ProjectOverviewProject OverviewOver the last three decades, MDRC has established itself as a leader in providing technical assistance to organizations that deliver services to fathers through such projects as Parents’ Fair Share, Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) Training and Technical Assistance, Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF), and Building Bridges and Bonds (B3). This project page showcases publications from MDRC projects that offer best practices for program operators serving fathers, many of which are also featured on the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse and Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood websites. These publications are designed to support the federal Administration for Children and Families, which funded most of MDRC’s technical assistance to fatherhood programs, with implementing its learning agenda to build a knowledge base for promoting program improvement and increasing positive outcomes for individual participants, couples, and their families. Like Tweet Share Print Email STATUS: Current Basics Issue: Families with Children Focus Area: Child Support, Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Focus Population: Fathers, Parents Who Are Ordered to Pay Child Support Featured Content Featured PageSimper Solutions for Fatherhood ProgramsThe SIMPLER framework is a tool that can help social service programs apply proven principles of behavioral science to participant recruitment and engagement. Fatherhood programs might consider using SIMPLER to help fathers stay engaged and promote strong participation. Read more » BriefSix Recommendations for Supporting Families Affected by Parental IncarcerationA Review of the Literature When a parent is jailed or incarcerated, it has direct consequences for children and families. Family-strengthening programs seek to maintain healthy relationships between such parents and their children. They have the potential to reduce the harmful effects of incarceration on families. This brief describes six recommendations for family-strengthening programs. Overview »Full ToolkitReady, Set...Go! ToolkitThis interactive guide and the accompanying, full toolkit provide practitioners with user-friendly, hands-on resources to support the implementation of new program components or services. Each step has at least one accompanying template or tool that was used to implement new services as part of the Building Bridges and Bonds study. Overview » Agenda, Scope, <br> & Goals Like Tweet Share Print Email STATUS: Current Basics Issue: Families with Children Focus Area: Child Support, Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Focus Population: Fathers, Parents Who Are Ordered to Pay Child Support Featured Content Featured PageSimper Solutions for Fatherhood ProgramsThe SIMPLER framework is a tool that can help social service programs apply proven principles of behavioral science to participant recruitment and engagement. Fatherhood programs might consider using SIMPLER to help fathers stay engaged and promote strong participation. Read more » BriefSix Recommendations for Supporting Families Affected by Parental IncarcerationA Review of the Literature When a parent is jailed or incarcerated, it has direct consequences for children and families. Family-strengthening programs seek to maintain healthy relationships between such parents and their children. They have the potential to reduce the harmful effects of incarceration on families. This brief describes six recommendations for family-strengthening programs. Overview »Full ToolkitReady, Set...Go! ToolkitThis interactive guide and the accompanying, full toolkit provide practitioners with user-friendly, hands-on resources to support the implementation of new program components or services. Each step has at least one accompanying template or tool that was used to implement new services as part of the Building Bridges and Bonds study. Overview » Funders & <br />PartnersFunders U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation The Annie E. Casey Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Fathers Incorporated Ford Foundation The McKnight Foundation The Pew Charitable Trusts Public Strategies, Inc. U.S. Department of Labor U.S. Department of Agriculture W. K. Kellogg Foundation MDRC StaffMDRC Staff Dina A. R. IsraelSenior Associate, Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and EmploymentIsrael is one of MDRC’s senior field liaisons and technical assistance team members, as well as a project director.More » Xavier AlemañyResearch Analyst, MDRC Center for Applied Behavioral ScienceAlemañy is a design analyst in MDRC’s Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS), where he leads the graphic development of intervention materials informed by behavioral science. He specializes in using a user-centered approach to redesign program and agency communications.More » Ann BickertonResearch Associate, Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and EmploymentBickerton manages and implements large-scale projects that aim to improve the outcomes of vulnerable families and individuals involved in the justice system. More » Rebecca BehrmannOperations Associate, Family Well-Being and Children’s DevelopmentBehrmann specializes in the implementation of large-scale studies serving low-income families and children.More » Emily BrennanResearch Analyst, Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and EmploymentAt MDRC, Brennan’s research focuses on programs for disadvantaged young people, individuals involved with the criminal justice system, and other populations with barriers to employment.More » Oscar CernaResearch Associate, Postsecondary EducationCerna’s work at MDRC concentrates on implementation research and program development at various community colleges across the country.More » Virginia KnoxPresidentVirginia Knox became President of MDRC on October 15, 2019. Prior to being named president, Knox served as vice president and as leader of the organization’s Families and Children Policy Area.More » Michelle S. MannoSenior Associate, Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and EmploymentManno works primarily as an implementation researcher for several of MDRC’s evaluations of policies and programs serving populations with barriers to employment, including individuals with experience in the criminal justice system and “disconnected” young adults (those who are neither employed nor in school).More » Emily MaranoResearch Associate, MDRC Center for Applied Behavioral ScienceEmily Marano works in MDRC’s Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS), where she provides operational and implementation support for studies designed to improve outcomes for low-income populations using behavioral science.More » Meghan McCormickSenior Associate, Family Well-Being and Children’s DevelopmentMcCormick’s work uses experimental and quasi-experimental approaches to estimate the impacts of school- and home-based programs and policies on children’s academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes, with a focus on identifying programs and policies that promote equitable opportunities and outcomes for children and families living in poverty.More » Charles MichalopoulosChief EconomistMichalopoulos is MDRC’s chief economist and directs the Youth Employment, Criminal Justice, and Employment Policy Area. He has nearly three decades of experience studying a wide variety of social policies to help low-income families achieve better economic, health, and social outcomes .More » Frieda MolinaDirector, Economic Mobility, Housing, and CommunitiesMolina has over 20 years of experience providing technical and operational assistance to workforce development service providers, and has worked at MDRC for 17 years on numerous workforce development evaluations.More » Diego QuezadaOperations Analyst, Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and EmploymentQuezada is an Operations Analyst in MDRC’s Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and Employment (YCE) Policy Area.More » Keri WestOperations Associate, Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and EmploymentWest is an Operations Research Associate in MDRC’s Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and Employment Policy Area.More » Samantha WulfsohnSenior Associate, Family Well-Being and Children’s DevelopmentWulfsohn currently works on the operations team for the Building Bridges and Bonds project, a study of innovative fatherhood programs. She is the primary liaison with one of the program developers for the project.More » Donna Wharton-FieldsSenior Fellow, Economic Mobility, Housing, and CommunitiesWharton-Fields, a Senior Fellow, has more than 15 years of experience in community development and urban planning. Her current work is focused on the Opportunity NYC project, a new demonstration program designed to reduce inter-generational poverty in New York City.More » Project Director Publications & Resources COMPLETE LIST OF PUBLICATIONS Items per page 510204060View All VideoEngaging Dads in Fatherhood Programs: Prioritizing Fathers’ Perspectives10/2021The Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study worked with fatherhood programs to engage fathers and identify effective ways to provide employment training and support positive father-child relationships. In this video, program staff and fathers share their experiences about how programs prioritized fathers’ perspectives, which helped the programs to continuously learn how to better engage fathers. More » VideoEngaging Dads in Fatherhood Programs: Positive Experiences Inside the Program10/2021The Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study worked with fatherhood programs to engage fathers and identify effective ways to provide employment training and support positive father-child relationships. In this video, program staff and fathers share their perspectives on how programs supported fathers’ engagement through positive experiences in the program. More » BriefSix Recommendations for Supporting Families Affected by Parental IncarcerationA Review of the Literature 09/2021Emily Brennan, Meghan McCormick, Bright Sarfo, Michelle S. MannoWhen a parent is jailed or incarcerated, it has direct consequences for children and families. Family-strengthening programs seek to maintain healthy relationships between such parents and their children. They have the potential to reduce the harmful effects of incarceration on families. This brief describes six recommendations for family-strengthening programs. Overview »Full ToolkitReady, Set...Go! Toolkit09/2021This interactive guide and the accompanying, full toolkit provide practitioners with user-friendly, hands-on resources to support the implementation of new program components or services. Each step has at least one accompanying template or tool that was used to implement new services as part of the Building Bridges and Bonds study. Overview » Issue FocusUsing Data to Identify and Solve Common Program Challenges08/2021Emily Brennan, Michelle S. Manno, Samantha SteimleMany programs and agencies collect data about their clients and service use but they may not have the time and resources to use those data to inform their decision making. This post shares some simple approaches for how to use data to improve programs. Overview » Pages12next ›last »
Featured PageSimper Solutions for Fatherhood ProgramsThe SIMPLER framework is a tool that can help social service programs apply proven principles of behavioral science to participant recruitment and engagement. Fatherhood programs might consider using SIMPLER to help fathers stay engaged and promote strong participation. Read more »
Featured PageSimper Solutions for Fatherhood ProgramsThe SIMPLER framework is a tool that can help social service programs apply proven principles of behavioral science to participant recruitment and engagement. Fatherhood programs might consider using SIMPLER to help fathers stay engaged and promote strong participation. Read more »
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance
VideoEngaging Dads in Fatherhood Programs: Prioritizing Fathers’ Perspectives10/2021The Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study worked with fatherhood programs to engage fathers and identify effective ways to provide employment training and support positive father-child relationships. In this video, program staff and fathers share their experiences about how programs prioritized fathers’ perspectives, which helped the programs to continuously learn how to better engage fathers. More »
VideoEngaging Dads in Fatherhood Programs: Positive Experiences Inside the Program10/2021The Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study worked with fatherhood programs to engage fathers and identify effective ways to provide employment training and support positive father-child relationships. In this video, program staff and fathers share their perspectives on how programs supported fathers’ engagement through positive experiences in the program. More »
BriefSix Recommendations for Supporting Families Affected by Parental IncarcerationA Review of the Literature 09/2021Emily Brennan, Meghan McCormick, Bright Sarfo, Michelle S. MannoWhen a parent is jailed or incarcerated, it has direct consequences for children and families. Family-strengthening programs seek to maintain healthy relationships between such parents and their children. They have the potential to reduce the harmful effects of incarceration on families. This brief describes six recommendations for family-strengthening programs. Overview »Full
ToolkitReady, Set...Go! Toolkit09/2021This interactive guide and the accompanying, full toolkit provide practitioners with user-friendly, hands-on resources to support the implementation of new program components or services. Each step has at least one accompanying template or tool that was used to implement new services as part of the Building Bridges and Bonds study. Overview »
Issue FocusUsing Data to Identify and Solve Common Program Challenges08/2021Emily Brennan, Michelle S. Manno, Samantha SteimleMany programs and agencies collect data about their clients and service use but they may not have the time and resources to use those data to inform their decision making. This post shares some simple approaches for how to use data to improve programs. Overview »
