Javin Foreman will Serve as Project Director through Gentle Warriors Academy; the Professional Development and Training Division of Fathers Incorporated
ATLANTA (October 9, 2020)— Fathers Incorporated has received a $5M grant to provide Responsible Fatherhood Services in Metro Atlanta from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Office of Family Assistance). CEO, Kenneth Braswell has appointed Javin Foreman to serve as the Project Director. The grant will be operated through Fathers Incorporated’s (FI) Gentle Warriors Academy (GWA).
GWA is designed to help adult fathers ages 18 and older incorporate practices and behaviors for managing the responsibilities of being parents/co-parents and partners through responsible parenting, healthy marriage/relationships, economic stability activities, and grant-funded participation through a 40-hr/6-week cohort-based approach.
These core areas are reinforced through GWA’s coordinated case management process and wrap-around services, which is tailored to help address obstacles that fathers and their families face on their journeys to attaining and maintaining healthy parental and partner relationships as well as program completion.
“Fathers Incorporated has been serving fathers nationally for over 16 years, we are excited to bring our national expertise in the field of responsible fatherhood to serve fathers and their families in Metro Atlanta,” shares CEO Kenneth Braswell.
The lack of father involvement is strongly correlated with poverty, poor school performance, and risky behaviors. Research shows children with father involvement are more likely to perform better in school, are more emotionally secure, and more likely to exhibit positive social behaviors. Additionally, children who grow up in single-parent families, which are more likely to be female-led, often do not have comparable socioeconomic resources available to them as children who grow up in two-parent families.
“As the Board Chair, Pastor, Father, Husband and formerly incarcerated Black Man, it was programs like this that gave me the tools to reach my highest potential,” says Bishop Darren Ferguson, Board Chair of Fathers Incorporated.
Many fathers who enroll in the GWA will likely be receiving or eligible for TANF and other forms of public assistance, are struggling to meet their child support obligations and single parents with dependent children (custodial and non-custodial). Furthermore, the recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will have likely exacerbated any previously existing issues or barriers connected to marriage/relationships, responsible parenting, and/or economic stability.
Javin Foreman, the Project Director adds, “While national conversations are taking place about lots of issues – this grant provides a major opportunity to impact one of the most underserved populations in the nation, and certainly Atlanta. This cohort of fathers are often seen as the problem and sadly not explored as part of the solution for a myriad of societal issues.”
The GWA program will target fathers living in disadvantaged areas who are aged 18 and over with children ages 24 and under who reside in the following Metro Atlanta counties: Fulton County, DeKalb County, Gwinnett County, Cobb County, Clayton County, Henry County, and Rockdale County. As a result of the pandemic, the delivery of direct services will not begin until March 1, 2021.
Fathers Incorporated through Gentle Warriors Academy will be working with the following partners; Metro Atlanta YMCA, Urban One, University for Parents/Atlanta Cares, Black Child Development Institute – Atlanta, Center for Black Women’s Wellness, Atlanta Public Schools and VIA Consulting.
For more information on the work of Fathers Incorporated visit www.fathersincorporated.com.
