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After many months of planning e.g., planning partnership, board of directors and staff, coupled with the loss of direct training and employment grants (JOLI & WtW totaling $1.2 million dollars), a very careful assessment has been made and is now being presented to the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families. We believe that additional resources are needed above what was previously planned for program year 2003. Additional resources will strengthen Project "Restore" delivery of appropriate construction and interpersonal skills training to a maximum of seventy-five (75), incarcerated non-custodial fathers, who before incarceration, resided within the Enterprise Community. Project "Restore" is a model of how a successfully comprehensive program can be implemented and replicated throughout the State of South of Carolina. Charleston is not unique to the problems inherent to urban settings throughout the country. Though Charleston County enjoys a relatively high standard of living. There is hidden in its midst, the nineteen inner-city neighborhoods known as a federally designated Enterprise Community (EC). The EC has not shared in this success. The EC has a population of 22,544 of which more than 80% are African American. According to the 2000 Census data, the poverty rate for individuals living in the Enterprise Community was more than 45% -three and a half times the national rate. Twenty percent of all households in these neighborhoods received public assistance, and females headed 2/3 of all families with children less than 18 with no husband living at home. Less than 50% of the young people in the EC graduate from high school. Crime, and drug abuse are common. The unemployment rate is 13% in a city with a current unemployment rate of less than 4%. More than 50% of young African-American males in the EC have been involved with the criminal justice system. In 1993, residents of the Enterprise Community, working in collaboration with The City of Charleston and community and business leaders, identified the creation and retention of jobs, job training and increased educational opportunities as the highest priority needs of the Enterprise Community (Proposal for Enterprise Designation, 1994). The rapid onset of welfare reform coupled with the large number of welfare recipients in the Community accelerated the need for job training services for single head of households, most of who are women. The South Carolina Department of Social Services, the agency which administers Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), developed job training programs for TANF recipients or funded their attendance at other job training programs. Most of these programs are aimed at TANF recipients under the assumptions that single -head-of household women will, in large numbers, continue to be the sole supporters of their children. However, several events took place in Charleston that caused the executives and key staff at Agape Ministries of Charleston to begin to seriously look at providing job training, skills enhancement and other interpersonal skills services to the men of the EC. Prior to the implementation of the Innovative Alternatives for Women (IAW) program, key staff members attended the neighborhood meetings in most of the nineteen neighborhoods in the EC in order to get input from community residents. The IAW program was greeted with great enthusiasm but community residents expressed their concern about the lack of job training opportunities and interpersonal skill training for men in the EC. As staff began to gather additional data on the needs of men in the community, the Sisters of Charity of South Carolina sent out requests for proposals for programs that focused on father-child reunification. Knowing that two thirds of the households in the EC are headed by women, Agape Ministries of Charleston staff began to conceptualize a program for non-custodial fathers that would combine intensive job training, with assistance with social, educational and family problems, and have father-child reunification as the final program goal. Staff began to seek previous studies done on poor non-custodial fathers, and to gather available data on the men in the EC through statistical data, key informants, and community forums. Combining knowledge gained from previous research with local data on non-custodial fathers in the EC of Charleston, Project "Restore" is based on five (5) underlying assumptions. The assumptions were as follows: Assumption 1. There is a high correlation between violent crime, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, poverty, school drop out and father absence. All of these indicators of social upheaval and the rate of father absence are higher in the EC of Charleston than anywhere else in the City indicating the critical nature of this problem in the community we have chosen for intervention. A program that will aid in the reunification of some of these fathers in healthy relationships with their children will ameliorate a portion of these negative statistics. Assumption 2. With much of the focus of program development on the custodial parents of poor children, non-custodial fathers on the fringes of the labor market, especially young men of color, have rarely been the targets of employment program outreach. Few successful strategies have been developed for increasing their employment and earnings (Parents' Fair Share Executive Summary, 1998). Charleston mirrors the findings from the rest of the country and may, in fact, have a weaker record than most. Some WtW funds are available for young men through Youth Build, a national program for 16-24 year old high-school dropouts, but this program has a long waiting list. Project "Restore" is targeting young African-American males between the ages of 18-35 who are non-custodial parents. Aggressive outreach has already begun. Assumption 3. Joblessness is often so shameful for men that it leads them to withdraw from their children or to act harshly and lead the children to reject them. Joblessness reduces the chance that a non-custodial father will be able to pay child support, which in turn reduces the likelihood that he will be allowed to maintain visitation with his child. A recent report from the Urban Institute (1995) indicates that among black non-custodial fathers, 56% are poor, having worked on average of only weeks during last year. A related problem is the growing level of gender distrust in the low income, African-American population brought about mainly by the marginalization of low- income males, many of which have been incarcerated and are ill-prepared for work (Furstenberg, 1998). Assumption 4. Many of the participants will have criminal records making it extremely difficult to obtain employment other than as day laborers. Project "Restore" has developed two strategies in an attempt to overcome this problem. One of the goals of the project is to aid the men who successfully complete the training to form their own construction company so that they cannot only work but can own a part of a company despite a previous criminal record. The lawyer on the Board will aid the men for whom it is feasible to have their criminal records expunged. Assumption 5. There are no programs in any part of Charleston whose primary mission is to help men become productive citizens and good fathers. Short-term Goals and Objectives: Goal I. To increase self-sufficiency in 300 non-custodial fathers in the EC within five (5) years, through job training, the attainment of jobs at salaries appreciably above minimum wage and the skills, both occupational and interpersonal, to retain employment. The development of a construction company owned and operated by "Restore" fathers. Within five (5) years, this company will become the largest minority driven construction company in South Carolina. Goal II. To increase the number of non-custodial fathers who have built a healthy positive relationship with their children by 30% within the next five (5) years. Goal III. To increase employment opportunities and decrease underemployment and inactivity for 450 male & female residents living in the City's special emphasis area within five (5) years. Goal IV. To provide opportunities for 300 families to become self-sufficient, productive participants in human and community interaction within five (5) years. Goal V. To improve City infrastructure and meet beautification needs within the targeted Enterprise Community area. Because Project "Restore" is a 120-day on-the-job training program, with an emphasis in the trades of the construction industry We need additional resources to move our program from the classroom back to the Detention Center, that the deplorable housing stock and disenfranchised family structure can be mended. As stated previously, the classroom portion cannot be adequately accomplished if we can't follow-up the: 1. Supporting and Improving Parenting Behaviors. More than 100 hours (including 80 hours of in-class training) must be devoted to building family relationships. In addition to the more formal classroom discussions, each man will be interviewed individually so that staff can develop a father-child reunification plan that is unique to each father's situation. Mediation services will be available to help with any disagreements between custodial and non-custodial parents. The men must be encouraged to bring their children to dinner at the Eastside Center for Human Concerns Multi-purpose Building one night a month. Regular outings with fathers, children and mothers who would like to participate will be held regularly giving fathers an opportunity to practice the skills they have learned in the classroom. Counselors (who are also board members and have volunteered their time) will be available to the men after these father-child interactions. 2. Building Self-Esteem and Cohesiveness: Support groups aimed at building self-esteem and group cohesiveness must be formed and meet weekly. A staff professional that is trained to facilitate groups must be on staff to lead these sessions. A mentoring program has been developed by one of our Board members who have volunteered to serve as Mentor Coordinator, and must be monitored by staff. One of the goals of the project is for each of the participants to have a mentor as they are participating in the program and for at least several months after graduation. Graduates of the project must continued to be encouraged to mentor the next class of participants as part of an ongoing effort to instill a sense of "giving back" and community responsibility. All graduates must be encouraged to return for a monthly dinner and discussion group to share their experiences. The request for additional resources will be incorporated in our program to perform the duties necessary to satisfactorily reinstate our employment component. This component is the heart and soul of our win-win approach to the Charleston County. The improvement will come through additional resources by hiring back our staff, that have been trained and know the demographics of our community We will be able to accomplish? (1) on-site vocational training, (2) extensive
classroom training and (3) support services. 1. Business ownership will give the men a feeling of pride and self-confidence,
Support services aimed at building family cohesiveness and father/son cohesiveness will be offered weekly through meeting and one-to-one encounters. A staff professional that is trained to facilitate groups will lead these sessions and offered these services. Beneficiaries of the Program. The first beneficiaries of Project "Restore" will be non-custodial fathers who are presently incarcerated in the county jail for non-payment of child support. Project "Restore" staff has worked closely with representatives of DSS, (a representative of the custodial parents who are receiving TANF benefits and an attorney from Child Protective Services), and one of the Family Court Judges to select the candidates and prepare the necessary documentation to release the non-custodial parents. By participating in Project "Restore", these non-custodial parents will be given the opportunity to learn a trade that pays appreciably above minimum wage, learn to be responsible parents and possibly complete their high school education. Another set of beneficiaries from Project "Restore" will be the children of these non-custodial parents. With steady employment and the confidence gained through parenting classes, these parents will be better equipped to initiate and maintain a positive relationship with their children and to be financially responsible for them. The State benefits through reduction in the TANF roles and through decrease in the number of men who have to be supported while they are incarcerated. Additionally, the state can benefit through the replication of Project "Restore" in other counties that have the same demographics. The County saves 3/4 of the dollars spent ($25,000+ annually) to house a non-custodial (non-violent) father in the Detention Center The City benefits through the rehabilitation of its housing stock, the
creation of a new company and new employment opportunities and the stabilization
of families within its communities. |
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R.E.S.T.O.R.E.,
Inc. |
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Statement
of need