Strong Beginnings-Healthy Start's, Strong Fathers/Padres Fuertes project has been engaging in a virtual offering we have dubbed Manhood Monday as a way to connect with community virtually. Every month we have utilized the virtual space to connect to project participants, community fathers, & father figures. Manhood Monday utilizes Streamyard as a Facebook Live vehicle for discussion.

These sessions occur on the second Monday of the month from 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm pm and discuss topics that relate to our best practices. This virtual platform has offered us the ability to continue to engage with the community in an innovative and creative way.

The Strong Fathers/Padres Fuertes project of Strong Beginnings - Healthy Start is a community-driven project that encourages the development of a strong relationships between children, families, and their fathers/father figures. The project encourages positive interaction, inspires hope, and develops opportunities for engagement between community fathers, father figures, and birthing persons.

All of our project offerings are engaged utilizing a social determinant of health lenses to remove barriers to service and create long term pathways to self-reliance. We focus on Social Network Development, Work force Development, Housing, Transportation, and connecting to a medical home, as the keys social determinant pathways to focus on in the success of our project participants. The only project criteria are that the father , father figure , role model, or birthing person live within Kent County and have a child between the ages of 0 and 18 months.

Data has taught us that a father’s positive involvement in their children's lives is critical. To have the ability to raise the next generation of children into loving and solid homes activities that showcase a community that is safe, fun loving, and engaged is crucial. Not only is this engagement beneficial for the child, but in the development of the ecosystem that our families are a part of. That loving leadership and involvement is crucial to the future of our families, communities, country, and world.

When a father is not involved in his child's life, we know that :

63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (U.S. Dept. Of Health/Census) – 5 times the average.

90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes – 32 times the average.

85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes – 20 times the average. (Center for Disease Control)

Father Factor in Education – Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school.

Children with Fathers who are involved are 40% less likely to repeat a grade in school.

(http://www.rochesterareafatherhoodnetwork.org/statistics*)

The project truly benefits our community by addressing father engagement, community education, stress reduction, and community focus.

You can find more on our work, archived Manhood Monday events, as well as copies of our monthly newsletter on: https://www.facebook.com/StrongDadsGR

Developed by Strong Beginnings-Healthy Start and partially funded under the Health Resources and Service Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau Grant #H49MC03591. Strong Beginnings-Healthy Start is a partnership of Arbor Circle, Cherry Health, Healthy Kent Infant Health Action Team, Kent County Health Department, Trinity Health, UM Health West Community Clinic, Corewell Health.