Male Involvement Network (MIN)
What is the Male Involvement Network (MIN)?
For 20 years, the Male Involvement Network (MIN) has stood as a coalition of service providers and institutional partners operating within a comprehensive approach towards working with fathers in order to achieve positive developmental outcomes for their children. MIN utilizes existing resources coupled with comprehensive case management, mentoring and emotional support to meet the needs of men who want to have healthy relationships with their children and their children(s) mother and/or primary caregivers. MIN as a program has had a successful 85% of fathers meet their service plan goals by increasing their parenting knowledge and skills through parenting education classes and increased parenting time with their children. One of the key values of our comprehensive approach to working with fathers is that as our relationship develops with them. The fathers we served have demonstrated increased time spent with their children (47%), increased compliance with child support orders (20%), and increased employability (42%). MIN is proudly 1 of 8 certified sites in the State of Connecticut.
Who Does MIN Serve?
We serve fathers that are referred to us via our partnership with Connecticut’s Department of Social Services. These men are all looking to better themselves in order to become the best fathers they possibly can for their children. Oftentime the fathers that are referred to us come from a line of men who either had limited or no involvement with their own fathers.
How Does MIN Empower Fathers?
MIN empowers men to become outstanding fathers by helping them understand what it means to be a father, equipping them with the tools and knowledge they need to support their children, and providing a safe space to dismantle societal norms for men in childcare in order to break the cycle of fatherlessness in our communities.
What does MIN offer?
MIN offers a variety of supportive services and activities in order to help men become outstanding fathers such as:
- Outreach & Case Management
- Court Support Advocacy
- Liaison for Court Support Services
- Mental & Physical Health Education
- Support with Housing
- Relationship Building
- Employment
- Returning to Education
- Mediation
- Access & Visitation
- Family & Child Support Knowledge
How Do We Implement Racial Justice?
MIN implements racial justice by tackling the systemic and societal racial inequities that create barriers for men of color to reach their true potential of being incredible fathers. By helping men of color dissect what society expects from them as men, and how it treats them because they are men of color, we are able to better process what society expects from them versus who they want to be for their children.
New Haven Healthy Start Partnership
Urban Community Alliance partnered with the New Haven Health Start (NHHS) to combat disparities in men’s health needs. MIN’s experience in addressing health disparities have become another source of sustained support for the program. MIN staff have developed knowledge and expertise about the ways in which father involvement programs can motivate men’s attention to their own health needs and the ways father advocacy can help health providers become more responsive to men’s health needs. Fatherhood programs like MIN serving low income minority men have contributed to the state and federal efforts to address health disparities. To this end, MIN has produced two Men’s Health brochures for the Department of Health. Each month members of the MIN organization and providers in the community are invited to discuss concerns and health providers are given the opportunity to address the needs of men and fathers. In 2005, MIN and Healthy start created an endowment fund at the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven that assists in the ongoing efforts in the community.
24/7 DAD’s Curriculum
24/7 DAD’s is a course offered to fathers to aid in productive parenting skills while in the role of fatherhood. This course implements positive communication skills while co-parenting, health resources and child development. The course has proven to increase fathers’ emotional attachment to their children and fathers’ involvement in activities that promote positive developmental outcomes in children, increase the health status of men, increase the vocational skills and opportunities of men, increase the general knowledge about the role of fathers in child, family, and community development; and increase the financial investment of men in their children.