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Fathers at Work

Sponsored by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Fathers at Work was a three-year national initiative designed to help young, noncustodial fathers achieve increased employment and earnings, greater involvement in their children's lives, and more consistent financial support of their children.

The Mott Foundation selected two national intermediaries to provide assistance and to evaluate Fathers at Work. The National Center for Nonprofit Planning and Leadership (NPCL) was asked to provide technical assistance on fatherhood and child support, while P/PV was asked to provide assistance on employment and to evaluate the demonstration.

Six nonprofit workforce development organizations were selected to participate in Fathers at Work. Each organization developed a formal partnership with its respective local child support enforcement agency. Two of the six organizations committed to serving noncustodial fathers who were also formerly incarcerated; these organizations developed partnerships with the appropriate criminal justice agencies as well.

The participating organizations were:

Center for Employment Opportunities, New York, NY

Impact Services, Philadelphia, PA

Rubicon Programs, Inc., Richmond, CA

STRIVE, Chicago, IL

Total Action Against Poverty (TAP), Virginia

Vocational Foundation, Inc. (VFI), New York, NY

PUBLICATIONS

Working Dads: Final Report on the Fathers at Work Initiative

by Shayne Spaulding, Jean Baldwin Grossman and Dee Wallace
October 2009, 51 pages

Noncustodial fathers have an essential role to play—both financially and emotionally—in the lives of their children. However, of the 11 million noncustodial fathers in the US, two thirds do not pay any formal child support. Many of these fathers are poor themselves and face multiple barriers, including low education levels, limited work experience, and criminal records, which impede their success in the labor market as well as their ability to provide for their children.

Working Dads: Final Report on the Fathers at Work Initiative presents findings from P/PV's evaluation of Fathers at Work, a national demonstration funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, designed to help low-income noncustodial fathers increase their employment and earnings, become more involved in their children's lives, and provide them with more consistent financial support. The Fathers at Work programs offered a unique combination of job training and placement, child support and fatherhood services at six well-established community-based organizations in Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Richmond, CA; and Roanoke, VA. Our findings suggest that the programs produced important benefits for participants, including increased earnings and child support payment. The report details the specific strategies Fathers at Work programs used and explores the policy implications of this research.

An accompanying executive summary can be found here.

free download

Working Dads: Final Report on the Fathers at Work Initiative Executive Summary

by Shayne Spaulding, Jean Baldwin Grossman and Dee Wallace
October 2009, 13 pages

This executive summary draws on findings from P/PV's evaluation of Fathers at Work, a national demonstration funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The demonstration was designed to help low-income noncustodial fathers increase their employment and earnings, become more involved in their children's lives, and provide them with more consistent financial support.

The Fathers at Work programs offered a unique combination of job training and placement, child support and fatherhood services at six well-established community-based organizations in Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Richmond, CA; and Roanoke, VA. Our findings suggest that the programs produced important benefits for participants, including increased earnings and child support payments.

The summary presents an overview of the initiative's implementation activities and participant outcomes and explores implications for policy, programs and researchers. The full report is available here.

free download

Navigating the Child Support System: Lessons from the Fathers at Work Initiative

by Laura Wyckoff, Mary McVay and Dee Wallace
February 2009, 48 pages

Research shows that nearly half of all children born in the US today will be eligible for child support before they reach the age of 18. Many low-income, noncustodial fathers—who often struggle to make these payments—will seek services from workforce development organizations. Yet, understanding the child support enforcement system can be challenging—not only for noncustodial fathers but also for the workforce organizations that want to assist them.

Navigating the Child Support System aims to help meet this challenge by providing information, resources and tools to use at the intersection of workforce development and child support enforcement. The guide is based on lessons from the Fathers at Work initiative, a three-year, six-site demonstration funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which was designed to help young, noncustodial fathers achieve increased employment and earnings, involvement in their children's lives and more consistent financial support of their children.

The guide describes child support enforcement regulations, policies and actions that can affect fathers' willingness to seek formal employment and participate in the system, and provides examples of four services that organizations might offer to benefit fathers and their families. Navigating the Child Support System offers concrete suggestions for incorporating child support services into workforce organizations' assistance to low-income, male participants, including developing partnerships with local child support enforcement agencies. It includes seven tools for learning about child support and setting goals for enhancing services to noncustodial fathers.

free download

Going to Work with a Criminal Record: Lessons from the Fathers at Work Initiative

by Dee Wallace and Laura Wyckoff
May 2008, 58 pages

Many of the 650,000 adults released from American prisons each year find their way to One-Stops or community-based, faith-based and other organizations that provide employment services. Yet relatively few of these organizations specifically target former prisoners. Workforce development practitioners have experience with a wide range of job seekers, but a great number of them are looking for additional guidance about the complexities of connecting formerly incarcerated people to the labor market and helping them stay on the job.

Going to Work with a Criminal Record was developed to help meet this need. It is based on lessons from the Fathers at Work initiative, a three-year, six-site demonstration funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to help young, noncustodial fathers achieve increased employment and earnings, involvement in their children's lives and more consistent financial support of their children. The report describes seven fundamental lessons workforce organizations should consider as they help formerly incarcerated people move toward stable employment, along with a more detailed discussion of how program staff can put these lessons into practice. It outlines how to avoid mistakes and how to develop important relationships, including with employers, parole officers and the local child support enforcement agency.

Hard Copy Price: $5.00

free download

Young Fathers Video and Workshop Guide

September 2007, Video and Workshop Guide

This two-disc package features the award-winning Young Fathers documentary, which focuses on two young fathers, Dupree and Anthony, providing an intimate portrait of their lives, especially their relationships with their children. The film explores the challenges of early parenthood, healthy co-parenting relationships, child support and marriage issues. Anthony's and Dupree's experiences highlight the circumstances of many low-income fathers, including those who have been involved with the criminal justice system.

The package also includes discussion guides and lesson plans that are appropriate for a range of different settings and audiences—in employment and reentry programs, parenting and marriage workshops, with students in the classroom, program staff and partner agencies.

The DVD features:

The Young Fathers documentary
7 Teachable Moment Clips
Information about the Fathers at Work initiative
and the Young Fathers film

The CD ROM includes:

7 Group Discussion Guides
7 Teachable Moment Lesson Plans,
for use with clips from Young Fathers
9 Connecting Learning Activities
General Tips for Group Facilitators

Sample materials from the CD ROM include:

See sample video clips

To download a copy of the Young Fathers Video and Workshop Guide Handbook, click here.

Hard Copy Price: $10.00

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Leaving the Street In Brief

by Chelsea Farley
July 2005, 4 pages

This issue of P/PV In Brief focuses on Lauren J. Kotloff's report, Leaving the Street: Young Fathers Move from Hustling to Legitimate Work. Based on an in-depth interview study of participants in P/PV's Fathers at Work initiative, the report provides a rare glimpse inside the lives of young urban men with criminal records, exploring how they became involved with hustling, their experiences in the labor market and their feelings about fatherhood. Leaving the Street In Brief describes the four distinct groups that emerged in P/PV's study (the Reluctant Hustlers, the Ambitious Workers, the Reluctant Workers and the Committed Hustlers) and presents early findings from the Fathers at Work evaluation. It also touches on the full report's recommendations for programs serving young fathers.

Hard Copy Price: $1.00

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Leaving the Street: Young Fathers Move from Hustling to Legitimate Work

by Lauren J. Kotloff
February 2005, 46 pages

This report explores employment and hustling among men in Fathers at Work, a three-year national demonstration designed to help low-income, noncustodial fathers secure living-wage jobs, increase their involvement with their children and manage their child support obligations. As part of P/PV's evaluation of the initiative, researchers undertook an in-depth interview study. When they learned that more than three quarters of all Fathers at Work participants had been convicted of a crime, they focused the interview study on 27 men who had relied on hustling—primarily selling drugs, but also other illegal activities—as a source of income. The report describes how the men became involved in hustling and what led them to seek alternatives. Participants' hustling and work experiences are detailed, with four distinct patterns emerging: researchers found that these patterns appeared to influence early employment outcomes. The report closes with a look at the ongoing challenges faced by the men and recommendations for programs working with similar populations.

Hard Copy Price: $5.00

order online order by fax/mail free download