Out of 13 programs throughout the state, ForeverDads was one of five fatherhood programs chosen to renew grant funding for the next biannual cycle.

On June 11, Kimberly Dent, Executive Director of the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood, took to the podium at ForeverDads during the organization’s graduation ceremony. Among the many announcements Dent said she could have made, the most important was that the state chose ForeverDads as a grantee for the upcoming grant cycle.

“They’re doing amazing work in Muskingum County and some of the contiguous counties, as well as where they’re providing parenting skills and co-parenting, healthy relationship skills, economic stability to help low income fathers be better dads, to be there, be better co-parents, you know, with the mother or the mother of their children and again to work through some of those barriers that prevent them from being dads,” Dent said.

ForeverDads is currently one of the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood’s grantees. The state organization, ran through Ohio Job and Family Services, received 13 grant application and chose five programs for grant disbursement.

According to a post by ForeverDads, the organization was approved to receive $260,000 for the two-year grant period.

Dent said she was driving to Zanesville on Tuesday, June 11, for the ceremony when she was notified that ForeverDads was chosen. Due to the appeals time frame following the announcement, the funding notification was not made fully public until Monday, July 22.

“ForeverDads is always funded because they know the services that matter” Dent said.

Since she accepted the position as executive director in 2012, Dent said there was only one cycle in which ForeverDads was not a chosen grantee. Citing many technicalities as to why programs are not chosen, including not attaching proper tax forms or grant application forms, Dent said it was likely the application never made it to the board for review.

Despite the lack of funding, ForeverDads persisted.

“I came to Zanesville and I said, ‘You’re still making this work without our funds, you are like the model,’ so again, we do have a report that he put together as to how to engage the community because that’s what a lot of our fatherhood programs have to understand,” Dent said. “It’s not just receiving funds from the federal government or the state government to do this work this is a community thing. And Burl has it down pat, he’s like the expert on that.”

When applying for grant funds, there are two categories that the board reviews, one with mandatory requirements and another with optional factors. In addition to the meeting the mandatory requirements, Dent commended ForeverDads for reaching different demographics of fathers.

In a previous Y-City News Report, Executive Director of ForeverDads Burl Lemon said the state funding the organization received for the previous cycle required them to serve at least 200 fathers.

“We’re really trying to change the culture of our community,” Lemon said during an event in January. “This year, because of our grant from the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood, it requires that we serve a minimum of 200 men. We’re at January and we’ve already served 143.”

The new funding was set to begin July 1 and continue through 2021.

To learn more about the opportunities and programs ForeverDads offers, visit the organization’s website here.