National Fatherhood Initiative

The National Fatherhood Initiative has as a mission "to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers."

The NFI focuses on making sure that fathers are present in the lives of their children to make the youth of America have a brighter future.

The NFI is headed by President Roland Warren and has its offices in Germantown, Maryland.

The National Fatherhood Initiative includes three key strategies.

They work to educate everyone in America about the importance of fathers in the lives of their children. They do research into the roles of fathers and their influence on children, they promote fatherhood in the popular media and they offer a website with information for scholars and others about fatherhood.

They work with other organizations and fathers in general to help build skills in fathers to fulfill their important roles. They work specifically with the military, with corrections, with the health care industry and with a variety of community and faith- based organizations around to country. They also interface directly with fathers through newsletters, mentoring programs and other resources to help build skills.

They also engage the broader community in fatherhood issues by hosting the Military Fatherhood Awards annually and promote fatherhood with diverse groups that appeal to men.

In 1993, Don Eberly, a former White House advisor and prominent social thinker, as well as several other scholars, met to discuss the growing problem of father absence in America, and, in 1994, the National Fatherhood Initiative was founded to address these serious concerns. Since its founding, NFI has helped ensure that two million more children are living with their fathers, has reached over one million fathers with their resources, has worked with 6,000 national and local organizations to promote responsible fatherhood and has supported hundreds of thousands of military families with resources to support them.

The National Fatherhood Initiative offers lots of brochures, books, media and research. Some of their popular programs and publications include:

• 24/7 Dad book and training resources. 24/7 Dad is a training program for fatherhood organizations and trainers and equips fathers with basic skills for success.
• DoctorDad workshops. These workshops are designed for first time fathers to discuss child health, nutrition and other health-related issues that dads need to understand.
• InsideOut Dad. This innovative training program is to help incarcerated dads who are release from correctional facilities and their families adapt to rebuilding family relationships.
• Understanding Domestic Violence Workshops. This workshop curriculum helps organizations and agencies teach men about how to prevent and respond to domestic violence.
• Essential Communication Skils for Dads. A curriculum for a one-day workshop helps men learn how to communicate effectively with their children's mother, whether married or not.
• Boyz2Dads Program. This is an interactive CD-based training program to help teens and young men learn the consequences of their choices nad how to make proper decisions about relationships and sex.
• Deployed Fathers and Families Guide. This booklet helps military families plan for and deal with the special challenges associated with having a deployed father away from home.
• Guide to Strengthening Fatherhood in Your Community. This guidebook helps local officials and others concerned with fathe absence create a fatherhood organization in their community.
• FatherFacts. FatherFacts is a 2 CD collection of data from national surveys about fatherhood issues, and is useful for researchers, libraries and community-based organizations.

Information about these resources can be found in the resource library at the NFI website.