Navajo Nation Second Chance Young Fathers Project

The FY 2015 Second Chance Act Strengthening Relationships Between Young Fathers and Their Children: A Reentry Mentoring Project helps ensure that the transition young fathers make from secure confinement facilities back to their families and their communities is successful and promotes public safety. This program will fund mentoring and comprehensive transitional services, emphasizing developing parenting skills, to offenders who are young fathers. The goals of the program are to reduce recidivism among young fathers; improve outcomes for young fathers, their children, and family members; and promote responsible fatherhood. The objectives of this program are to provide young fathers with supportive mentoring and transitional services in both confinement and in the community based on and matched to their assessed risks and parenting needs that support their successful reentry.

Capacity Builders, a Native American operated non-profit, will operate the Navajo Nation Second Chance Young Fathers Project. The Navajo Nation is an extremely economically deprived rural community with a high percentage of young fathers that are reentering society disconnected from themselves, their families and communities, and affiliating with gangs for clanship instead of their families. The project will serve inmates housed at the Crownpoint, Shiprock and Kayenta facilities on the Navajo Nation. Capacity Builders will provide a combination of culturally specific services to include community group mentorships upon release and family mentorships that will be focused on building the self-esteem and skills of participants. Additionally, the applicant will develop web-based educational resources, including a Native American fatherhood curriculum, a teen outreach success curriculum, and small business development resources. Services and resources will reinforce self-esteem, cultural knowledge and skills that will nurture young fathers’ proper roles in themselves, their families and communities as they reenter back into their communities.

CA/NCF