Make a Positive First Impression

Welcome fathers with warm, supportive, and empathetic attitudes.

• Greet each father by name.
• Hire program staff members who have backgrounds similar to participants' or who recently graduated from the program.

Create a Comfortable Environment

Offer friendly spaces for services and design décor to encourage participants to connect with their identities as fathers and showcase their successes.

• Hold father-child services in colorful spaces with children’s books and toys.
• Decorate with photos of fathers and children.

Build a Thoughtful Program Structure

Promote intensive participation by carefully planning incentives and the overall program setup.

• Offer incentives at points when drop-off rates are expected to be highest; for example, after the first session or the first week.
• Structure services in groups to foster relationships, create accountability and friendship, and keep people coming back.

Incorporate Hands-on Learning

Center program services on hands-on learning and time for reflection.

• Design services so that participants learn something new, have the opportunity to try it, and reflect on how it went.

• Refer fathers to family court resources, housing assistance, and child support services.
• Supply appropriate clothing for job interviews.

Respond to Competing Demands

Acknowledge and help address outside sources of stress (for example, job searches, financial strains, custody negotiations, and child care).

• Work to satisfy requirements from other systems, such as child welfare visitation and probation, with program participation.
• With the father’s permission, provide the child's co-parent and other primary caregivers with information about what the father will be learning in the program and how it benefits the child and family.

Address Common Logistical Problems

Make it easy to attend by offsetting travel costs and being flexible with timing and locations.

• Provide bus and subway travel vouchers.
• Conduct one-on-one services in the community where most convenient for participants, when needed.

Apply Data-Driven Management

Use program data to monitor and refocus program efforts.

• Monitor which partners refer fathers who enroll and participate, and focus recruitment efforts there.
• Change the messages that the program delivers to partners sending fewer fathers.

Use Insights from Behavioral Science

Use strategies and interventions informed by findings about human behavior to communicate with and engage participants.

• Use old and new technology such as reminder postcards, visual calendars, and custom phone apps to reinforce attendance.

Make Participant Perspectives a Priority

Ask fathers to reflect on their program experiences.

• After each session, ask fathers to describe what is going well, what they found most important, and how they can incorporate these concepts into their lives.