Georgia- Tanya Thomas, Feliciano Lewis, and the staff at Coastal Plain Area EOA is doing a phenomenal job with their Men 4 Men program. Their focus is to strengthen families through fatherhood engagement within the Coastal Plain Area EOA communities. The fatherhood program supports, empower, and educate men to acknowledge their responsibility while providing trusted, missing links between fathers, their children, families, and the communities in providing economical and emotional stability.
They have had great success with program. Starting in 2018, as of February 23, 2021. Men 4 Men LLC has provided services to over 100 fathers, in the form of one on one or group counseling. These sessions have impacted over 300 children in the Coastal Plain E.O.A. area by giving these fathers the necessary tools to be better by offering them self-care, parenting, relationships, and employment skills. Twenty-five fathers have either found new employment opportunities or have received advancements on their current jobs. Two fathers have opened their own companies. One father gained custody of his son. Fourteen fathers have taken a small business class at Wiregrass Technical College which will help them to start their own businesses.
Men 4 Men LLC, has also partnered with the local communities by providing meals to families for Thanksgiving, providing socks to elderly homes, as well as partnering with a local bike club and recreation department to provide resources within the community as outreach. Currently Men 4 Men LLC is working to partner with the local boy scouts to offer services to children in the community..
Alabama- The state of Alabama has three initiatives. The one highlighted is Community Action Partnership of North Alabama's East Decatur Community Impact Project. The focus of the project is on improving neighborhood conditions within a targeted geographic area through community building and engagement activities centered around health/safety and stabilization/revitalization. Since 2014 they have supported improvement efforts in East Decatur, leveraging available funds and relationships with multiple partners. Notable changes include the establishment of a new park, new sidewalks, new street and alley lighting, and health-and-safety-related Home Repair Grants to lower income homeowners. Activities worth noting include annual Block Makeovers, Block Parties, Community Clean-ups, and a Community Newsletter to communicate with residents about services, grants, community meetings, opportunities, and other goings on in the area.
Mississippi- Mississippi's highlighted initiative comes out of Pearl River Valley Opportunity Incorporated (PRVO). The project’s goal is to identify health conditions in the counties they serve and determine the frequency of treatment received for the condition. The project seeks to also identify the individual’s attitude toward the condition and treatment. The overall goal of the initiative is to work to reduce health disparities in Southeast Mississippi.
PRVO has updated its customer tracking system to capture disease conditions that affects low-income individuals. They are currently collecting data and preparing to disseminate needs assessment surveys.
Florida- Florida's “Securing Our Future" program seeks to increasing economic mobility and reducing poverty. The initiative provides participants with a vision of a system of care that maximizes opportunities for economic mobility, in Palm Beach County. Over the next ten (10) years, the Securing Our Future initiative seeks to build pathways for economic mobility for families with children ages 0- 18, who are living below the 200% federal poverty threshold, with a special emphasis on families at or below the 100% federal poverty threshold, and who have the ability to work.
