2007 Capacity-Building Awardees

NFI is pleased to announce the 2007 Capacity-Building Awardees. To view information about each awardee, click on the link below.

Awardee Narratives

The Advocacy Foundation - Clayton County Fatherhood Initiative Partnership
Richmond, VA

Information currently not available.

Children's Aid Society | Back to Top |
Homewood, AL

Children’s Aid Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit social service organization, dedicated to promoting strong, nurturing families and communities. Founded in 1912, Children’s Aid Society is a charter member of the United Way of Central Alabama, a founding member of the Child Welfare League of America. It is accredited by The Council on Accreditation and is known throughout the state as an active community leader. The mission of Children’s Aid Society is to promote a strong and permanent family for every child.

Project Dads, a program of The Children’s Aid Society, was established in 1994 as a result of a growing need to address issues surrounding the “young father” in particular. While multiple programs addressed these areas of concern for young mothers at the time, very few took any initiative to assist fathers in need of father-specific services. Project Dads provides group counseling and individual case management, with an emphasis on mentoring and role modeling. With the assistance of the capacity-building grant, CAS plans to develop and implement creative strategies that target fathers and generate a positive “buzz” in the community about the importance of fathers in their children’s lives.

CLUES (Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio) | Back to Top |
St. Paul, MN

Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio, Inc. is a community-based non-profit organization that provides services in the following areas: Mental Health, Chemical Health, Employment, Education, and Elder Wellness. CLUES is funded through federal, state sources and local foundations, corporations, and individual donors. CLUES strengthens Latino families and individuals so that they are financially, mentally, and physically healthier; CLUES assists Latinos to increase their educational levels, improve their English language proficiency, and overcome other barriers to self-sufficiency; and CLUES helps low-income Latinos to find and retain better jobs with benefits so that they are able support their families and become self-sufficient.

Community Care Services | Back to Top |
Taunton, MA

Community Care Services, Inc. is a non-profit community-based mental health agency that has existed for 55 years. The agency’s mission is to “discover, restore and protect the diverse gifts and unique abilities of individuals, families and communities.” The agency has had a Young Parents Support Program as part of its service array for approximately twelve years. YPS is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Social Services and was previously focused primarily on support and preventative work with young mothers. But more recently, as part of its most recent contract renewal, work with young fathers was became a program requirement.

CTE, Inc. | Back to Top |
Stamford, CT

CTE, Inc. is the federally designated anti-poverty agency serving the Stamford, Greenwich and Darien communities. Our mission is to counter the basic causes of poverty by offering services and programs that reduce the physical, economic and psychological barriers to self-sufficiency for low-income families. Our fatherhood program helps non-custodial fathers, low-income fathers, and unemployed or underemployed fathers—ultimately preparing them for fatherhood with a range of resources needed to be efficient fathers.

Donald Peterson Foundation | Back to Top |
Chicago, IL

The Donald Peterson Foundation was founded in honor of a man who played a very significant role in the encouragement of young men by instilling in them the value of self respect, self reliance, and resiliency while providing positive direction and guidance. One of the initiatives of the Donald Peterson Foundation is the Young Parenthood Program which seeks to empower fathers to restore the family unit through a spirited series of seminars, workshops and activities that educate, motivate and inspire heads of families to excel as active, effective and confident leaders that will contribute excellence to their children's lives. Our commitment is to implement significant and sustainable options that will provide life skills to young parents for the support, provision and re-establishment of nurturing family units.

As Donald Peterson Foundation has been recognized as a force to make a difference in the lives of our youth, we have been summonsed to offer strength to an even broader community of men reaching beyond the boundaries of the youth into the power behind them. Those men through their absence heretofore have forsaken under girding, building and motivating their seed by simply failing to exemplify the true measure of a man by offering their very presence. It is our sincere mission to reach out to these fathers and restore their confidence in being able to measure up just by loving and being there as a source of empowerment for their children.

Ebenezer Ministries | Back to Top |
Burton, MI

Ebenezer Ministries Marriage and Fatherhood programs effectively and responsibly address the challenges associated with decreasing and failing marriages—especially with respect to domestic violence and absentee fathers. To do so, Ebenezer Ministries offers pre-marriage counseling, marriage counseling and divorce counseling. Other efforts focus specifically on family communication and relationships, family and child mentoring, and aiding and empowering males to serve as true fathers who act as caring, present and responsible visionaries for their families.

Family Comes First | Back to Top |
Columbus, OH

Family Comes First, a statewide non-profit coalition, facilitates the unprecedented integration of Responsible Fatherhood, Healthy Parental Relationships, and Informed Waiting (abstinence & relationships) through promoting effective education and program delivery among the state's network of service providers within the State of Ohio.

We believe that reinforcing the fragile family structure is the most critical need facing today’s culture; the quality of an individual’s life, from birth to the grave, has a direct correlation to his ability to make a positive, meaningful contribution to society.

Father Focus Family Empowerment Initiative | Back to Top |
Richmond, VA

Father Focus is Richmond’s Father Resource Center. Our mission is to strengthen families by helping men identify and overcome the challenges they face as fathers. Our 3 primary goals are to:

Increase men’s understanding of the roles fathers play in the lives of children
Strengthen men’s capacities to fulfill their role as fathers
Increase public awareness on the role fathers play in the lives of children

Through the National Fatherhood Initiative grant, Father Focus will increase its capacity to serve fathers and families in the city of Richmond. We anticipate using the funds to receive training and coaching from a professional non-profit organization consultant in a number of vital and interconnected areas: creative fund-raising for non-profit organizations, Board development, fiscal management and administration, and program development. These are all areas intrinsic to the growth and stability of Father Focus and its programs. Interactive trainings and coaching opportunities will provide the resources and build the skills our organizational leaders and staff need. Funds will also be used to develop an effective social marketing campaign—including improving our website; producing marketing materials such as brochures and pamphlets; and producing kiosks to host father resource centers throughout our community. We’re also considering purchasing new curriculums such as Inside-Out Dad, 10-Step Rites of Passage, Creating Lasting Families, and Boot Camp for New Dads. These would provide valuable resources for the community and its families. To more effectively utilize these and other resources, we intend to conduct a community needs and assets assessment as well as host a city-wide Fatherhood Summit with key stakeholders in our community. Lastly, our community needs and assets assessment will be used to produce an ongoing community resource guide identifying local agencies and services available for local men and families.

Fill the Gap Program | Back to Top |
Independence, LA

Fill the Gap Program has been operating in southeast Louisiana since October 2003, acting as a link between the Amite Region Child Support Enforcement Services, the Twenty-First Judicial District Court system, and non-custodial parents not currently meeting their child support obligations. Fill the Gap Program helps non-custodial parents to gain a better understanding of child support enforcement and court system processes and expectations; to find suitable full-time employment; to build positive, productive relationships with their children and the custodial parent or guardian; and to begin meeting their child support obligation—both voluntarily and consistently. Its ten-week program is structured to meet the individual needs of program participants, as we listen to these men and women, encourage them, and help them to develop plans and strategies enabling them to overcome obstacles and circumstances in their life. Once participants complete the ten-week program, Fill the Gap continues to monitor participants for the next year, providing services on an as-needed basis.

With this opportunity, Fill the Gap Program hopes to expand its services, and whenever possible, to reach parents when the child support order is first issued. Our goal is three-fold:

We want non-custodial parents to understand the child support enforcement process better, and the importance of not getting behind on their payments;
We want custodial parents and non-custodial parents to better recognize, for their children’s overall well-being, how important it is that they are openly available to their children ; and finally,
We want both parents to better understand the importance of developing a productive parenting partnership, and to provide them with the tools to begin that process.

Friends Outside Los Angeles County, Inc. | Back to Top |
Pasadena, CA

Friends Outside in Los Angeles County, Inc. has been working to break the cycle of incarceration for over 30 years. Our services include a 15-hour employment preparation program and a transitional support group in South L.A. for men recently released from jail or prison. We’re now adding a fatherhood component to help reunite fathers with their children. Our aim is to strengthen the well-being of children and families by teaching recently released men responsible fatherhood skills.

Great Beginnings for Black Babies | Back to Top |
Inglewood, CA

Great Beginnings for Black Babies is a non profit community-based organization providing services and education to over 8,000 individuals per year. GBBB is committed to our mission of improving pregnancy outcomes for women and adolescents, improving the physical, educational and social growth and development of children and youth and increasing the involvement of fathers in the care and support of their children in targeted underserved communities.

GBBB realizes the impact that fathers have on their children's lives. The purpose of the Brother to Brother program is to positively increase the role of men in the lives of the families served by GBBB and in our communities. The goal of the program is to equip men with the social, emotional, educational, economic and practical skills and tools needed to be active and engaged in their families, as well as contributors to their communities.

The program promotes fatherhood through father/child bonding whether the father is currently in the home or not. The Brother-to-Brother Program also seek to reduce infant mortality, low birth weight and pre-term births by making the father an active participant with the mother in securing appropriate health care before, during and after the birth of the child.

Humanitri | Back to Top |
St. Louis, MO

Information currently not available.

Neighborhood Houses | Back to Top |
St. Louis, MO

Neighborhood Houses’ “Connecting Fathers and Children” program supports low-income fathers by awakening and enhancing these men’s fatherhood skills to help them become positive role models for their children. Based on a nationally recognized program model called MELD, the program provides these fathers with additional social competencies that can help facilitate needed behavioral changes, which enables these men to become more responsible and active in their children’s lives. While in the program, Neighborhood Houses also provides these fathers with access to our food pantries and health screenings, which attend to their personal well-being as well as their employment needs and any legal referrals that may be helpful. Ultimately, our goal is that each of these fathers find the resources necessary to maintain and improve their economic status—and to become better, more involved fathers as they do so.

Oaks Family Care Center | Back to Top |
Brunswick, OH

Oaks Family Care Center, with locations in both Brunswick and Lodi Ohio, is a faith-based, nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide services that support and strengthen family life and values in Medina County and surrounding communities. What began as a Crisis Pregnancy Center in 1998 has since grown to provide programs and resources for Marriage, Youth, Fathering, Personal Finances, Professional Counseling, and Supervised Visitations and Exchanges. In 2006, Medina County issued 900 marriage licenses—and yet over 700 individuals filed for divorce. Given these numbers, Oaks Family Care Center’s primary goal is to provide resources, services, and skills to build stronger, closer, more responsible families. Strong families create strong communities.

The Parenting Network | Back to Top |
Milwaukee, WI

Established in 1977, The Parenting Network is a 501 C(3) social service agency with a mission to strengthen parenting and to prevent child abuse. The agency offers a wide variety of prevention programs and services to all parents, caregivers in the Greater Milwaukee area, including a 24 hour Parent Helpline, more than 35 parenting education and support programs in community-based locations throughout the Milwaukee County, and home visiting services for at risk pregnant mothers and parents of newborns.

Phipps Community Development Corporation | Back to Top |
New York, NY

Phipps Community Development Corporation believes that people thrive in vibrant communities where there are genuine opportunities. Our mission is to help individuals and families access academic, economic, and civic opportunities that enhance their ability to strengthen their local neighborhoods, succeed at school and work, raise healthy families, and become engaged members of their communities.

Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Family Services | Back to Top |
Beloit, WI

Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Family Services, Inc., is a community-based organization that provides Head Start and Early Head Start (EHS) services to 476 children and families who reside in Rock and Walworth Counties, Wisconsin funded through federal, state and local sources. Participation in Rock-Walworth’s activities is free of charge; early Head Start services are provided to pregnant women and children from birth to age 3, and Head Start serves children who are 3 to 5 years of age. Parental involvement is a key ingredient in the program.

Young Parents Network | Back to Top |
Cedar Rapids, IA

Young Parents Network (YPN), is an agency dedicated to the prevention of adolescent pregnancy and building successful families. The agency, founded in 1985, has provided programming to fathers since 1987. Services are provided by a staff of 32 in varying degrees throughout Linn, Iowa, Benton, Jones, Johnson, Cedar and Dubuque counties in the state of Iowa. Young Parents Network (YPN) and the Jane Boyd Community House are collaborating to expand and enhance programming for fathers in Linn County and throughout eastern Iowa. Developing these collaborations will help bring together other agencies and individuals dedicated to providing services for fathers—ultimately allowing fatherhood programming to be streamlined, and enabling it to reach the greatest number of fathers.

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2007 Capacity-Building Awardees

Awardee Narratives

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