The Cuyahoga County Fatherhood Initiative (CCFI) seeks to strengthen families in our community by encouraging fathers to play a more active role in nurturing and raising their children. Cuyahoga County is the only one of 88 counties in Ohio to have a program of this magnitude addressing the issue of fatherhood. The Fatherhood Initiative responds to escalating social concerns regarding "father absence" by providing fathers with access to services and programs designed to prepare them to better meet the emotional, psychological, and financial needs of their children. The CCFI also seeks to increase public awareness of the importance of father involvement.

Goals

The goals of the Fatherhood Initiative are:

• To promote public awareness of the role of fathers
• To provide linkages to other public systems and improve our current service delivery to fathers
• To fund fatherhood related programs on the county level