Blueprint: Alternatives sought as funds for fatherhood programs cut

After 15 years of working to mend the father-child relationship and help families get back on their feet, Athens Technical College's Fatherhood Program has been discontinued due to lack of funding.

The Department of Labor took on the responsibility of funding the program in 2005, and from 2005 to 2011 used various funding streams to support the program and its mission. The last few years of funding for the program came from the American Reinvestment Recovery Act, a stimulus fund that has dried up, forcing the Department of Labor to tell Athens Technical College in June that the program would not be funded.

The fatherhood program that operated from the Athens Tech campus helped individuals earn an education to become successful in the job market.

The program originally was created in 1996 to address noncustodial fathers who were at risk of being held in contempt of court for nonpayment of child support, but later redefined its mission statement and opened the program up to women as well in an attempt to strengthen entire families.

The program's mission is to provide support services for parents to help them achieve education and career goals by preparing them for the work force and increasing their options, particularly in being able to make enough money to support their children.

Athens Tech is one of 11 technical college's in the state to lose funding for its fatherhood program. Other colleges are Albany Tech, Atlanta Tech, Altamaha Tech in Jesup, Chattahoochee Tech in Marietta, DeKalb Tech in Clarkston, Georgia Northwestern Tech in Rome, Heart of Georgia Tech in Dublin, Middle Georgia Tech in Warner Robins, Southern Crescent Tech in Griffin and West Georgia Tech in Waco.

"We are still trying to serve those students through our special population coordinators," said Mike Light, executive director of communications for the Technical College System of Georgia. "We're not going to drop or lose (the students that were in the program when funding stopped). The college is still doing its best to serve them."

With the loss of the fatherhood program, some fear that individuals working toward earning educations could lose their progress.

"People don't understand how difficult it was to access that part of the population because a majority of them do not access tra

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