Fatherhood

Fatherhood Programs

The Foundation's first fatherhood-focused grant was made in 1995 to the "Fathers & Families Together" (FAFT) project at the Center for Families and Children in Cleveland.

The program, which in its first year reached out to 60 men in Cleveland's Glenville community, offered family life and community building activities; crisis intervention; mediation; and job counseling, readiness and placement. A follow-up group, the Council of Fathers, made up of Fatherhood program graduates, also received Foundation support.

Of the 385 men who participated from 1996 through 1999, 65% graduated from the program and over one-third obtained or maintained jobs. Since then, FAFT has served over 1,000 fathers and continues to strengthen father-child bonds as it helps men work toward self-sufficiency, the most important factor for successful fatherhood.

In 1999 the Foundation began offering support to the fatherhood program at Services United for Mothers and Adolescents (SUMA), now housed at the Talbert House in Cincinnati. The SUMA Fatherhood Project now also includes a partnership with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation to provide legal services for fathers who have recently completed prison sentences.

Also in 1999 the Foundation helped fund the work of Kingsbridge Heights Community Center in the Bronx. The fatherhood program at Kingsbridge includes classes on anger management, job and legal counseling, and parental communication skills.

In recognition of the enormous importance a caring, committed father plays in the well-being of children and families, in 2001 the Foundation launched the "Caring, Responsible and Committed Fathers Initiative" which committed to fully funding a fatherhood program in its first four years of operation, with funding to gradually taper off over the following three years. In early 2002 the Foundation decided to fund two of the proposed programs at the Center for Families and Children and at SUMA.

But the Foundation doesn't merely fund these programs; it has also challenged the provider organizations to incorporate best practices, and has given them the flexibility to fine-tune their service models as necessary to keep their programs relevant and responsive to the needs of the participants. (To this end, the Foundation funded an objective performance evaluation of the FAFT program, conducted by Philliber Research Associates, a group that specializes in outcome-based evaluation and planning services.)

Foundation officials have been gratified to see that these fatherhood programs have not merely developed recognized best practices, they have actually revolutionized social service groups' approaches to helping men. Key offerings include culturally relevant programming, individual attention, and leadership skills development. Just as important, these programs give men an outlet for talking-out their problems while helping them find jobs and housing, their most pressing needs.

The Foundation also supports the InsideOut Dad™ program for incarcerated fathers. Developed by the National Fatherhood Initiative®, it "teaches inmates to connect with their children on the inside and prepares them for a lasting relationship with their family when they get out." This innovative program is utilized in five correctional facilities in northeast Ohio that return many inmate fathers to Cuyahoga County after their release. The InsideOut Dad curriculum has already been adopted as a state-wide standardized curriculum for inmate fathers in Indiana, Iowa and Washington State.

The Children of Incarcerated Parents Program, operated by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, has also benefited from O'Neill Foundation support. This program helps vulnerable children from the point a parent is arrested to the day he or she re-enters the community. It focuses on kinship care, program availability, and lessening the impact of parental incarceration on children.

The success of these fatherhood programs has had a noticeable influence on public policy; today the importance of strong, supportive fathers in families is well recognized. One evidence of this is the creation of the Ohio Practitioners' Network for Fathers and Families. This organization, which comprises 500 social services professionals, recently released its Public Policy Agenda. It outlines key issues affecting the lives of fathers and families in Ohio, and recommends particular emphasis on: Child Support, Job Training and Employment; Welfare Reform/TANF; Fathers, Families and Professional Support; and Incarceration and Reentry.

In all the Foundation has issued about $4.8 million in Fatherhood-related grants, helping approximately 2,000 men and their families. O'Neill family members remain personally committed and involved, serving on program advisory boards and acting as advocates on related issues.

This year marks the end of our role as a direct financial supporter of these programs. The next phase of the Foundation's work in this area is in helping to build a broader base of support for such programs in our communities. We look forward to working with others in both the public and private sectors to continue promoting the role of father, helping men be the best fathers they can be, and helping families - the building blocks of our society - remain solid.