Leading Minnesota's campaign for healthy fatherhood.

About the Minnesota Fathers & Families Network

Mission | Principles | Major Funders | History | Annual Reports | Logic Model | Photos | Organizational Chart

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Mission: MFFN enhances healthy father-child relationships by promoting initiatives that inform public policy and further develop the field of fatherhood practitioners statewide. (Updated Dec. 2007) 

Vision: The Network's vision is represented by the image shown here.

The Network accomplishes the mission by:

• Informing community agencies throughout the state of the need and benefit of providing services to fathers as part of serving families;
• Maintaining information on, promoting and encouraging fatherhood and family strengthening priorities in the state; 
• Providing opportunities for networking and information sharing among fatherhood practitioners, family support service providers and other interested stakeholders; 
• Enhancing the capacity of fatherhood practitioners and family support service providers to provide programs and services that will strengthen families across the economic and cultural diversity represented in the state; 
• Building the profession of fatherhood practitioners and other family support service providers working to increase the responsible involvement of fathers in the lives of their children; 
• Promoting the establishment and the expansion of fatherhood programs and services; 
• Maintaining awareness of state legislation that affects fathers and educating legislators on fatherhood issues; 
• Increasing the public awareness of fatherhood involvement and family strengthening issues; and 
• Providing leadership and direction to the development of an active and effective statewide coalition of individuals and organizations committed to strengthening Minnesota’s families through the increased involvement of fathers in the lives of children.

What we value and believe at the Minnesota Fathers & Families Network:

• MFFN embraces fathers, children, and the father-child relationship as the key beneficiaries of our work.
• MFFN values fathers as an essential resource for building strong families and for encouraging child growth and development.
• MFFN believes fathers and mothers both have primary responsibility for supporting, nurturing and guiding their children’s learning and development.
• MFFN believes fathers and mothers merit equal opportunities to enhance and develop their capacity as responsible, engaged parents.
• MFFN recognizes diversity among Minnesotans and the different cultural norms regarding family structure, family formation, and co-parenting relationships.
• MFFN embraces communities without regard to race, ability, color, creed, religion, gender, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, veteran status, or sexual orientation.
• MFFN values education as a means to counteract negative stereotypes about fatherhood and to promote positive male socialization.
• MFFN encourages evidence based programming for fathers and families.
• MFFN believes that an effective fatherhood practitioner models positive behavior, learns from personal/professional experience, seeks formal educational credentialing, and interacts with supportive peer networks.
• MFFN supports father-friendly legislation that positively impacts how state agencies and organizations assist fathers. 
• MFFN convenes a statewide nonpartisan membership network in order to support Minnesota’s fathers and families.
• MFFN uses innovation and appropriate technology to reach and involve our constituencies.
• MFFN believes that, in order for children and families to thrive, the whole community – families, individuals, non-profits, public systems, policy makers, the private sector, and funders – needs to work in partnership and collaboration. (Updated June 2010.)
  
  

Milestones of the Network: Since the mid-1990s, fatherhood practitioners and advocates in Minnesota have envisioned a statewide organization to support the development of the fatherhood movement.

• 2000: Three Minnesota state agencies host the first "summit" -- a statewide conference focused on fatherhood. This conference format is later replicated as MFFN's annual conference, the Minnesota Fatherhood Summit.
• 2001: Based, in part, on the energy of the statewide conference in 2000, MFFN is initiated in 2001. Leaders from local, statewide, and national entities gather, in public meetings around the state, to develop a Minnesota practitioners' network for fathers and families.
• 2002: MFFN convenes regional fact-finding discussion forums throughout Minnesota with the goals of identifying a core of supporters and developing a list of fatherhood issues and resources. These discussion forums later evolve into the annual Fall Fatherhood Seminar Series.
• 2003: The Network hires its first staff and elects its first Board of Directors, with representatives from each of Minnesota’s 7 regions (parallel to the regions of the Minnesota Initiative Foundations). 
• 2004: The Network becomes a federally registered non-profit organization, 501(c)3, in the state of Minnesota. MFFN becomes a state affiliate of the National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families. MFFN hosts its first independent annual professional conference, the Minnesota Fatherhood Summit. 
• 2006: MFFN moves its offices to the current location -- one block from the state Capitol building in St. Paul.
• 2007: MFFN staff, board, and stakeholders engage in a year-long Strategic Planning process which reaffirms the organization's purpose and results in a new mission statement and 3-year strategic plan. In this year, MFFN releases its first major publications, "Do we count fathers in Minnesota?" and "Fathers to the Forefront".
• 2008: The Network hires a Policy and Program Director to expand work with public policy decision makers and fatherhood services programs across Minnesota.
• 2009: MFFN demonstrates a high level of integrity and transparency by meeting all 16 Accountability Standards of the Charities Review Council (more here).
• 2010: MFFN initiates a new project, the Minnesota Fatherhood Leadership Circles, with year-long capacity building taking place in Brainerd, Fergus Falls and Grand Rapids. New sites will be selected for 2011.

2010 - 2011 Major Supporters: MFFN is a federally recognized nonprofit organization, 501 (c) 3. Donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Bush Foundation
Greater St. Cloud Area Thrive
Greater Twin Cities United Way
Independent School District No. 318, Grand Rapids
Initiative Foundation, serving central Minn.
Mardag Foundation
McKnight Foundation
Minnesota Child Support Enforcement Division
Minnesota Department of Corrections
Minnesota Department of Human Services, Children’s Trust Fund
Northland Foundation
Northwest Minnesota Foundation
Order of Saint Benedict—Saint John’s University
Otto Bremer Foundation
Q Foundation
Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation
Southwest Initiative Foundation
United Way of Ottertail County
University of Minn. School of Public Health, Center for Leadership Education in Maternal & Child Public Health
U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement
West Central Initiative

MFFN Annual Reports: