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The Franklin City Council recently voted unanimously to amend the city budget to approve the receipt of funds from the new Fatherhood Incentive Grant, which is designed to support, enhance or pilot a project or strategy related to engaging and/or supporting fathers.

Interim Franklin City Manager Darlene Burcham asked Franklin Department of Social Services Director Sarah W. Rexrode to come forward and give a brief description of the grant.

Burcham said what Franklin has done in response to the $12,500 grant award is “an excellent example of the cooperation that we have between city departments, and it’s specifically directed toward individuals in our community that I think need the opportunity to bond.”

Rexrode said this is the first time this grant has been offered to local departments of social services, and she noted that it does not require any type of local matching funds, so it will not require any of the city’s funding to carry out.

“This is a grant around really engaging and supporting fathers or those individuals in a child’s life who represent their father or who they see as their father,” she said. “So this grant was something that we had a really quick turnaround on where the Virginia Department of Social Services initiated.”

She shared that her first thought was, “How are we going to engage these fathers?” She wondered how the city could convince fathers to participate if the invitation was, “Social Services would like for you to come with your child and participate in an activity.”

So she opted to contact the Franklin Department of Parks and Recreation for assistance.

“(Parks and Rec Director) Sammara (Green) was very gracious and said, ‘Absolutely, let’s put some ideas together and meet and figure out how we can partner,’” Rexrode recalled. “I said, ‘That’s great. You help me bring creative ideas and get these people engaged under your title as Parks and Rec, and I’ll give you the money.’”

Rexrode then highlighted the results produced by the partnership between departments.

“We’ve actually started one activity — we’re offering free pool passes to fathers, or, again, father figures for children, for up to five people for the entire summer,” she said. “It’s a $70 value. They don’t have to pay. All they have to do is go to Parks and Rec and sign up. 

“We do have enough slots for about 70 to 75 of those pool passes,” she continued. “I know that we’ve got some folks that are already taking advantage of that and going to the pool with their kiddos, which is a good healthy activity for them to be engaged in together.”

She noted that the city’s Social Services and Parks and Rec departments have some other activities planned that will be happening throughout the year.

“One of those is going to be a chaperoned field trip,” she said. “It’s going to be open to a finite number of fathers, because we do really want to tailor this to individuals who may not get to go out of town with their children very often. So we’re hoping to engage some of those folks.”

She said the decision on a destination had not yet been made, but the field trip is going to require a charter bus because organizers do want to go somewhere special that participants may never get the opportunity to visit again.

“And then I know we’re going to be partnering again with Parks and Rec and the school system to do some things later on in the year with the two different age groups — the elementary-age children and then the high school children — around engaging with their fathers,” Rexrode said.

She added, “And we did leave a little bit of the (grant) funding for concrete services if we needed to help some individuals who may be regaining custody of their children or hoping to keep custody of their children through the purchase of some concrete services, so maybe assistance with transportation to appointments or items for their home if they need those to be able to make their home safe.”

She said city staff is really excited about the grant and what it will make possible.

“We’re hoping that even though this is a pilot grant, that this is something we’ll be able to continue in future years, because fathers are a difficult group for us to engage in the social services continuum as a whole, so I’m hoping that this will put a little positive light on some of the things that we can do and get their participation.”

Franklin Mayor Robert “Bobby” Cutchins said, “Sounds really exciting. Sounds like a good opportunity to have some bonding, a good time and make some memories.”

Ward 3 Councilman Gregory McLemore asked how fathers were being made aware of the program.

“So I know we’ve been spreading the word over social media currently,” Rexrode said. “There is a very colorful flier out there for the program with the pool, and part of the reason I think Ms. Burcham probably wanted me to come up here and say this tonight was to further spread that information publicly.

“But individuals can contact us if they’re interested,” she continued. “They do not have to be a Social Services client. This is open to anyone in the Franklin community. Each locality was given an opportunity to apply for this grant, so any father/father figure who lives in the Franklin community who’s interested or might have some ideas for how we can engage and support dads, I would encourage them to please give us a call.”

The Franklin Department of Social Services can be reached at 757-562-8520.

McLemore asked if the Fatherhood Incentive Grant was a federal or state grant.

“This is a grant through the Virginia Department of Social Services, so it is funded through federal and state funds, but no local match,” Rexrode said.

McLemore also asked if any of the grant funds could be used to help fathers who may be in arrears on child support, but Rexrode said no, noting that the grant was not written for that.