The WorkSource to assist Institute in outreach efforts to area fathers

The WorkSource announced recently that it will assist the Institute for Responsible Fatherhood and Family Revitalization in helping fathers gain employment skills and find jobs

Fatherless households are often cited as contributing to welfare dependency, children’s poor academic performance and juvenile delinquency, and recent figures released by the U.S Census Bureau indicate almost 25 million children in the nation live in fatherless homes.

The Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based organization, started its outreach work in the Houston-Galveston area last July, and is the only national fatherhood organization to hire married-partner (husband and wife) teams to live and work within targeted urban neighborhoods. The Institute also hires highly-trained outreach workers from within high-risk communities.

One of the Institute’s chief goals is ensuring fathers are gainfully employed. Since 1998, the Institute has achieved the highest rate of job retention among Welfare-to-Work providers with the U.S. Department of Labor, With its outreach work being relatively new in the Houston-Galveston area, the Institute is enlisting The WorkSource’s aid in increasing the number of employed fathers in the area.

The WorkSource is a regional partnership of business, education, labor and community organizations committed to providing training and labor market services so job seekers can find employment. Job seekers receive guidance on researching prospective employers and effective interviewing skills are emphasized, including rehearsal of the interviewer’s questions.

The Institute is also seeking to hire more married-partner teams to increase its outreach work in the Houston-Galveston area.

“Because of the need for constant contact with the fathers and mothers, it wants to hire married couples currently residing in the target areas or who are willing to relocate to those areas,” said Eric Hall of the Institute’s Houston branch.