Helping Fathers Become Better Dads While Incarcerated

This Second Chance Month, we are celebrating two groups of incarcerated fathers who are working hard to gain the necessary parenting skills needed to make the most of their second chances once released. Check out the most recent graduates of the InsideOut Dad’s classes that our team is delivering at Lake City Correctional and Lawtey Correction Institutes. 

Operation New Hope was recently awarded the Responsible Fatherhood Education Programs grant from the Florida Department of Children and Families to expand our delivery of the InsideOut Dads program. Part of Florida’s Father First initiative, the grant will fund Operation New Hope’s delivery of the InsideOut Dad’s program to an additional 300 incarcerated fathers every year at prisons across the state. Expanding opportunities for incarcerated fathers to have access to evidence-based education helps ensure the physical, emotional, and economic well-being of their children and families. This in turn helps break the generational cycle of incarceration and poverty. 

The National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) developed the first edition of the InsideOut Dad program in 2005 to address a gap in quality fatherhood programs with proven effectiveness that help incarcerated fathers to become better dads while on the inside and, for those fathers who will be released, that help continue their growth as dads when they’re on the outside. 

Operation New Hope has been delivering the InsideOut Dad program inside correctional facilities since 2014 as part of our mission to break the cycle of generational incarceration. Our Ready4Release Director Ronnie Cage and his team of dedicated Case Managers work with incarcerated fathers to help foster the skills needed to be an effective father preparing them for their eventual release and reunification. Cage is excited to report that the InsideOut Dad program is such a big hit at that they continue to have over 100 guys on the waiting list!