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| Father Involvement ALU LIKE Native Hawaiian Child Care Assistance Project |
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Demographic Information:
Hawai`i lies 2,500 miles southwest of North America, the nearest continental land mass. The eight major islands — O`ahu, Maui, Kaua`i, the Big Island (Hawai`i), Moloka`i, Lana`i, Ni`ihau, and Kaho`olawe — are part of a 128-island archipelago that extends for more than 1,500 miles and covers almost 6,500 square miles.
Hawai`i’s population is roughly 1.2 million, 75 percent of whom live on O`ahu. Approximately 22 percent of the Hawai`i population is Native Hawaiian or part Native Hawaiian. However, some areas within the islands have greater concentrations of Native Hawaiians. Moloka`i, followed by the Big Island, has the greatest percentage of Native Hawaiians; O`ahu has the highest number of Native Hawaiians.
Transportation is a big challenge for Native Hawaiians and air travel is very expensive. On-island transportation can also be problematic; while O`ahu has a comprehensive bus system, the Big Island and Maui have limited buses and there are large expanses in between communities. For those relying on cars, gas prices are especially high in Hawai`i (in late 2004, gas was as high as $3/gallon).
Type of Program:
ALU LIKE is a private, nonprofit service organization that has assisted Native Hawaiians in their efforts to achieve social and economic self-sufficiency since 1975. ALU LIKE offers a comprehensive range of services and activities to fill identified needs in the Native Hawaiian community, including community economic development, business assistance, employment preparation, training, library services, and specialized services to youth and elders.
Since 1998, the Child Care Bureau has awarded Child Care and Development Funds (CCDF) to ALU LIKE to operate a Native Hawaiian Child Care Assistance Project (NHCCAP). In 2002, 508 children and 341 families received CCDF-funded child care services from the NHCCAP. The NHCCAP certificate program provides child care subsidies for the children of eligible parents who work or go to school. Children are served as long as they are Native Hawaiian and meet financial eligibility requirements. In addition to administering the child care subsidy program, the NHCCAP has implemented a number of quality activities and has embraced President Bush’s Good Start, Grow Smart early learning initiative.
In addition to the NHCCAP, ALU LIKE operates two other early childhood initiatives through its Ho`okahua Early Childhood Department:
Effective Program Strategy:
In January 2002, ALU LIKE established a new Father Program Planner position in its Ho`okahua Early Childhood Department. The objective of this position was to promote responsible fatherhood and increase the involvement of fathers in their children’s lives. This new focus on involving fathers came about as a result of father involvement being identified as one of ACF’s Key Priorities. As a first step, the agency selected Michael Dias, an ALU LIKE staff member since 1990, for the Father Program Planner position. He and other agency staff then set out to assess the involvement of fathers by collecting anecdotal evidence.
Mr. Dias gathered information from early childhood staff and fathers statewide through "talk-story" (discussion) sessions and a survey that ALU LIKE conducted with program affiliated dads. Based on input from staff, a "Fathers’ Program Planner Report" was completed in October 2002. A survey of staff members and of fathers associated with the department was conducted in fall 2002, and a report that outlined findings and their relationship to staff input in the previous report was developed in February 2003.
The survey provided the agency, for the first time, with demographic and other information about the fathers they served. Eighty-six percent (122 of 142 respondents) were biological fathers and the majority was in the 20-29 age range. The survey revealed that most families were relatively young and most biological parents were together, a finding that Mr. Dias says means there is currently a good window of opportunity to reach the fathers. About 96 percent of respondents were living in the same home as their children, also a plus for agency staff seeking to reach fathers with fatherhood/parenting information.
Sixty-five percent of the fathers surveyed were Hawaiian and the rest were mixed race or Caucasian. Eighty percent were employed and of those, 70 percent were employed full time. Financial issues were noted as a great concern for these fathers. They said that having to hold down several jobs or work extended hours kept them from participating in activities with their children. Fathers said that favorable times for activities with their children were evenings and weekends. Daytime was noted as the worst time. In addition, sometimes fathers didn’t participate in agency-planned activities because they didn’t anticipate that many other dads would be there. The survey also showed that unemployed fathers didn’t necessarily have more involvement with their children.
Fathers said that they were concerned about parenting, discipline, values, culture, religion, and relationships with partners. While fathers mentioned early childhood education (ECE) issues as a concern, they consistently cited health and safety and well-being as the top concerns in that arena.
The report has been distributed to each agency site as a tool for planning group activities and family events that meet father’s interests, needs, and expectations. ALU LIKE has worked with the Hawai`i Coalition for DADS to provide activities for all fathers in the community at large.
In addition to sharing information from the report, Mr. Dias has coordinated a variety of activities to develop and enhance fatherhood services for the Ho`okahua Early Childhood Department. For example, he has:
Resources:
CCDF funds were used indirectly to develop and support the Father Involvement Specialist position. The position is supported directly by funding through the Native Hawaiian Education Act. The Hawai`i Coalition for Dads includes the following partner organizations that also lend support to father involvement efforts: Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies; The Institute for Family Enrichment; Parents and Children Together; Kamehameha Schools; Queen Lili`uokalani Children’s Center; Good Beginnings Alliance; Pearl Harbor Fleet and Family Support Center (U.S. Navy); and several smaller businesses and organizations.
Results:
Mr. Dias, who in 2004 transitioned to the position of Father Involvement Specialist, is currently working with three early childhood sites in O`ahu to implement recommendations from the report and collaborate with parent educators. Mr. Dias is also working with the Early Childhood Consortium to develop more activities for fathers that are appealing to families served by the agencies.
In addition, Pūlama I Nā Keiki sites are now keeping data on the participation of fathers in their activities.
As a result of field-testing the NFI father involvement curriculum, ALU LIKE is seeking to develop its own curriculum this year that is more culturally relevant and specific to Hawai`i.
Lessons Learned:
Through its survey of fathers and early childhood staff, as well as its efforts to implement father involvement activities, ALU LIKE has learned several lessons that may be applicable to agencies seeking to establish similar initiatives:
Contact Information:
Michael Dias
Father Involvement Specialist
ALU LIKE Native Hawaiian Child Care Assistance Project
Address:
458 Keawe Street
Honolulu, HI 96813-3038
Phone: 808-535-1312
Fax: 808-523-3465
E-mail: mdias@alulike.org
| NOTE: If you have information about an Effective Program Strategy in your Tribal community that you would like to share, please contact the Tribal Child Care Technical Assistance Center (TriTAC) at TriTAC@namsinc.org |
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