National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) is pleased to announce 25 capacity-building awards, one award in the amount of $25,000 for each of the organizations below. The purpose of these awards is to develop these organizations’ capacity to effectively serve families and fathers in their communities.

On April 21-25, 2008, two staff leaders from each of these awardees will participate in a comprehensive, 40-hour “ Certification College,” where National Fatherhood Initiative senior staff, experts from ICF International and other consultants will provide technical assistance and training in the areas of leadership development, program development, organizational development and community engagement.

The organizations will use the awards for targeted work in these same areas.


2008 Capacity-Building Awardees:

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GRANT SUMMARY

Since 1994, National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) has worked to improve the well being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers. It has done so by:

• Educating and inspiring all Americans—especially fathers—through public awareness campaigns, careful research, and providing other resources;
• Equipping and developing leaders of national, state, and community fatherhood initiatives through curricula, training, and technical assistance; and
• Engaging every sector of society through strategic alliances and partnerships.

The Opportunity

To this end, with support from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Family Assistance, NFI announces availability of 25 awards, each in the amount of $25,000, for local community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and other grassroots fatherhood agencies. Through a competitive bidding process, top applicants will receive funds for the specific purpose of increasing capacity to develop their fatherhood programming, and to improve their financial sustainability by becoming more familiar with—and better qualified to receive—federal or private philanthropic support.

Some examples of fatherhood programs could include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Parenting education programs for new and expecting fathers, teen fathers, fathers in need of general parenting skills, or fathers with special needs children.
2. Programs providing marriage counseling, relationship counseling and/or divorce counseling.
3. Support groups for stay-at-home and/or single fathers.
4. Programs for incarcerated fathers.
5. Programs providing court-mandated fathering skills training.
6. Job skills training and/or job placement programs that include a fatherhood component.

Awardees must use their funds to send two staff members to participate in an intensive, weeklong “ Certification College,” led by fatherhood experts from NFI, ICF International and private consultants who have past government experience. Awardees will also receive follow-up technical assistance from NFI and ICF International, including phone consultations, e-mail follow-up, occasional web-based seminars and other resources. Finally, selected organizations will participate in a two-day mini-conference, including assessment and evaluation that measures their improvement.

Funds may not be used for direct programming costs, but will instead be granted on a reimbursement basis* for each awardee’s leadership development, program development, organizational development, and connections with the community (including outreach to local media, public officials, and Board Development). In other words, these grants are designed to help build the capacity of grassroots organizations—including both community-based and faith-based organizations—enabling awardees to build their organizational capacity, to more effectively deliver existing or future services promoting responsible fatherhood in local communities.

*Funds will be reimbursed on a monthly basis via a required reimbursement submission process.

Staff members from selected organizations will receive technical assistance from NFI, to improve their programs and cultivate “promising practices” in their leadership development, organizational structure, programming trends and community connections.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants must not be receiving any other funds from current Promoting Responsible Fatherhood programming, sponsored by the Office of Family Assistance at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Grant Benefits

To support the future delivery of responsible fatherhood services at the local level, awardees will receive:

• Formal training and technical assistance to strengthen site capacity, in:
• program development
• leadership development
• organizational development, and
• community connections
• Participation by two staff leaders in a national Certification College for Responsible Fatherhood, to assess program strengths, develop a working budget and to begin working toward targeted capacity improvement in two of the four key areas of fatherhood capacity-building noted above.
• Up to 40 total hours of follow-up technical assistance, over a period of six months (April-September 2008).
• $25,000 in reimbursable financial support for each organization, including technical assistance, conferences and other resources.
• In the final month of the initiative, the ability to purchase $2,000 in additional resources from FatherSOURCE™, NFI’s acclaimed fatherhood resource center