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Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference Dads Make A Difference

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Nonprofit Overview

Causes: Children & Youth, Family Counseling, Leadership Development, Youth Community Service Clubs

Mission: Dads Make a Difference (DMAD) addresses two issues that significantly impact the financial stability and self-reliance of families – absent fathers and too-early parenting. The value of healthy fatherhood is increasingly evident, with research, public policy, and communities all acknowledging the need for children to experience positive relationships with both men and women. Healthy fatherhood complements and supports healthy motherhood. Children benefit from the wealth of each parent's life experiences, different styles, and approaches to dealing with life. Yet looking at male socialization, we often see a scarcity of healthy adult male role models for boys and a lack of education about what it means to grow up to become a positive man and father. In many ways, our culture fails to provide boys and men sufficient direction and support in order for them to define and adopt healthy expressions of masculinity and fatherhood. Prior to becoming dads, young men often do not give a great deal of thought or attention to whether they would like to have children, how many, and what they want their families to look like. As a result, they don’t engage in conversations about family formation and planning. Young men need the ability to be partners in conversations about pregnancy prevention and family planning, an important aspect of their development and important to their long-term success.

Results: DMAD builds life skills so youth are prepared to think critically about healthy relationships, becoming sexually active, and the consequences of parenting too soon. Too-early parenting and absent fathers are identified risk factors for poverty. Youth are educated about the emotional, physical, and financial responsibilities of having children. Educated youth are more likely to make mature decisions about relationships, take personal responsibility for life choices including their readiness to parent, and understand how children benefit from father involvement and co-parenting. As DMAD youth transition to adulthood, their communities are strengthened because they are better equipped to make intentional choices about creating families. DMAD works at the most basic level to empower youth to be self-sufficient and reach their full potential by engaging teens in leadership roles and as the messengers to younger youth. DMAD works diligently on its outreach to youth of color as they are affected disproportionately by too-early pregnancy and by poverty. Having the important conversation about when to have a child and who to have that child with is not easy. DMAD was developed to help young people consider the very important decision about when to become a parent, to include young men in the conversation, and to help young women recognize the importance of a father to their future child. From October 1994 through April 2016, DMAD trained 3,095 teen peer educators from 170 schools and community agencies across the state. These teens in turn taught the curriculum to about 79,000 middle school-age youth in urban, suburban, and rural settings.

Target demographics: We train high school-age teens, boys and girls, to be peer educators of middle school-age youth using the DMAD curriculum in schools, community agencies, and faith-based groups.

Direct beneficiaries per year: About 500 youth

Geographic areas served: Minnesota statewide, about 70% metro and 30% greater MN. We have also done some national replication and have an international presence as well.

Programs: DMAD peer education promoting the positive involvement of fathers and educating youth about responsible parenting.

Community Stories

72 Stories from Volunteers, Donors & Supporters

Board Member

Rating: 5

I served as a board member with DMAD for 6 years and the organization opened my eyes to issues relating to "younger" parenting issues that I wasn't even aware of. The work of DMAD should be on a national level, and hopefully one day will be. The staff and volunteers do an excellent job teaching parenting issues to youth in an approachable and understanding manner. Personally, this experience changed my perceptions and presented me with values and education to pass onto my own children.

mjoberweiser

Professional with expertise in this field

Rating: 5

I've been a part of the Dads Made a Difference (DMAD) family now for 17 years. During those 17 years I have filled many roles within the organization including teen trainer, adult trainer, staff, and board member. I moved from Minnesota to Oregon in 2009, which meant I was no longer able to fulfill those roles. What has not changed throughout the long history of the organization is the positive, lifelong impact it makes in young people's lives. The positive youth development model empowers young people to take charge of their own decision making. They become informed on life issues that will impact them at some point in the near future, and then they turn around and share that information with younger peers. In other relationships with young people, other positions I've held, I continue to reference the knowledge gained from teaching and training with DMAD. This program is relevant, necessary and a true investment in young people. I cannot imagine not supporting Dads Make a Difference.

General Member of the Public

Rating: 5

This is a vital and much needed service to our youth & future generations. I have observed and heard many stories of what an impact this program can make. There is a value in programs such as this that touch the whole community.

Professional with expertise in this field

Rating: 5

Dads Make A Difference (DMAD) is a fantastic program and one I'm proud to have been a part of. In my previous position at a community agency, one of my responsibilities was to oversee the implementation of DMAD in the Minnetonka school district. I recruited young people to attend the training to become educators, then observed the delivery of the Dad's curriculum in junior high school classes. Watching the teen educators develop their capabilities over the course of a year or more was pretty incredible. Everyone involved in DMAD, from the educators to the students receiving the curriculum to their teachers, found their experience both enjoyable and valuable!

Derrick B.

Board Member

Rating: 5

I have the pleasure of serving on the board of DMAD and truly appreciate the contributions the organization makes to the community. The program and services offered do a great deal to education our young generation and promote healthy choices about relationships. I am honored to be a part of such a wonderful and positively productive organization.

Previous Stories

Board Member

Rating: 4

Serving on the Board has been a great pleasure to see first hand how this organization impacts the lives of young people in such a positive way. The best part is always hearing the stories from young adults of how the program helped them make better choices throughout their young lives.

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Donor

Rating: 4

Dads Make a Difference promotes the positive involvement of fathers and educates youth about healthy relationships and responsible parenting. These messages remain as important to young people today as they were when DMAD was started in 1993, some 21 years ago, helping to build the capacity of young people to develop strong future families that can contribute to strong, vibrant communities.

Professional with expertise in this field

Rating: 5

The learning from the training and the opportunity to present the curriculum to younger students were invaluable experiences in the lives of the teen fathers I have worked with over the years. The young men felt very respected, and they became empowered as they had a voice to address an issue that is dearly personal for them!

Previous Stories

Professional with expertise in this field

Rating: 5

I am very proud and blessed for my experience with DMAD! I began by bringing teen fathers to the trainings who were rewarded in many ways: they felt validated by their vital role as young dads, they were inspired as they taught the curriculum to other students, and they had fun! After several years of bringing teen fathers to the trainings, I was able to bring my son & his buddy - it was another fun, rewarding and memorable experience that we'll never forget! Thank you, DMAD!

Volunteer

Rating: 4

Dads Make a Difference training for my Future Educators has been a great compliment to our program at Como Park Senior High School. It contains valuable lessons for our student/trainers, and for the young people they will go out to teach it to.

Previous Stories

Advisor

Rating: 4

My Future Educators have received valuable training through the Dads Make a Difference program. They have gone out to junior high schools in the area, and have been able to prove their leadership skills.

Board Member

Rating: 4

There is nothing as important as helping young adults make good decisions in their teens so that they have more opportunities with their futures. The education DMAD provides helps young adults form healthy relationships and promotes delaying becoming parents too soon by providing information about the challenges of parenting. It is realistic in its approach and inclusive in its definition of family and comprehensive by providing more than just sex education but also teaching decision making skills.

Board Member

Rating: 5

Dads Make a Difference is an amazing program that works with the community to build better relationships between fathers and their children; educate youth on what it takes to be a responsible parent and the benefits of having an active father. This program builds better parents of the future and helps facilitate better relationships within the family unit.

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