Spotlight > InsideOut Dad® Helps Inmates Become Better Dads in Jackson, Tennessee

Thankfully, we see these types of news stories about our fatherhood programs often. We get excited to see our programs help people. Also, being a native Tennessean, I'm a sucker for a good Tennessee story. Here's one such spotlight...

Writing for The Jackson Sun, Reporter Maranda Faris shows the good that can come when someone wants to make a difference in his or her community. She writes, and you can see in the pics and video that follow:

AJ Greenway, Blake Carroll, and Cedric Kinnie accept graduation certificates that matched their "24/7 Dad®" T-shirts. Greenway, Carroll and Kinnie are three men who participated in the InsideOut Dad® program while in custody at the Madison County Penal Farm.

The program helps inmates work on communication skills after their release, particularly with their children and the mothers of their children. 

“We learned to become better men, better parents, to be there more, and express ourselves — really just to be there more and listen to them,” Kinnie said. “I really just learned through conversations how to open up and communicate better with the mother of my child.”

AJ Greenway is presented with a certificate by InsideOut Dad® Program Director Tim Carothers for completing the program at the Madison County Penal Farm. (Photo: C.B. SCHMELTER/The Jackson Sun)

Greenway said the course taught him to work as a parent with his ex-wife, and to teach leadership skills. “It’s taking what you’ve already got and developing it into something great,” Greenway said. “Your kids will look up to you, and they’ll know not to be in the situation that we’re in.”

Carothers, with the Southwest Human Resource Agency, said the graduation was a way for program organizers to show their support for Greenway, Carroll, Kinnie, Gray and their families. “It’s to let them know that we do stand by them and we appreciate the work that they’ve put in,” Carothers said. “We want them to go back with communication skills, and feeling differently about themselves, and looking differently at their children.”

Watch the full video of the program here.

Carothers said he hoped programs like InsideOut Dad® would help reduce recidivism rates, and encourage employment after release. “As we go through the classes, it’s interesting that as you get to the third or fourth or fifth class, the lights begin to come on, and how many begin to see what we’re trying to do,” Carothers said. “What we have to do is change the way they think about themselves as a father and as a husband, and prepare (them) for employment to the degree we can help in the West Tennessee area.”

Want to help incarcerated fathers be better dads? Download your free sample of InsideOut Dad® Program.

What's in the full kit? The full InsideOut Dad® Program Kit includes:  

• (1) InsideOut Dad^® Facilitator's Manual complete with information about the program's underlying principles and themes and guided information for facilitating each session. 
• (10) InsideOut Dad^® Fathering Handbooks that the dads can keep as a reference (additional fathering handbooks in both English and Spanish are available for purchase.)
• (1) InsideOut^® Dad CD-ROM - includes Evaluation and Marketing Tools, Certificate of Completion, and more.
• (1) InsideOut^® Dad DVD which includes complementary videos to enhance sessions.