Posts: 7

1. Vision

   11.Mar.08, 22:00 EDT
   
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   Fatherhood is the most significant event that a man experiences during his lifetime.  He undertakes this journey unprepared, as did his father before him.   For the child, the father is the initiating force through whom the young person passes on the way into the larger world.  In turn the child activates the father’s heroic desire for self-sacrifice and compassion, giving power and direction to his own personal and spiritual growth. This ancient collaborative journey begins with the father nurturing and tending to the child’s vital needs from infancy through adolescence, and into maturity.  Then a reversal of roles usually occurs as father passes through the portals of midlife and begins to face the reality of aging, illness, and other of life issues.  Now the elder seeks the comfort of compassionate assistance, and even support from his progeny.  This relationship is as old as mankind itself, varying only with the specific contemporary cultural, religious, and community values.  
   
   Unfortunately, 21st Century fathers and their families rarely attain this ideal lifestyle.  To help accomplish this ideal, the Father Resource Network will provide empowering solutions, support, and referral services which help solve the problems that are central to improving the lives of fathers, their families, and society nationwide, and eventually worldwide.
   

2. The 21st Century Father

   11.Mar.08, 21:59 EDT
   
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   The 21st Century Father 
   
   In the United States alone there are more then 68 million fathers, and approximately 35 million have children less than 18 years of age. Today men are stepping up and reclaiming their fatherhood as involved and committed family leaders and need effective and meaningful communities of services and support.  
   
   Divorce occurs in nearly 50% of American marriages, currently separating 45 million fathers and children.
   
   Nuclear families account for less then 25% of Households, reports the New York Times, pointing to the “increase as well as statistics of single-parent households as troubling indicators of deeper societal problems”
   
   A recent Harris Interactive poll reports that “breaking ranks with their father’s 71% of men between the ages of 21-39 report that they would give up some of their pay to spend more time with their family”.
   
   At-risk or suicidal children, and violent crimes committed by teenagers have reached frightening epidemic proportions.
   
   Nearly 75% of inmates in San Quentin prison come from fatherless households. Elder citizens and those facing death want to reclaim and reassert the spiritual and family dimensions of end of life issues and not be abandoned to impersonal care.  
   
   This new paradigm in family life has created an emerging culture complete with a new set of personal and societal problems, but there are no new or effective role models and communities of support to empower this well documented change.  Our mission is to fill this void by providing a socially responsible network of services that solve tough challenges and enable positive growth for all members of the family.  
   
   Fatherhood issues come in many forms and varieties:
   
   Married
   Divorced/Single 
   Grand 
   Step  
   Gay  
   Incarcerated 
   Adoptive  
   
   

3. The Mission

   11.Mar.08, 21:57 EDT
   
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   The Father Resource Network –is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3 organization headquartered in Marin County.  Our mission is to create a positive new perspective on fatherhood and family life, one that is appropriate for today’s society. . Our goal is to help men to become courageous, involved, and compassionate fathers, husbands and heroic family leaders, and work at the local, national, and global levels. Our strategy is to create forward-thinking, practical and ethical solutions, role models, and communities of support that help fathers and fathers-to-be manage difficult challenges and life transformations.  Initially we will provide services for:  
   
   • Divorce Collaboration and the Particle Family
   • At Risk and Fatherless Children 
   • Incarcerated Fathers and Juveniles
   
   Our suite of forward thinking educational services and solutions provide recipients with the help they need to solve tough challenges that are central to improving their lives.  These types of services provide will include: 
   
   • Personalized Information and Tools
   • Multimedia Products
   • Expert Resources and Workshops
   • Professional Referral Network
   • Mentoring Services 
   • Collaborative Online Interactive Community 
   • Local Activity Centers
   
   By providing this unique suite of services and solutions to enable positive family growth we will be fulfilling our mission of providing authentic long-term value and benefits to our members, outreach recipients, contributors, sponsors, and socially responsible investors. 
   
   

4. The Problem: Sustainable Marriage, Divorce Collaboration, and the Particle Family

   11.Mar.08, 21:55 EDT
   
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   The Problem: Sustainable Marriage, Divorce Collaboration, and the Particle Family
   
   We all enter our marriages assuming that it will last forever; unfortunately, this is not always the case. In fact nearly 50% of all marriages end in divorce, creating years of unsettling changes, especially for the children. This shift away from the “nuclear family” lifestyle has produced the following statistics:
   
   A New York Times article reports “ as researchers clamber to catch up, fatherhood has turned into the hottest stop on the social science circuit, and demographically, single fathers are the fastest-growing family group in the workforce”
   
   According, to the University of Southern California, direct expenses for contested divorces just within the top 2% of income earners represent a 4 billion-dollar industry.
   
   There are approximately 10 million single fathers with children under 18 years of age.
   
   The target population increases by approximately one million NEW fathers each year in the US alone. These men are looking for unique services and a community of support to help them navigate troubled waters and regain their stability. They seek encouraging and enabling solutions that help them tend to their children's well being, and lead the family through these unsettling passages.
   
   The Solution
   
   Initially, through our memorable Internet domain, www.father.com, and local activity center, we will provide a full range of unique products ( see always dad) and services help in every aspect of this intense transition, these will include services to:
   
   • Develop and implement new strategies and solutions for collaborative parenting, and ending the war between the parents
   • Support, empower, and encourage men to be the best fathers they can be, fathers who are present and accountable, loving and leading, competent and caring
   • Help fathers create an atmosphere where the children feel they belong to a loving and nurturing family, even though mom and dad are divorced
   • Provide practical guidelines for dealing with the day-to-day issues and stresses
   • Promote the sustainability of marriage
   • Decrease the feeling of abandonment and loss of self esteem the children and the father experience
   • Help fathers cope with custody, financial, and relationship challenges
   
   

5. The Problem: Incarcerated Fathers and At Risk Juveniles

   11.Mar.08, 21:53 EDT
   
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   The Problem: Incarcerated Fathers and At Risk Juveniles
   
   The link between the absent or incarcerated father, at-risk children, and incarcerated juveniles are undeniable, well documented and widely acknowledged. Statistics prove that violent criminals are overwhelmingly males who grew up without fathers in the home. For example:
   
   3.5 million children in the United States have a parent behind bars. Children with parents in prison are five (5) times as likely to become incarcerated themselves.
   
   75% of the inmates in San Quentin are from fatherless households, as are 90% of the men on death row in Texas.
   
   Children being raised in fatherless households need mentors and elders to help guide them trough tough times and growing pains. Our prisons are over crowded and have become training grounds for criminals, rather than the rehabilitating system we desperately need. More often than not prison initiates the young inmate into a future of reoccurring incarceration and criminal behavior. Intervention needs to be in place to keep our young offenders out of the prison system. For those who are incarcerated we need to prepare them inmate for life outside the prison walls. Juvenile offenders must be mentored and offered alternative rehabilitative solutions rather then enrollment into the prison systems crime schools which is what happens to most youths who enter the penitentiary system.
   
   The Solution
   
   Working in cooperation with government officials, mental health professionals, and prison officials we intend to establish appropriate and failsafe communication and educational systems that will be a model for a secure and effective rehabilitation system. This virtual training ground is similar to a virtual halfway house for at-risk youth or incarcerated juveniles.
   
   Working within controlled and secure environments incarcerated fathers and juvenile inmates will be able to:
   
   • Be mentored by certified “father figure” role model to create positive self-esteem
   • Learn relationship skills to resist negative peer pressure
   • Instill moral and societal values
   • Communicate with their families over a secure and monitored network
   • Participate in electronic courses to complete High School
   • Learn a marketable trade and skills
   
   Safety and security for family members and the public-at-large is essential and comes first and foremost. Nevertheless, this process is vital to both our societal welfare and that of the incarcerated individual and their families. Again, the key here is to work in cooperation with government, prison, and professional therapists to create a completely secure private network that the government will approve.
   
    
   
   

6. Our Organizational Structure

   11.Mar.08, 21:51 EDT
   
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   The Father Resource Network is a non-profit corporation with headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area. We provide various services focused upon creating effective role services and communities of support to enable individuals and families to solve the difficult challenges and problems related to fatherhood.  Our funding is generated from socially responsible foundations and individuals, government and corporate grants and sponsorships, individual membership fees, and the sales of multimedia reference materials. 
   

7. Board of Directors

   11.Mar.08, 21:49 EDT
   
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   Charles Drucker, Ph.D 
   Dr. Drucker is an educational technology consultant who works with publishing and software development companies to design and deploy advanced online assessment and instructional technologies in K-12 and higher education markets. After receiving his doctorate in Anthropology from Stanford University, he taught at the college level, then took a post-doctoral research position at UC Berkeley to study computer science. He has held a variety of management positions for technology companies, including Hewlett Packard, Macmillan Publishing, Simon & Schuster, and Pearson Education. 
   
   John Gray, Ph.D. 
   Dr. Gray's phenomenal best-selling book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus has sold more than 15 million copies in the United States and in 40 different languages throughout the world. He is a Certified Family Therapist, a member of the Distinguished Advisory Board of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors, and the American Counseling Association. An internationally recognized expert in the fields of communication and relationships, John’s unique focus is assisting men and women in understanding, respecting and appreciating their differences. 
   
   David Kalish 
   David is an early pioneer and visionary thinker well known to have accurately forecasted trends in the evolution of technology. In 1982, he confounded AutoDesk, the worldwide leader in PC based computer assisted design and 3D modeling software. His ability to correctly identify societal and market trends in the architectural and multimedia markets have proven instrumental to AutoDesk’s market success. David is a long time veteran of the PC business, he received his Masters Degree in Computer Science in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin, when the industry was in its infancy. 
   
   Kenny Loggins 
   Kenny is one the most successful songwriters and performers in the world. With a career spanning more than thirty years, he has logged in twelve Platinum albums and fourteen Gold albums in the United States alone, and selling more than twenty million albums worldwide. His work on the soundtrack for the enormously successful film FOOTLOOSE earned him an Academy Award Nomination, and along the way he picked up two Grammy Awards. Kenny's passion for environmental issues resulted in the television special and accompanying live album Outside: From The Redwoods, and, his environmental TV special "This Island Earth" and was awarded two Emmy Awards. Kenny is the father of 5 children. 
   
   Paul Mandelstein 
   Paul is the founder and Chairman of the Father Resource Network and an early pioneer in the field of personal communications, intentional communities, and technology publishing. He published the first "Dummies Guide" to (CB Radio) in 1976, selling millions of copies, thus establishing the "Dummies" publishing genre, and in 1984 he founded Quantum Publishing, a leading multimedia publisher of emerging telecommunications reference publications, acquired by John Wiley & Sons in 1997. Paul facilitates workshops focusing on Fatherhood in the 21st Century, and is the author of Always Dad: Being a Great Father During and After Divorce, and The Nightingale and the Wind a children’s fable of freedom, love, and transformation. 
   
   John Seward 
   John is the V.P. of Engineering for GreatSchools.net, a nonprofit online guide to K-12 schools that provides parents with information to guide their children's education. John has developed technical architecture for Web and software companies for the past 25 years. At sfgate.com, the Web site of the San Francisco Chronicle he served as technical director, and built "The Gate" from scratch, designing and programming systems of content management and display, database design and access, among other things. Additionally, he was a programmer for the Whole Earth Software Review, where he developed programs for the WELL, one of the first Internet communities. He holds a B.S. in economics from Iowa State University.