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MALE ENGAGEMENT INSTITUTE
No matter what interventions we may be able to offer directly, we recognize that the issues we are working to solve are widespread, structural, and embedded in our society (and others). It’s for this reason that we created the Male Engagement Institute: to impact the institutions and structures intended to serve men of color throughout society. Our Male Engagement Institute provides a range of training, curriculum, and experience to guide professionals in working with this population. It is our hope that through the MEI, we can contribute to shaping future institutions and professionals to better serve our communities.
Ustr Fellowship
In the fall of 2023, Fathers’ UpLift plans to launch our first cohort of our US Therapist Recruitment Fellowship, which we see as a powerful opportunity to invest in the therapists of tomorrow (particularly those of racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds similar to the populations we serve, who are significantly underrepresented in the field today). These Fellows will be recruited from Masters and Doctoral programs in the fields of clinical social work and psychology from across the country. Each Fellow will be paid a stipend and will go through both practical hands-on field work and class time and curriculum to learn from a diverse array of interventions and perspectives.
Ful Internships
During the 2022-2023 academic calendar, we hosted 6 interns who learned from FUL curriculum and field study, 5 of whom completed our programming. These interns ranged from undergrad to grad school students, with their internships targeted towards gaining an increased understanding of mental health services, racial equity, and fatherhood and families. Our interns served Fathers’ UpLift clients and contributed to our intake operations, learning hands-on what it’s like to serve Black and Brown men and their families while gaining an increased understanding of the obstacles they face. They also completed classroom curriculum to broaden their lens and the voices contributing to their worldview. We expect to host another 6 interns in the 2023-2024 academic year.
FATHERS’ UPLIFT AFFILIATES
With funding of the Devonshire Foundation and American Heart Association, Fathers’ UpLift was able to put together a manualization of our approach. The Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center helped fund and guide the development of a comprehensive evaluation model in 2021-2022. We put those resources together in an “Affiliate” program, enabling any individual clinician or nonprofit to apply our interventions (and impact evaluations) in their own context. In 2022, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA Foundation contributed to our first year of piloting this program, and the WoodNext Foundation contributed toward the development of a digital portal which we are now working on to help make this effort scalable and more effective for those making use of it.
We secured our very first pilot Affiliate in 2022 and have had several new pilots join in the early months of 2023. We look forward to seeing the ways in which our Affiliate model allows us to expand our breadth of impact far beyond what we could ever accomplish individually.
Mei Services And Impact
450 estimated social workers/ case managers trained in 2022
30 FAMILIES estimated average case load interns from universities 5 3
12
X = & active university partners for internship recruitment
13,500+ cases impacted
54,000+ fathers and family members estimated impacted in 2022 by trainings or social work professionals
“Did your internship meet your expectations/needs?”
“The MEI internship program helped me to understand and identify the challenges Black men and their families experience”
8.75/10
8.75/10
Likelihood interns would recommend the MEI internship to other students:
3.5/4
8.75/10
