
The Doe Fund aims to develop and implement programs that meet the needs of a diverse population working to break the cycles of poverty, including homelessness, addiction, and criminal recidivism. They provide individuals with job training, education, and housing. All of the organization’s programs and innovative business ventures ultimately strive to help homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals achieve permanent self-sufficiency.
One such program is “Forever Fathers”. Approximately 30% of the Doe Fund’s trainees have children under the age of 18. This program creates a space for men who are striving to become better fathers to their children. Rather than tell them how to parent, the Forever Fathers program functions as a support system and provides men with parenting classes where they discuss topics such as communication, discipline, and father’s rights. It turns fathers into dads. Classes meet once a week and have no educational requirement. Through the program, The Doe Fund has worked with the men to successfully coordinate the payment of more than $45,000 toward child support by trainees while in the program, and more than $400,500 by those discharged since 2009. It also assists trainees and grads in navigating the family court system through payment modifications, custody hearings, and child visitation decisions. Since the program’s inception, 520 men have resumed child support payments.