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 Institute
  • National Latino Fatherhood and Family Institute
  • New York State Fatherhood Initiative