Dads Make A Difference

The primary audience is middle school-age and high school-age youth, male and female, in Minnesota, with youth in juvenile detention facilities as secondary audiences. DMAD has also done some national (Massachusetts, Maryland, Oklahoma, California, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota) and international (Japan, Bahamas, Canada) outreach.

Dads Make a Difference (DMAD) is a statewide organization that prepares young people to become caring, competent parents with the goal of preventing child abuse and other violence, increasing mental health, advancing school preparedness, and achieving academic success for future generations. DMAD builds the capacity of trained teen peer educators in local communities to focus the attention of youth on the personal, economic, and social impact of the decisions they make before becoming a parent. DMAD helps youth develop attitudes, behaviors, and skills vital to their social and emotional well-being and provides youth with knowledge and resources necessary for them to thrive and make successful transitions to adulthood and future parenthood. DMAD strives for the conscious application of positive youth development principles that value diversity and enhance the self-esteem and confidence of youth. DMAD provides important protective factors for youth including connections with caring adults, a way to develop their talents, honest and respectfully presented information, the opportunity to look at life planning, development of skills useful in a variety of life arenas, connection with an engaged community of young people, the chance to be a role model for younger youth, and a safe environment in which to learn and explore new concepts.

DMAD reaches 4,000 youth and young adults in Minnesota each year through two age-appropriate curricula, Dads Make a Difference and The R Factor. DMAD utilizes high school teens trained as peer educators for middle school-age youth. The DMAD curriculum educates young males and females about the importance of both fathers and mothers being involved in a child's life. The curriculum increases critical thinking and decision-making skills of youth by helping them understand the choices, consequences, and social and economic factors that are all important in making decisions about sexual activity and parenting. The R Factor curriculum utilizes trained adults to reach young adults ages 16 to 20 and builds on the concepts in the DMAD curriculum with a focus on current research in fathering, resiliency, attachment, and change theory. Innovative simulations and activities engage young adults in positive relationship-building skills in order to plan for an intentional future as healthy individuals, partners, parents, or family members. The training and teaching goals are to increase male involvement in relationships, mentoring, fathering, and parenting; and provide opportunities to practice effective communication and collaboration skills.

DMAD works at multiple levels across Minnesota to ensure: 1) the empowerment of individual youth so they feel they can make informed decisions about their future, parenting, and fathering; 2) that capacity is built within local communities so that youth and adults have the information and skills they need to take action on programs and policy related to fathering, parenting, and teen pregnancy; and, 3) that together with other organizations, DMAD can educate policymakers about the needs of teens related to fathering, paternity, too-early sexual involvement, and too-early pregnancy.