Funding is coming

By IKE MGBATOGU
Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS – It goes without saying that it is enormously beneficial for every child to grow up in a loving home where he or she is raised by the nurturing presence of both parents.

Still, it is always important, even without saying it, to underscore why that parental responsibility is critical at a time when not everyone is necessarily living up to that role.

And when gaps in meeting those parental expectations play out at the detriment of innocent children, government programs often serve as their refuge and funding for those programs become critical in strengthening families and protecting the children being raised in them.

One of such initiatives, as recently announced by State Representative Sandra Williams, was funded to the tune of $75,000 to be awarded to the Ohio Fatherhood Commission’s County Fatherhood Initiative Trainer.

She spoke about the importance of supporting programs that shore up families.

“This is an important step to empower families and strengthen communities,” said Williams, who also noted, “I believe our community could benefit greatly from programs that emphasize the importance of having a father present in a child’s life and tools to enrich the relationship.”

Those enrichment tools are part of what the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood was created to provide to families by strengthening the capacity of fathers to play their parental role effectively.

The Fatherhood Commission was established out of the state’s 2000 – 2001 biennial budget bill sponsored by former State Representative Peter Lawson Jones.

Charged with the mission of enhancing the “wellbeing of Ohio’s children by increasing and promoting involved, nurturing and responsible fatherhood,” it operates out of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.

The current executive director of the Commission is J. Tracy Robinson.

Mgbatogu is a freelance writer and editor of Onumba.com based in Columbus. He can be reached by email at Onumbamedia@yahoo.com