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The Most Important Role

The National Fatherhood Initiative
Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., President

Second, we are organizing coalitions of national and local community leaders committed to creating a culture that values and supports good fathers. In October of 1994, we convened the first ever National Summit on Fatherhood in Dallas, Texas, where hundreds of our nation's civic, business, and philanthropic leaders gathered to begin building a national consensus on the need to quickly reduce father absence. We then organized and hosted an interfaith leadership summit on fatherhood in June of 1996. This summit attracted dozens of representatives from various faiths who discussed ideas for encouraging, both individually and collectively, engaged fathering. Additionally, we are partnering with national civic organizations, including United Way of America and Boys and Girls Clubs of America, to stimulate local voluntary efforts toward father-friendly community building.

We are also increasingly working with the nation's governors. For example, NFI was recently awarded a contract by the Virginia Department of Health to implement a statewide fatherhood promotion campaign as part of Governor George Allen's citizen empowerment initiative. As the coordinator of this effort, NFI developed a series of state-specific PSAs, hosted local fatherhood forums throughout the state, and developed a resource center to assist grassroots organizations and individuals implement local fatherhood promotion efforts.

In addition to our work in Virginia, NFI has been asked to provide consultation and advice to such diverse governors as William Weld of Massachusetts, Roy Romer of Colorado, Pete Wilson of California, and Evan Bayh of Indiana, as each seeks to find ways to promote, rather than discourage, responsible fatherhood through state policy initiatives. To help support our state policy work, NFI recently co-authored a document entitled "Seven Things States Can Do To Promote Responsible Fatherhood." Published by the Council of Governors' Policy Advisors, the policy arm of the National Governors' Association, this report has been widely disseminated to state and local government officials.