
Forced to coach the local youth baseball team and spend eight weeks in the only recovery program in town, Cory can’t wait to return to his old life as quickly as possible. As his young players help him experience the joy of the game, Cory discovers his need to find freedom from his past and hope for his future…and win back the love he left behind. With this unexpected second chance, Cory finds himself on a powerful journey of transformation and redemption.
Watch the Official Trailer!
At NFI, we're committed to sharing the latest in films that matter to you and the work you are doing to help dads be the best fathers they can be! This film gives your organization an opportunity to take a group of fathers to the theater to see the film as well as an opportunity to encourage the fathers you reach to see the film to receive inspiration around their roles.
Home Run releases Friday, April 19. Get more information on our Home Run page!
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.
Every year, National Fatherhood Initiative celebrates military fathers and families through our Military Fatherhood Award™. We get hundreds of nominations and after narrowing down to four finalists, we turn to the American people to help us select an Awardee by voting on Facebook.
Our finalists are going above and beyond in staying involved in their children's lives, despite the challenges of military life, and they are an inspiration to us. We hope they'll inspire and encourage you too!
Ssgt Charlie Linville, U.S. Marine Corps - a combat veteran and Wounded Warrior, Ssgt Linville insisted on attending his daughter's first karate competition the day after having his leg amputated and continues to plan activites with his daughters, despite daily pain.
CPO Patrick Mondragon, U.S. Navy - CPO Mondragon was effectively a solo parent while caring for his wife and kids - and continuing to fulfill his military duties - during a life-threatening health complication his wife experienced.
Ssgt Jorge Roman, U.S. Army - a first-generation American, Ssgt Roman is fulfilling the American dream for his children, teaches them art and fitness, and has continued to parent his daughters during overseas deployments.
Maj. Kevin Billups, U.S. Air Force - leaving for his eighth deployment in a few weeks, Maj. Billups is not only an involved father to his three children, he teaches other new military dads how to prepare for fatherhood and care for their little ones.
You can watch the videos their families created and vote for your favorite finalist on NFI's Facebook page. Voting opens on Monday April 15 and closes on Sunday May 15. You can vote once every 24 hours.
We're excited to introduce these wonderful dads as outstanding examples of fatherhood and to honor them for their service to the country.
Share this blog with other collegues and associates working in the fatherhood field!
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.
Posted by
Kerry Cole on Thu, Apr 11, 2013 @ 10:02 AM
This is a blog post by NFI's Senior Program Support Consultant, Ave Mulhern. If you would like to guest blog for us please email us.
Just like everyone else I suppose, I love to laugh! I am ever on the lookout for the humor in things especially when they have to do with parenting or dads in particular.
Recently someone sent me an email. You know the kind, with funny stories and they ask you to pass it on, etc. This one was labeled WHY GOD MADE MOMS.
The answers were given by 2nd grade school children to a number of questions such as:
Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.
Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.
You get the picture, and of course they made me laugh, or smile at least and I actually identified with the statements these kids were making. Here is the link to the entire list. But as I read through the list, the questions asked about the dads specifically - although funny -are quite telling. I noticed a bit of a theme like we also see on television today, that mom is smart and the “boss” and dad is a kind of “goof” to quote one of the kids. There was another statement from one child’s grandma who had something negative to say about dad.
I grew up in the 60’s and in contrast, thought of the old TV shows like
Kids Say The Darndest Things (then with Art Linkletter later with Bill Cosby) it is clear there was a kind of reverence for both parents.
Now I know I look at things from a fatherhood lens so to speak, because of what I do here at NFI. For a moment, I thought maybe I was being hypersensitive. So I read on to the "Mommy Test."
THE MOMMY TEST
I was out walking with my 4-year-old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that. "Why?" my daughter asked. "Because it's been laying outside, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty and probably has germs" I replied. At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, "Wow! How do you know all this stuff?"
"Uh," ...I was thinking quickly, “All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mommy Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mommy."
We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.
"OH...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you don't pass the test you have to be the daddy"
"Exactly" I replied back with a big smile on my face and joy in my heart.
When you're finished laughing, send this to a Mom.
I wondered about mom’s comment about having “joy in her heart” to have gotten the message across to her 4 year old daughter. But was that message actually "moms know everything, and those that don’t pass the test—are those (dumb?) dads"? And why is it important to send this on to another mom? Because, oh yes, we (moms) all will get it too? Again, am I being hypersensitive because of the work we do here at NFI?
In our country, one in three children are growing up in homes without a father. Why is that bad or even a tragedy? There are numerous statistics linking father absence to so many unfunny social issues like teen pregnancy, incarceration, crime, etc. Even more alarming in Research Studies with dads AND moms – shows that more than half of moms and dads believe dads are replaceable!
As I have learned through experience and the research NFI provides, dads don’t do things the same way we moms do. Ah hah! I sadly reflect now on how many times I verbally expressed how dad didn’t do something correctly or “my way” in front of our children. We (moms) want dads interaction with our children --but we want them to interact the same way that we interact.
What the research actually shows is that the wonderful blend of parenting approaches or styles from both parents is beneficial and enriching for children. And involved fathers and involved mothers are beneficial to each other! See our recent Blog Moms Should “Lean In” …to Fatherhood about this very topic.
Which leads me to this:
While we have developed countless resources for fathers; emails like the
one described above illustrate the very real perception a lot of mothers have about the fathers of their children. In case you haven’t heard, NFI recently launched a new series of Resources for Moms – and yes there are a lot of resources out there for moms.
But what is unique is these are for moms…About Dads! Our new low intensity resources include the Pocketbook for Moms™: A Pocketbook
Full of Ways to Communicate with Dad as well as the Pocketbook for New Moms™: A Pocketbook Full of Reasons for New Moms to Involve Dads.These pocketbooks are filled with tips and advice for moms on how to communicate with dads.
I believe that these resources and programs can be a great way for organizations working in our communities to help both parents vastly improve child-rearing skills and expand the enjoyment of their personal relationship as well. And speaking of personal relationships, I believe humor is a key component to keeping good relationships for sure. It is important to be way more aware of the deeper messages to that humor.
Now, have you heard the one about…?
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.
It's an exciting day at National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) as we just launched a new line of products and services designed to help mothers support the involvement of fathers in their children’s lives!
This new line of products and services for mothers complements NFI’s longstanding, industry-leading work to equip community-based organizations around the country with the tools and training needed to effectively serve fathers for the well-being of their children.
Today, over 24 million children in America live in in homes where their biological father is absent. All too often, a mothers' gatekeeping behavior can prevent or reduce fathers' access to their children - when fathers' involvement in their children's lives would actually benefit their children. In addition, mothers can lack the self-awareness and communications skills they need to improve their relationships with the fathers of their children.
It's important to note that we devised our new programming for moms based on feedback from hundreds of organizations around the country using our signature fatherhood programs and other NFI low and medium intensity resources. These organizations identified a great need to involve mothers in their efforts to connect fathers to their children, but saw no programming available to help them do so. And, they were seeking resources to encourage communication and co-parenting. Accordingly, NFI’s new programs – the first of their kind – will help moms become gateways, rather than gatekeepers, between their children and their children’s dads.
Understanding Dad™: An Awareness and Communication Program for Moms anchors the new line of resources. This complete program kit helps mothers successfully navigate their relationships with the fathers of their children in a group-based program over 8 sessions. It will give moms the knowledge and skills they need to effectively communicate with the fathers of their children and to understand the critical role fathers play in children’s lives.
“Research shows that two of the most powerful predictors of father involvement for a child are the quality of the mother-father relationship and the way the child’s mother perceives the child’s dad,” said Christopher A. Brown, executive vice president of NFI. “NFI’s new programming aims to help moms develop the knowledge and skills they need for effective communication and come away with a positive impression of the role of fathers in children’s lives.”
Understanding Dad™ increases mothers’ self-awareness about the impact of their personal histories on their relationships with men and fathers, how their histories have shaped their communication with the fathers of their children, and provides them with research-based skills to overcome negative communication styles and replace them with positive ones.
Other products in the new line include Pocketbook for Moms™: A Pocketbook Full of Ways to Communicate with Dad and Pocketbook for New Moms™: A Pocketbook Full of Reasons for New Moms to Involve Dads. Pocketbook for Moms™ contains practical tips and strategies to help mothers build trust and positive communication patterns with dads. Pocketbook for New Moms™ helps moms understand the benefits of father involvement during pregnancy and during their children’s infant and toddler years and beyond.
Lastly, our popular FatherTopics Workshop™: Mom as Gateway is already being used by oragnizations across the country to address mom's gatekeeping behavior, and is an excellent complement as an add-on to our new Understanding Dad Program.
All of the new resources are now available through FatherSOURCE™ along with customized NFI trainings and technical assistance that organizations can choose to help them effectively implement the new programs. And don't forget, NFI’s team of program support consultants, are here to help you start or enhance your fatherhood programsor create a custom program to meet your needs!
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.
Posted by
Kerry Cole on Tue, Mar 19, 2013 @ 01:36 PM
This is a blog post by NFI's Executive Vice President, Christopher Brown. If you would like to guest blog for us please email us.
There’s an old saying about starting on a path to achieving an objective: just put one foot in front of the other. Sage advice to be sure, but it doesn’t tell you much about the direction in which you should head. For all you know, it could lead you to walk off the edge of a cliff. If you want to start or grow a fatherhood program, it’s vital that you know what to do first so that you head in the right direction.
1. Conduct a Needs and Assets Assessment of Your Community. You need to understand the “fatherhood landscape” in your community—the rate of father absence, the gaps in services for fathers, the programs for fathers (and the kinds of fathers they serve), etc.—before you can select a group of fathers to serve or who could also benefit from the program you already offer.
2. Identify and Learn About the Kind(s) of Father(s) You Want to Serve or Should Expand to Serve. Programs for specific populations of fathers are often more effective than programs for all fathers. Your organization alone can’t possibly address all the needs of all fathers. Educate yourself and your colleagues about the unique needs of specific populations of fathers in your community who can benefit the most from your program.
3. Create or Select a Program that Matches Fathers’ Needs and Wants. After you know who you will serve (or expand to serve), create or select a program and provide complementary services and resources that will meet fathers’ needs and wants. NFI has evidence-based and research-based and proven curricula, programs, and workshops to reach all kinds of fathers. There is no reason for you to “reinvent the wheel.” To get a current list of curricula and more detailed information about our resources, visit our website at www.fathersource.org or call our national office.
4. Market and Promote Your Program. Marketing a program or service is the greatest challenge of all. It not only involves recruitment, it involves retention and creating a positive image of your program or service in the community to generate referrals. (To learn how to create an effective marketing effort, contact NFI to bring the “Social Marketing for Fatherhood Programs™” workshop to your organization.)
5. Evaluate Your Program. Just because you follow the first 4 steps doesn’t mean that you won’t veer off course. An evaluation is like a GPS—it tells you whether you’re headed in the right direction as you implement your program and helps you to correct your course if necessary. Moreover, evaluations are critically important for program credibility, accountability, improvement, sharing of best practices, and to prove to funders that their dollars were well spent. You don’t need a complicated design to effectively evaluate your program. To help organizations with this step, NFI includes evaluation tools with many of its fatherhood programs.
Don’t waste time. Go ahead and put one foot in front of the other—just make sure to know in which direction you should take that first step. For more information on implementing these 5 steps, consider purchasing our how-to guide on starting a fatherhood program called “A Guide to Strengthening Fatherhood In Your Community: Moving From Inspiration to Implementation.” Download a sample below.
For direct assistance from NFI on how to implement a comprehensive model that includes these and other steps, contact us at programsupport@fatherhood.org to bring “The 7 Bright Spots to Designing Your Fatherhood Program™” workshop to your organization.
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.
Posted by
Kerry Cole on Fri, Mar 15, 2013 @ 09:38 AM
The following incorporates a guest post by Eli Williams, Director of Fatherhood, Fatherhood Clark County, OH and Urban Light Ministries. If you would like to guest blog for us, email here.
At NFI, we often receive inquiries from organizations asking some of the following questions:
How can we increase our exposure in the community?
How do we get our information and services into the public?
How can we make our resources easily accessible?
Eli Williams, Director of Fatherhood, Fatherhood Clark County, OH and Urban Light Ministries is using NFI's Fatherhood Kiosks in creative ways, so we asked him to share how he is using them in his community:
"To be effective, a local fatherhood initiative needs to get information about the resources available to fathers into the hands of those dads.
Here in Clark County, Ohio, new Fatherhood Resource Kiosks have been strategically placed around the community to do just that. We have stocked the kiosks with informative tip cards and brochures from National Fatherhood Initiative including: Ten Ways to Be a Better Dad, Ten Tips for New Dads, and Ten Tips to Help Your Child in School. The kiosks and full-color materials are expertly designed and make an excellent first impression.
They also allow us to easily provide information to fathers in the rest of the community. In those kiosks, we’ve also included tip cards and brochures featuring the fatherhood programs and services offered by Urban Light. The five free-standing Fatherhood Resource Kiosks were strategically placed throughout our county at WorkPlus one-stop job center, the county Child Support agency, Children Service agency, Rocking Horse Community Health Center, and Springfield High School. After an undetermined period of time, some of the kiosks may be moved to other locations to increase exposure and access.
We continue to use the older style tabletop fatherhood kiosk from NFI, as it's being kept on display at Urban Light Fatherhood Resource Center in Springfield, OH. We are planning to also use this as a traveling unit for conferences, community events, and etc.
Fatherhood Clark County is grateful that NFI had the foresight to create these important tools for promoting responsible fatherhood, and healthy fathering practices."
Fatherhood Clark County oversees the county’s Action Plan to Promote Responsible Fatherhood, local Fatherhood Summits, and the annual celebration of fatherhood each Fathers Day weekend.
We hope that hearing from Eli gives your organization some ideas on how to make the most out of your Fatherhood Resource Kiosks™; they are an excellent way to engage the community and expand your efforts.
Learn more about the Kiosks by downloading the information sheet below!
For questions about NFI's products or programming, please email programsupport@fatherhood.org.