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The five-year grant will
enable Pathway, Inc. through its Brothers United Program,
to utilize a community-based approach in assisting fathers
to develop positive family relationships. The program
officially began this month after an intensive period of
staff training.
“Our program is designed
to help fathers, any fathers, from 16 years of age to
infinity,” says Avis Files, director of Family Supportive
Services. “We will have a concentration on the 16 to 24
year-old group who may not be in school, who may be
gang-affiliated, who may have some drug or mental health
issues.”
The innovative program
offers services throughout the community in which the
participants live and where a heavy concentration of those
living in poverty reside. Brothers United is a six-week
program that consists of weekly group sessions, along with
robust case management services that center on the
elimination of barriers, especially those barriers related
to work.
“The challenges that men
have had to overcome, from childhood onward, are
astonishing” said Files. “Men don’t just join fatherhood
programs to become better dads, they join to find a place of
solidarity and support. They join because they want to
become contributors to their communities. Brothers United is
investing in fathers to help them improve their children’s
futures.”
Joining Files in her
effort to make a difference with young and low-income
fathers is a staff of 12 including seven men who will be
actively interacting with the program participants as
recruiters, facilitators and case managers.
Jeremy Hampton,
recruiter/facilitator, has a background in criminal justice
and experience in working with youth. “I am the product of a
child who didn’t have a voice,” says Hampton. “I do this
work because I believe fathers should know the voice of
their children, I am here to be that voice.”
“This grant will enable us
to continue our efforts to reduce poverty and provide
fathers with a parenting ‘tool kit’ that will help them
become self-sufficient,” said Cheryl Grice, Pathway chief
executive officer.
For more information on
Pathway’s Brothers United Program call (419) 279-6297
Funding for this project was provided by the United States
Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for
Children and Families, Grant: 90FK0087. These services are
available to all eligible persons, regardless of race,
gender, age, disability or religion.
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