Why a Fatherhood Leaders Group?
  • National Fatherhood Leaders Group (NFLG) is an emerging organization that is comprised of men and women who have been involved in responsible fatherhood policy, research, advocacy and practice for several years.
  • The NFLG began to develop as an organization about three years ago. 
  • We initially came together to discuss possible strategies for strengthening the responsible fatherhood field. 
  • Since that time, we have grown into a group of 10 persons, all of whom have served in leadership positions in a variety of organization that have worked in the areas of family advocacy, youth services, and fatherhood. 
  • The members have chosen to use their collective experience and reputations to contribute to the improvement of policies and practices that affect the lives of disadvantaged children and their families throughout the United States.
  • NFLG members have participated in significant activities to strengthen the fatherhood field over the past two years such as:
    • Providing verbal and written testimony to Congress during deliberations that led to passage of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (which provided up to $50 million of federal funding for fatherhood initiatives);
    • Playing an active role, in support of one of our member organizations, the National Partnership for Community Leadership (NPCL), in planning and carrying-out the Eighth International Fatherhood Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in June of this year;
    • Sponsoring a National Press Club Event in 2005 featuring Jason De Parle, the award winning journalist, and author of a seminal book on welfare reform, American Dream, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare; 
    • Conducting an annual legislative leadership recognition program to salute legislators who demonstrate exemplary leadership in the development and promotion of policies that emphasize the importance of fathers in families, and
    • Designing and implementing this “E-Campaign” strategy, which is a constituency and advocacy development campaign, targeting approximately 5,000 individuals and organizations involved in or interested in fatherhood policy and practice.

Mission Statement

Vision
The vision of the National Fatherhood Leaders Group is that all children and families will experience the best life outcomes possible.

 Mission

The mission of the National Fatherhood Leaders Group is to provide collaborative leadership to support individuals and organizations working to build and sustain the fatherhood field and to raise the awareness of the importance of fathers in the lives of all children and families.

Core Values

  • The National Fatherhood Leaders Group values:

    • Fathers being perceived and treated as integral to the lives of all children and families.

    • Working collaboratively among ourselves and with other groups for the benefit of children and families.

    • Focusing on the short term and long term benefit to the fatherhood field.

    • Fostering a spirit of cooperation that promotes consensus, but respectfully and constructively acknowledges areas of disagreement.

    • Operating in a manner that fosters supportive relationships among member organizations and individuals.

    • Acting with integrity and accountability on commitments made to and for the National Fatherhood Leaders Group.

    • Adapting effectively to the changing environment in which we operate.

    • Using the collective knowledge of individuals and organizations in the fatherhood field to develop research, policies, practices and strategies that support and move the fatherhood field forward.

Fact Sheet

Kirk E. Harris, M.P.A., J.D., Ph.D., Esq.
Facilitator

NFLG is about strengthening families by working with fathers along the continuum and moving them to be a full asset to their families

The National Fatherhood Leaders Group (NFLG) is a coalition of national and community-based fatherhood organizations and allied groups. Our mission is to raise awareness of the importance of two involved parents in the lives of children and to strengthen the capacity of the responsible fatherhood field. We seek to help children by helping their parents build strong families. Almost 40 percent of children in the United States are born to unmarried parents, and often both parents have low incomes. Many children who grow up without their fathers struggle and are vulnerable to a number of negative risk factors. The public costs of father absence on children are substantial, including poverty, low academic achievement, juvenile delinquency, and early pregnancy.

NFLG offers the collective voice of the responsible fatherhood field to help policymakers, practitioners, community and faith-based organizations, child advocates, and other groups who have children's interests at heart, understand the importance of providing fathers with the services and supports they need to act responsibly and to make a positive and lasting difference in their children’s lives. We aim to increase family stability through realistic and effective workforce, child support, health care, tax, social services, parenting, healthy relationships and marriage, and criminal justice policies. We also seek to inform the public policy research agenda to improve the efficacy of responsible fatherhood programs and practices. We support a range of initiatives that support our policy agenda, including:

  • Sufficient funding for community-based responsible fatherhood programs.
  • Funding for transitional jobs and other effective workforce and education strategies that support career advancement.
  • Funding for prisoner re-entry programs and criminal justice reform.
  • Realistic child support policies.
  • Expanded earned income tax benefits.
  • Improved access to health care to improve physical and mental well-being.
  • Assistance to military and veteran parents and their families.
  • Father involvement in schools, Head Start and child welfare programs.
  • Parent-friendly practices in the workplace and in government agencies.
  • Youth development programs and strategies to prevent too-soon parenting.
  • Co-parenting plans and parental dispute resolution strategies.
  • Healthy marriage and couple relationship-skill building programs and services.
  • Collaboration with domestic violence prevention programs and services.
  • Collaboration with other family-serving and family planning programs.
  • A robust research agenda and implementation of evidence-based practice in the field.

The following organizations are members of NFLG:

  • Center for Urban Families
  • Celebrate Dads
  • National Center for Fathering
  • National Center on Fathers and Families
  • National Fatherhood Initiative
  • National Partnership for Community Leadership
  • Center for Research on Fathers, Children and Family Well-Being
  • Brookings Institution
  • National Latino Fatherhood and Family Institute
  • New York State Fatherhood Initiative