Inspiring Great Dads
The Need:
We are living in a fatherless generation with over 50% of marriages ending in divorce, often leaving children without the guidance and protection of a father or strong male role model. Responsible fatherly involvement has proven to play an integral part in a child's social, emotional and academic development. Conversely, the effects of a child who grows up fatherless can be devastating and include the child's increased likelihood of relational issues, anxiety, depression, incarceration and even suicide. It is nearly impossible to expect young men to know how to have healthy relationships in their teen years or adult life if they did not see their dads caring for their family while growing up. The key to changing so many of our social issues today is to impact children, teens, and even adults who need to face their father wounds and learn how to communicate and connect with the people they love.
The Response:
The Response
When Dads know how to engage with their kids it greatly impacts the dynamics of a family and the trajectory of their children's lives.
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An engaged Dad understands the crucial role he plays in the lives of his children.
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An engaged Dad knows how to parent.
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An engaged Dad has healthy involvement in his kids' lives.
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An engaged Dad knows his rights and responsibilities and fulfills both.
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An engaged Dad has a respectful and appropriate relationship with his spouse/co-parent and encourages his kids to respect and love their Mom.
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If you're an experienced dad, consider coaching young fathers you know. Join with other dads in a men's group or consider taking a parenting class with your wife. We can all help encourage the men we know to be good dads by complimenting them on the ways the love the Lord, their wife and their kids.
recommended resources
Focus on the Family is a global Christian ministry dedicated to helping families thrive. We provide help and resources for couples to build healthy marriages that reflect God's design, and for parents to raise their children according to morals and values grounded in biblical principles.
Forever Father’s is a unique program designed for the fathers of our community. This class provides fathers and male care givers a time to talk about the challenges that fathers have including: stress, anger, depression, relationship problems, and parenting.
Today many men have grown up without their dad being active in the lives in a positive way, leaving them with a sense of abandonment, repressed anger and difficulty with faith in God. Forging Disciples exists to encourage and equip men to be Christ-like servant leaders in their home, church and community by expanding one on one discipleship in our region.
Men U is a local ministry designed to transform the lives on men in the greater Sacramento region through trainings, a Christian Business Leaders Coaching group and discipleship.
The Need
Empowering moms
Children thrive in an environment of safety, love, and connection and having a mom who nurtures and instructs her kids can be the key to raising responsible and emotionally healthy adults, even in otherwise challenging circumstances. In order for mothers to provide that kind of support, they themselves need community and resources. Whether in the church, through mentoring or close friendships, we believe all women can find strength in the context of healthy female relationships!
The Need
recommended resources
IF : exits to gather, equip and unleash the next generation of women to live out their calling by creating tools and resources for the local church and the women they serve. They put these tool in hands of women who desire to change their local context for the glory of God and the good of others.
Celebrating every women's passion, purpose and potential through speaking events, local chapters and online resources including articles, videos, book clubs and more.
strengthening families
The Need
Poverty, teen pregnancy, abuse, neglect, incarceration, drug use and obesity are all directly related to one factor: Fatherlessness. The National Fatherhood Initiative has found that just one partnership transition in a home creates a devastating ripple. There is a father absence crisis in America. According to the US Census Bureau, 24 million children in America, 1 in 3, live without a father in the home. In many cases, this is due to a lack of training and support for the family unit.
The Response
Together we can bring about change! By focusing on preventive strategies to strengthen families, we can decrease partnership transitions in the home and help keep families intact. By providing family resources to parents and local schools, we bring parents, teachers and caregivers together to protect and teach the child. Together we can break cycles of abuse and empower parents to raise their children in safe, supportive homes.
recommended resources
Delta Prevention knows that the real strength of a child's life lies in the family. Families are what guide us, mold us and sustain us throughout our lives. But families face many challenges; from single parenthood to communication challenges to behavioral problems. All parents and kids need support sometimes to help navigate the stressful times. They offer evidence-based family skills training programs found to significantly improve parenting skills and family relationships, reduce problem behaviors, delinquency and alcohol and drug abuse in children and to improve social competencies and school performance. In addition, they work with our community to ensure that barriers to raising healthy kids are removed.
Destiny Community Center is located in Rocklin and is operated by Destiny Community Services, an independent non-profit with one mission: to provide easy access to services offering health and wellness for individuals and their families physically, mentally and emotionally. Families are strengthened at the center through fitness, arts, education and family services. Their facility includes a Teen Center, Tutoring Center, Fitness Gym, Kids Zone, Cafe and more!
Established in 1989 as a private, non-profit organization, KidsFirst’s mission is to end child abuse and neglect. Our vision is that all children live in a safe, healthy, and nurturing home. We are dedicated to helping families by providing them with the tools they need to cope with difficult life circumstances before they become overwhelming. With counseling and family resource centers in Auburn and Roseville, we strengthen families by Educating, Advocating and Changing Lives.
Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services is a non-profit agency committed to serving individuals and families in need. They provides free emergency goods and services to 135,000 men, women and children each month. In addition to food they also provide clothing, parent and youth education classes, immigration legal services, refugee resettlement and more.
short term care
The unexpected loss of a job, mounting expenses, foreclosure or eviction, a serious accident or illness, domestic violence, substance abuse, and an uncertain economy can plunge a family into chaos. Some families can turn to relatives and friends for assistance. For others, there’s no safety net, and a crisis can make it difficult for parents to provide a stable environment for their children. These families or single parents truly want what is best for their kids but need to voluntarily place their children in a temporary living situation without further financial burden or loss of their parental rights.
The Need
The Response
The church can offer hope-filled options for such families by providing safe, secure, pre-approved temporary homes for children until the family crisis is resolved. Volunteers can also expand the community safety net by providing parents in-need with mentoring relationships and tangible support during times of crisis. The options for helping a family in need of short term care are variable depending on how involved you want to be!
recommended resources
The mission of Safe Refuge for Children and Families is to protect children from potential neglect or abuse arising from a crisis by providing them with a safe, stable temporary home and reuniting the family as quickly as possible when the crisis is resolved. Safe Refuge partners with local churches to set up ministry teams and train host homes and support families.
community kid/teen programs
Not all children in our communities and neighborhoods have the same opportunities to learn and grow. There are so many ways churches and organizations can engage with kids through after school programs, tutoring, art or music classes, sports clinics or teams and more! Helping children explore their talents and be successful in school can have a huge impact on their self-esteem and enable them to dream BIG for their futures!
The Need
The Response
Responding to the needs of kids in our community can take on many forms. Consider volunteering as a mentor, tutor or sports coach through a local organization or start an after school group for the kids in your own neighborhood whose parents work late. Even collecting supplies like backpacks, gently used sports equipment or shoes for families who cannot afford to buy them goes a long way to making kids feel special when they start school, have a special event to attend or are celebrating a holiday/birthday!
recommended resources
AboutKidz is a non-profit organization established to meet the practical needs for underprivileged children in our communities in an effort to create equal opportunities for academic and athletic excellence. They focus on addressing the most basic needs of low-income and at-risk children in order to make the biggest impact on families in our community. Their programs include First Day, Game Day, Graduation Day and Holiday Giveaway.
The Art Docent Program provides a sequential, interactive education in art history and artistic skills. Initially developed in 1984 by art educator and author Barbara Herberholz, this program allows parents and teachers to bring digital images of works of art to elementary classrooms and conduct discussions called Gallery Visits. Students then get to develop their own artistic skills through Studio Lessons using a wide variety of media and techniques: painting, collage, oil pastels, print making, cut paper, etc.
ASPIREKids builds resilience by providing access to extracurricular and normalcy activities to at-risk and low income children. To make this possible they partner with various youth and family service providers in El Dorado, Sacramento and Placer Counties.
The mission of City of Refuge is to cultivate a community that transforms and empowers broken lives through the truth of God's love seen in acts of Justice, Mercy, and Humility. The scope of their ministry includes a City Resource Center, Fight Club for young men, the Shine program equipping girls, Refuge Housing, The Grit Academy and Urban Encounters.
Everyday University is on a mission to develop millions of financially savvy young adults who are good stewards of their money, time, gifts, talents and give back to their community.
Folsom's Hope serves the physical, educational, relational, material and spiritual needs of at-risk children and their families through mentoring, tutoring and community events.
Reading Partners mobilizes communities to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade by partnering with under-resourced schools and engaging volunteer reading partners to work one-on-one with students who struggle with reading.