Strong Dad Engagement Programs: Funding the Fight for Fatherhood
No man is born an expert on fatherhood.
Good fathers are taught through blunt advice, wise counsel, observation, experience, and their environment.
This is why responsible fatherhood programs are saving lives, and why we should be talking about them.
Iron sharpens iron.
Initiatives such as the Strong Dads Academy aren’t just curriculum-based. It’s a fraternity prepping new dads, and keeping older ones fit for the fight.
Dads who are raised well, will, in turn, raise their kids well.
Flourishing Fathers and Families
Kickstarted and facilitated by the non-profit The National Fatherhood Initiative, Strong Dads is one of six core pro-dad platforms raising men to be men across the United States.
Regardless of age, incarceration, or alienation, fatherhood engagement programs go beyond self-help formulas for fathering.
As the adage goes, we never stop learning.
There’s gold to be mined about better money management, work/life balance, mental health, and “questions to ask before the baby arrives.”
Strong Dads is a 12-week course aimed at helping men work out familial problems through “self-awareness, compassion, and individual responsibility.”
The goal is to “build the man first, and the father second.”
Talking about the initiative, field program coordinator Robert Burdick said he’s “seen lives changed.”
Turning broken dads into strong dads has turned lives around.
“Studies show that when dads are involved in the home, kids do better,” he added.
Through Strong Dads, Burdick has seen “relationships improve, and men get access to their kids back.”
Teddy Barker, another field coordinator, said the same.
“I just feel fortunate to use whatever experiences I have to help others,” he told The News and Eagle.
“That’s what I feel like this whole program is about.
“I’ve been through some very difficult things, and have heard, and seen some terrible things that might make people cry from some of the participants.”
“It’s rewarding being able to use those experiences to encourage dads to not give up,” Barker said.
Pro-Family Policy
Also known as “father-engagement training”, Strong Dads was made accessible and affordable by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt.
In April 2023, he invested USD $9 million dollars into fatherhood-specific services across Oklahoma, stating,
“I want Oklahoma to be the most pro-family state…
“Fatherhood is an important piece of that puzzle, and I’m encouraged by this initiative to continue to expand and increase fatherhood programs in our communities.”
Justifying the investment, the April press release asserted,
“Active father involvement is associated with a wide range of positive outcomes for children.”
Programs such as Strong Dads are evidence-based, and “will help men actively engage in their children’s lives while helping them identify and use resources to benefit their own lives.”
Determined to do better in answering the fatherless crisis plaguing America, Governor Stitt doubled down on his commitment, stating in June 2023,
“As a father, husband, and as governor, I firmly believe that fatherhood is important.”
Speaking to a Fatherhood Summit audience in 2024, Stitt reasserted,
“Each child is created by God. There is no greater honour or responsibility than to raise them, and remind them of their inherent value.
“A real man accepts responsibility. We don’t blame others. That’s a loser’s strategy.
“Real men lead courageously. Joshua 1:9 says, ‘Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous?’”
“Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God will be with you, wherever you go,” Stitt continued.
“The men the world is raising, are not the men the world needs.”
Quoting Mark 8:36, he said, what’s needed is men who are “moved to significance, not just the desire for success.
“Life is about the relationships you build, and the people you impact.”
Stitt then explained,
We need men who won’t choose video games over getting a job. Men who will treat women with respect, not as entertainment.
“We need men who will reject passivity, who will lead courageously, and with integrity.
“We need men, who we would be proud to have our daughters marry. We need men who will make good husbands and dependable fathers.
“Every man in this room gets to decide what kind of father he’s going to be,” he concluded.
Strong Dads aren’t authoritarians, they are involved and irreplaceable.
The cure for fatherlessness is intentional fathers simply showing up, and getting involved.
We need strong dads.
Be a 24/7 one.
WATCH:
___
Republished with thanks to Caldron Pool. Image courtesy of Adobe.
One Comment
Leave A Comment
Recent Articles:
25 June 2026
2.4 MINS
The Australian Christian Lobby is hosting screenings of the groundbreaking documentary Born Alive, Left to Die across Australia. It is time for truth, accountability, and change. Attend a screening and invite others to join you.
25 June 2026
3.9 MINS
Most Australians still believe in human dignity and inalienable rights, essential truths for a just legal system. What they’ve since abandoned is the only foundation that make those beliefs coherent.
25 June 2026
3.2 MINS
Larry Sanger helped create Wikipedia to be "the free encyclopaedia anyone can edit." Three decades later, he's been locked out — for trying to make the site more balanced.
25 June 2026
5.4 MINS
For three weeks, Women's Rights advocate Sall Grover tried to have an opinion piece published on the ABC. But the taxpayer-funded organisation refused, saying that terms such as ‘biological reality’ and ‘truth’ were offensive.
24 June 2026
4.8 MINS
After scoring the sixth-fastest goal in FIFA's 2026 World Cup, Christian footballer Felix Nmecha dropped to one knee and symbolically laid his crown at the feet of Christ. It's a gesture that captures everything about him: faith first, football second.
24 June 2026
2.9 MINS
If you’re a parent or a grandparent, you probably worry about what your child or grandchild is learning at school. In the first of its kind in Australia, a survey has been launched to measure parent attitudes to Respectful Relationship sessions in schools.
24 June 2026
5.9 MINS
Nation First looks into Keir Starmer’s resignation and why Anthony Albanese should be worried by the same policy failures now haunting Labor at home.
We need a “Strong Dads “programme in Australia to turn our society away from despair, violence in the home, drugs, pornography and crime. The example of a good, loving and involved father is of no .1 importance. Our society is sick because of divorce, unmarried parents or ones in which there are constantly changing partners in which children are molested, or, at best become confused . Children need stability.