First 5 California has launched a new campaign to highlight how fathers’ engagement with their children boosts their well-being.

The “Strong Starts Father Focused Initiative” was announced in a webinar Wednesday morning conducted by First 5 California, which is dedicated to giving young children and their families access to education, healthcare, and childcare, with the goal of boosting kids’ chances of success in life.

The state organization’s initiative includes a research study report, “Fathers in Focus: Understanding and Supporting California Fathers in Early Childhood Development” and online access to tools and resources for parents and organizations.

The media effort also includes a heartstring-tugging video showing three fathers talk about how society expects them to be strong and not show their emotions or weakness, but how it’s important for kids to see those traits in their fathers.

And while individuals are already readjusting their expectations of what dads should look like, organizations also need to do a better job of acknowledging and connecting with them, a group of panelists said during the webinar.

Andrew Montejo, program officer for First 5 Orange County and the father of two sons, said he often felt like he was relegated to the status of the “guy” holding the purse or holding the backpack when he and his wife were at the doctor’s office or at the hospital for their sons’ births.

Government policies can perpetuate how dads are treated differently than moms. A government-funded special supplementary nutrition program for low-income families, “Women, Infants and Children” (WIC), unnecessarily leaves fathers out of the picture, said Dr. Angelo Williams, First 5 California’s chief deputy director.

“Let’s think about this one thing. WIC, right? Just right in the title. It’s just a functional reality. Can we say fathers, can we say parents?” he said.

That’s just one example of policy changes that are being addressed or should be, Williams said.

Creating Safe Spaces

Alameda County Fathers Corps consultant Dara Griffin said successful programs create spaces where men can feel safe in sharing with other fathers.

In Los Angeles, there’s a “man cave” just for that purpose, said Jackie Majors, a First 5 California commissioner and CEO of Crystal Stairs, the largest child development agency in South Los Angeles.

“We are giving dads an opportunity to come together, share, talk, build new and creative parenting skills. This might not be a normal opportunity that men have this is a community and coming together to learn and chitchat and things that’s typically been something that has been kind of owned by women. But these opportunities are great,” she said. “And I don’t get invited to this man cave, obviously, but I hear such wonderful things from the dads, folks that experience that they’re able to pull down their walls so that they can learn, understand and not learn from a teacher, but learn from one another on different ways that they can have more meaningful engagement in their children’s lives.”

The First 5 California’s new research report found that dads are more motivated to be better parents when they understand the long-term benefits to their kids, especially improved health and mental health outcomes, Williams said.

“This insight underscores that the involvement of fathers — across all communities — matters deeply and is essential to a child’s health and development,” he said.

No new dad-focused initiatives are planned by First 5 Fresno County, spokeswoman Cindy Jurado Hernandez said.

First 5 Fresno County already partners with three organizations — Focus Forward, Shine Together, and Black Wellness and Prosperity — that focus on fatherhood, she said.