St. Michaels Community Center Helps Fathers Build Skills

St. Michaels Community Center Executive Director Patrick Rofe, left, with Responsible Fathers Initiative Lead Facilitator Corey W. Pack.

The St. Michaels Community Center is helping fathers get the skills they need to be involved in their children’s lives by sponsoring the National Fatherhood Initiative’s 24/7 Dad program beginning this August.

The free program is being facilitated by the Responsible Fathers Initiative, with limited participation and pre-registration needed.

A 13-session workshop begins at SMCC on August 2 and continues Tuesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. through December 13, with a light meal provided for participants. The program will give dads the parenting, relationship, and communication skills they need to be involved, responsible, and committed fathers.

“This program will help strengthen our local families and our entire community by helping our fathers be the best dads they can be,” said SMCC Executive Director Patrick Rofe. “This also serves at the core of the Community Center’s mission in serving, empowering, and connecting people in our community.”

Developed by fathering and parenting experts, 24/7 Dad focuses on the characteristics that men need to be involved fathers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This community-based program helps men develop the attitudes, knowledge, and skills they need to get—and stay—involved with their children. 24/7 Dad focuses on key fathering characteristics—like masculinity, discipline, and work/family balance—and helps men evaluate their own parenting skills, as well as their fathering role models.

“Now more than ever the America family needs to be pulled back together and that cohesive and binding force is found in no other place but the commitments of a nurturing and responsible father,” said Responsible Fathers Initiative Lead Facilitator Corey W. Pack. “I am excited to work with SMCC in their efforts to strengthen families in the Bay Hundred area.

“While no one program can solve all the shortfalls a family may be facing, combining the stabilizing and regenerating curriculum of NFI with the economic and social programs offered by SMCC, these families are off to a promising start to being restored and complete.”

Pack founded the Responsible Fathers Initiative in 2020 after a career working with the State of Maryland and while serving as Talbot County Councilman. The Initiative provides communication and engagement skills and provides fathers with an understanding of the importance of their roles in the family while providing the skills and tools needed to empower fathers to be the best they can be. More is at www.responsiblefathersintiative.org.

“NFI is excited about the St. Michaels Community Center’s efforts to help fathers build their skills through the 24/7 Dad program,” said President of National Fatherhood Initiative President Christopher Brown. “Research shows that a major barrier to father involvement is a lack of skills in dads, many of whom grew up without fathers in their lives. At a time when 1 in 3 children live in father-absent homes, the Community Center should be applauded for its efforts to help dads get involved.”

The National Fatherhood Initiative was founded in 1994 as a premier provider of fatherhood resources in the nation. The Initiative has trained more than 25,000 practitioners from more than 6,300 organizations through its national resource center FatherSOURCE™, in delivering meaningful programming to dads, with more at www.fatherhood.org.

For more information or to enroll in the program, contact SMCC Executive Director Patrick Rofe at 410-745-6073 or at [email protected].

Donations to the St. Michaels Community Center’s annual fund and proceeds from its Treasure Cove Thrift Shop, located on Railroad Ave. in St. Michaels, help provide essential human services, programs, and community events for people in St. Michaels and from throughout Maryland’s Bay Hundred area. The nonprofit also recently announced its first capital campaign supporting the adaptive redesign of its building, with architectural renderings and more at www.stmichaelscc.org/future.