Skip to main content

Our Mission & Solution

Founded in 1994, National Fatherhood Initiative® empowers communities and human service organizations to unlock the transformative power of involved fatherhood by championing city and statewide fatherhood initiatives and providing life-changing fatherhood programs, training, and comprehensive resources. 

National Fatherhood Initiative® is also the nation's leading provider of research on father presence and father involvement through it's one-of-a-kind publication, Father Facts™.

Training fathers

Our Mission

National Fatherhood Initiative® increases father involvement nationwide by equipping communities and human service organizations with the training, programs, and resources they need to be father-inclusive.

Our Vision

Our vision is that all communities and human service organizations are proactively father-inclusive so that every child has an involved, responsible, and committed father in their life.

National Fatherhood Initiative® equips everyone from leadership to front-line staff to champion father inclusivity.
Our mission fuels a nationwide movement embracing fathers as irreplaceable partners in nurturing children's well-being,
strengthening families, and building resilient communities of hope and opportunity.

Our Solution

It’s a commonly held belief by moms and dads alike that fathers are extremely important to child well-being. And, there’s tons of research to prove it.

But the fact remains that millions of families interact with human service organizations every year that are primarily mother-focusedThese organizations require resources, training, and technical assistance to be intentionally and proactively father-inclusive.

We’re here to provide that.

Human service organizations should be inclusive of moms and dads alike. This means training staff to ask about and involve dads in their interactions with moms who visit their centers, creating a welcoming physical environment for dads, providing resources and programs that speak to dads in their unique role as a father, and more.

National Fatherhood Initiative® comes alongside human service organizations and communities with a strengths-based approach to father-inclusive training, fatherhood program curricula, and other educational materials to help them—and the families they serve—fully realize the tremendous, positive impact involved fathers have on children and families.

Every community can benefit from increased father involvement.

  • Lower crime rates.
  • Lower teen pregnancy.
  • Improved school behavior and grades.
  • Increased family self-sufficiency.

We see a brighter, more father inclusive future for our nation’s human services, communities, children, and families.

Because every child deserves a 24:7 Dad.℠

How can human service organizations intentionally and proactively engage and serve fathers?

Human service organizations and the entities that fund them have a huge role to play in this solution.
That's why NFI builds capacity in human services to more intentionally and proactively include fathers.

Featured Partners

CareNet
Georgia-DPH-logo 1
DHS
Maryland-Department-of-Health-Logo 1
kansas-department-children-families-logo 1
Well Florida Council
Wapello-co-logo 1
tracy-family-foundation-logo 1
Pinellas_County_Tampa_Logo 1
Ounce of prevention
state-seal-of-texas 1
Missouri DHSS
Milwaukee-Fatherhood-Initiative-logo 1
Deparment of Human Service
DCHA-logo 1
baytown-logo-original 1
Enterprise-Community-Healthy-Start-logo 1

Success Through Collective Action

We're implementing this solution in partnership with hundreds of human service organizations and their funders. Through collective action, we're building a human service infrastructure that supports fathers in their most important role.

To learn more about our collective success, watch Impact Videos captured by our partners.

See Our Impact
Father on a swing with son and supporting images