Department of Workforce Development

 For Immediate Release - August 27, 1998
Contact: Kevin Keane (608) 266-8110 or Gene Kussart (608) 261-4576

GOVERNOR LAUNCHES NEW FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE

Milwaukee - Gov. Tommy G. Thompson today unveiled the Wisconsin Fatherhood Initiative, a comprehensive effort to encourage fathers to be dads to their children.

The governor named Milwaukee Brewers General Manager Sal Bando chairman of the new initiative, which will coordinate new and existing programs to encourage more fathers to financially and emotionally support their children.

"Our children need their fathers to get a good start on life," Gov. Thompson said. "The Fatherhood Initiative will encourage fathers to be good dads to their children throughout their lives."

Gov. Thompson said his Fatherhood Initiative will:

• Instruct all state agencies to examine their programs and policies to make them more father-friendly.
• Include a proposal in his next budget to make grants to local communities to develop fatherhood programs.
• Convene a summit of scholars, community leaders and policy experts to share information and develop strategies to reduce fatherlessness in Wisconsin.
• Launch a public awareness campaign to help parents understand the key role fathers play in child development and to encourage their involvement in their children’s lives.
• Enlist community leaders to join the effort.

"Strong fathers make strong families - and strong families make a strong Wisconsin," the governor said. "The entire community has a stake in supporting responsible fatherhood."

Gov. Thompson and Bando were joined by the president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, clinical child psychologist, author and lecturer Wade Horn, at today’s announcement at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Horn announced that his organization plans to open its first state chapter anywhere in Wisconsin.

The governor noted that a recent study found that 14 to 22 year-old young men raised in homes without fathers are twice as likely to be jailed as their peers who grow up in traditional, two-parent households. "Research confirms what many of us have known for a long time: dads make a real difference," he said.

Almost 75 percent of children living in single-parent families will experience poverty before they turn 11 years old, compared with 20 percent of children in two-parent families. A 1991 study showed that for children in mother-only families, just one child in six saw his or her father in the past year.

Gov. Thompson said the National Fatherhood Initiative will provide a clearinghouse for effective programs, resources and funding.