FAITH-BASED & COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS are the focus of the
Department's August newsletter. Below is an article about
an effort in Illinois to promote responsible fathering &
help dads become better father figures.
The August issue of "Community Update" also includes...
* an interview with Christine Brooks, Director of the
Department of Education's Faith-Based & Community
Initiatives Center
* a story about partnerships & the Puente Learning Center
in Los Angeles
* an article about Anytown, a leadership development
program for high school students operating in about 45
cities
* a recap of the April 2001 Satellite Town Meeting,
"Faith-Based & Community Organizations: Partners for
Stronger Schools."
The story about the Illinois Fatherhood Initiative is below.
The full newsletter & past issues are at
http://www.ed.gov/G2K/community/
ALSO...
> Last week the White House released "Unlevel Playing
Field: Barriers to Participation by Faith-Based &
Community Organizations in Federal Social Service
Programs." The report was issued in response to
President Bush's January 29 executive order
establishing Centers for Faith-Based & Community
Initiatives in 5 federal agencies & directing the
centers to conduct a survey of agency programs to
determine how they may be made more accessible to
faith-based & community groups.
http://www.ed.gov/inits.html
> "Families Involved in Learning" is the topic of the
first Satellite Town Meeting (STM) of the new school
year. The broadcast, from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. Eastern
time, will feature promising practices from around the
country. Broadcast dates have been set for each
program of the 2001-2002 school year, & details will be
announced shortly (watch http://www.ed.gov/inits/stm or
subscribe to STM-LIST at the same website). The
program is broadcast live on the third Tuesday of each
month during the school year.
Note: Community Update & the Satellite Town
Meeting are produced by the Department's Office of
Intergovernmental & Interagency Affairs (OIIA).
Community Update is edited by Nicole Ashby (OIIA).
*********************************************
Excerpts from "Community Update," August 2001
U.S. Department of Education (ED)
*********************************************
Illinois Partnership Connects Fathers & Children
Fatherlessness in America is at historically high levels. Four
out of 10 children -- an estimated 24 million -- do not have
their fathers present in their homes. Research shows that
children from father-absent homes are more likely to do poorly in
school or drop out; suffer from lower levels of self-esteem; get
involved with drugs, alcohol & gangs; become teen parents; get
into trouble with the law; or become incarcerated.
Four years ago, a group of volunteers in Illinois decided to do
something to help prevent these situations from happening. They
created the country's first statewide public benefit corporation,
Illinois Fatherhood Initiative (IFI), whose mission is to connect
children & fathers by promoting responsible fathering & helping
equip men to become better fathers & father figures.
"As the father of five young children, ages 4 to 11, I was
interested in becoming a more involved dad but didn't know
exactly where to begin," says David Hirsch, president & founder
of the volunteer initiative.
IFI operates in schools, hospitals & the workplace. From the
beginning, IFI has developed partnerships & strategic alliances
with other organizations whose mission is consistent with
improving outcomes for children. "When we started out, we had
some good ideas, yet didn't have any resources. We partnered out
of necessity to see our efforts grow," says Hirsch.
One of IFI's oldest & largest programs is the annual fatherhood
essay contest in which children write about their dads. There
are four primary strategic partners, including the Archdiocese of
Chicago's Office of Catholic Education, Chicago Public Schools,
Illinois State Board of Education, & the National Center for
Fathering in Kansas City, Kansas.
The school systems play an integral role in distributing the
contest materials. More than 250,000 essays have been collected
during the past five years. Annually, between 500 & 1,000
volunteer readers help select the 144 essay finalists based on
predetermined standards. Twelve fathers -- a set of three dads,
stepdads, granddads, & father figures each -- are also recognized
at an annual Father's Day dinner celebration.
"We're very fortunate to have the support of our partners. The
Office of Catholic Education, for example, not only distributes
materials to the schools but does a wonderful job of collecting &
sorting all the essays for the volunteers to evaluate. I don't
know what we would do without them," says Hirsch. For additional
information, call 1-800-996-DADS (1-800-996-3237), or visit
http://www.4fathers.org.
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John McGrath, Nicole Ashby, Will Tanner, & Kirk Winters
U.S. Department of Education
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