Webinars
Family Resource Center Association and The Colorado Fatherhood Network hosts webinars on best practices and special topics in Fatherhood and Family Services from local, state, and national experts. Research shows that engaging fathers and father figures through a whole-family approach increases positive outcomes for children, families, and communities. Emerging research is critical to work with participants, programs, communities, and policy. FRCA is honored to provide educational resources and opportunities to CFN members, supporters, and collaborative partners as an intermediary.
Fathers’ Mental Health: Reducing Addressable Barriers to Parenting and Program Engagement
What are fathers’ experiences with mental health? How does the transition to fatherhood affect fathers’ mental health? How can practitioners engage fathers and respond to mental health symptoms appropriately? In Fathers’ Mental Health: Reducing Addressable Barriers to Parenting and Program Engagement, clinical psychologist Dr. John Holmberg guides the audience through these questions. Dr. Holmberg trained at Baylor University before completing a clinical fellowship at the Yale University Child Study Center. Throughout his career, he has maintained a strong research interest in preventive and clinical interventions, men’s mental health, father involvement in community-based programs, techniques to support the transition to fatherhood, and interventions for perinatal mental health conditions. Most recently, Dr. Holmberg joined the faculty of the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology. He focuses on developing research and clinical programs to address mental health issues affecting fathers as part of the Infancy and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialty.
Recruitment: The Key to Retention
Want to learn more about how to engage fathers in programming? Or how to implement effective strategies for recruiting and retaining fathers in your program? What makes up a “father-friendly” practice? Recruitment: The Key to Retention focuses on strategies for recruitment and retention and will also look at what makes up father-friendly practices in family organizations. The webinar presenter is the retired Director of the Center on Fathering, Ken Sanders. For 23 years, he presided over the development, growth, and administration of a unique program that aids fathers in becoming involved in their children’s growth. He is the only Certified Master Trainer of the Nurturing Fathers curriculum in Colorado.
Building Cooperative Components in Fatherhood Assets
Does fatherhood affect men’s social capital? Can programs and providers help develop social capital for fathers? What are the strategies to help build social capital for fathers? Dwayne Meeks presents building Cooperative Components in Fatherhood Assets. Dwayne Meeks is the founder and serves as Executive Director of award-winning fatherhood program Urban Colors Arts and Mentoring and the President and Chair of the Colorado African American Drug Policy Coalition. Meeks is an influential voice in the Fathers Rights Movement and serves as a National Adviser to several fatherhood organizations. Through conferences and conversations, Mr. Meeks is featured by national and international agencies expressing powerful learning lessons with authentic compassion, inspiration, and hope about family, life, and purpose, linking the asset framework to organizational and community efforts!
How Low-Income Fathers in Colorado Fare in Three Policy Areas: Child Support, Parenting Time, and Responsible Fatherhood
Want to learn how Colorado’s policies affect fathers and families in three key areas (child support, family law, and responsible fatherhood), and how these policies can influence your work as an organization, program, and practitioners? How Low-Income Fathers in Colorado Fare in Three Policy Areas: Child Support, Family Law, and Responsible Fatherhood offer an opportunity to learn more about an upcoming larger project, “State-by-State- Report on Father Policies and Programs” through the Center for Policy Research.
One of our presenters is Dr. Jessica Pearson. Dr. Pearson is the Founder and Director of the Center for Policy Research (CPR), a nonprofit research firm in Denver, Colorado. She is also co-director of the National Fatherhood Research and Practice Network (FRPN). Jessica has worked with the Colorado Department of Human Services Office of Child Support Services for over three decades to implement and evaluate more than 25 demonstration projects on “father-friendly” and family-centered programs.
Our other presenter is Jeff Thompson. After two and a half years of working with child support enforcement, Mr. Thompson went to work for the Jefferson County Fatherhood/Parenthood Program in early 2016, where he is a facilitator trainer for the Nurturing Fathers curriculum. He developed, wrote, and implemented Jefferson County’s Constructive Co-Parenting program.
Effectively Engaging Fathers for Family Prosperity: Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Fatherhood Learning and Action Community
As we reimagine public systems and services to work better for families, we have an opportunity to do so in a way that honors the full diversity of family structures, as families themselves define them and build upon families’ inherent resilience. This requires an intentional and explicit commitment to applying a gender lens inclusive of fathers to our family-supportive policy, practice, and research analyses. Ascend at the Aspen Institute convened the Fatherhood Learning and Action Community (Fatherhood LAC) – a cohort of three fathers and 11 organizations with demonstrated expertise in and strong capacity to engage and support fathers to identify and document policy barriers, best practices, and opportunities for father engagement and support.
James White is a program manager for leadership and communications at Ascend at the Aspen Institute. Allan Wachendorfer is a senior program associate with the Vera Institute of Justice’s Unlocking Potential initiative. Allan was a proud member of Ascend’s Fatherhood LAC.
