Three Ways to Harness the Power of Print Resources

“What fatherhood curriculum should I use?”

While this is a great question to ask, it shouldn’t be the only one you ask when it comes to your fatherhood program. An equally important question is, “What print resources should I use?”

Print resources are great for supporting your work with dads. They provide a low cost, less intensive way to reach a large number of clients. And to help you answer that question, National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI) has an easy-to-use webpage that explores the following categories of print materials: posters, brochures, tip cards, pocket guides, child development guides, and co-parenting resources.

Once you’ve decided which print resources best align with your setting, you can then think about how to get the most out of them. Fortunately, you can use print resources in many different ways. Here are three main ways you can use print resources in your fatherhood work:

• At your organization: Place print resources in a display rack, kiosk, or on counters where moms and dads can easily take them. Staff can also use them as they interact with parents. A receptionist, for example, could provide a dad with NFI’s 10 Ways To Be A Better Dad brochure while he waits in the lobby. Posters of dads with father-friendly messages can have a powerful impact on your physical environment.
• Through your partners: Print resources are a great way for your partners to give dads helpful tips while generating referrals for your program. NFI dedicates a blank space on brochures, tip cards, and guides to place your contact information (e.g. with a stamp), which makes it easier for dads to contact you.
• In community settings: Give them out at community events (e.g. conferences, health fairs, and hiring events). Hand them out in person or let them do the work for you, even if you can’t be there during the event. Ask event organizers to include them in event bags or to stack them on registration tables.

One-on-One Discussions

• Use print materials as a foundation to discuss critical issues with individual dads and moms. Case managers could use the How Dad Can Be A Good Co-Parent brochure, for example, to assist dads in creating a co-parenting action plan. Parent educators could use the Pocketbook for Moms to help moms understand how to talk with dads so they can raise healthy children together.

Group-Based Program Integration.

• If you run a group-based program for dads, match topics in print materials to topics in your program sessions. The Child Development Guides, for example, match nicely to any session that covers children’s growth and development. The 12 Tips For Effectively Disciplining Your Children tip card integrates nicely with any session on child discipline. Hand out the tip cards, pair up dads, and assign a few of the tips to each pair for discussion.
• If you run a group-based program for incarcerated dads, give them the Staying Involved with Your Children While Incarcerated brochure to take back to their cells and read between group sessions. They can share tips at the beginning of the next session that they found helpful and why.

Print resources provide a diversity of topics and flexible distribution options for dads and moms, all while raising awareness of your program. Your fatherhood program portfolio isn’t complete without them.

Are you currently using father-specific print resources?

How can you improve the effectiveness of your print resource distribution by using one of the options listed above?