Marie Jones has been working with fathers in the Waller and Austin counties communities for the last three years to help them become better dads through MET, Inc.’s Fatherhood Program. The program offers dads with children up to 24 years old a chance to learn parenting, job and life skills.

“These guys do have a voice and they need to know that,” Jones said.

The program is 12 sessions long and offers fathers a variety of resources to help them set up good relationships with their children, Jones said. The tools offered to men Jones works with include referrals to pro-bono attorneys to help establish custody orders, free job training opportunities, parenting classes, anger management and financial literacy. Each 1-2-hour, in-person training session allows them to network with one another, discuss issues in their lives with an understanding group of people and an opportunity to learn how to engage positively with their children.

“You know, you think you’re hanging out with them in front of the TV, playing a game, and that’s great if you’re playing games with them,” Jones said she tells fathers. “But if you’re sitting there while they’re playing games, and you’re (playing with your phone) … you’re not engaged with your children.”

Jones said that, while she coordinates the program for her two counties, the program is also available to Harris County residents.

Jones said she understands that many of the men she works with have been dealt challenges in their lives that make things difficult as fathers. Many of them didn’t have positive male role models in their lives or faced difficulties as single fathers in a system she feels favors mothers over fathers, sometimes unjustly. However, she said, if the dads work hard and apply themselves, they can be good fathers that provide positive examples, advocacy and support for their own children in ways that they were denied growing up.

Job skills training through the program include options for HVAC certifications, fiber-optics, welding and forklift operation, among others.

MET, Inc. provides incentives to help clients successfully navigate all 12 of the training sessions, Jones said. A meal is provided at each meeting which is helpful from both a scheduling and financial standpoint, she said. Additionally, gift and gas cards are provided as the men move through the program. A $10 gift card is provided at each session to help attendees – some of whom are living on very strained budgets – afford the fuel it takes to continue coming. They’re also given small gift cards for completing enrollment surveys, attending each fourth session and completing the program.

“So, if they’re with me, we’re meeting in person and they could make $320 (over two weeks) and be fed every time they come,” Jones said.

It isn’t all just free money though, Jones said. She expects her proteges to put in the effort to make the program work for them. Her meetings have dads setting personal goals as fathers, professionals, students and in other personal relationships, she said. Jones then helps them work through the steps to meet those goals and get on the right foot.

The Fatherhood Program is paid for through a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and families, Jones said. The grant is in the first year of its second five-year award.

Clients in the program come from all backgrounds and walks of life, Jones said. She has worked with men of all races, religions and socioeconomic situations. She said she understands that each person comes from a different culture that has set unique expectations for them as men. Those backgrounds can give them strength, she said, but can also put pressure on them to meet certain expectations – some of which can negatively impact clients’ self-worth and ability to trust others of different backgrounds.

“And I understand why they might not trust a white woman or white man, you know, but once they get in there, and they see that I’m real and I don’t care – they’re very respectful (and learn to trust),” Jones said.