Family Star Montessori — Where the Fathers Build It and the Fathers Come

Walking into the Family Star Montessori Early Head Start (EHS) center, a visitor notices large poster-sized photos of fathers snuggling with their babies, a book corner devoted to men being fathers, and several men seated in the lounge area, chatting away as if they have been here before. The fathers in the photos and the men talking represent some of the 75 families enrolled in the Early Head Start program. No mistaking it, a father-friendly environment is what this is. Has it always been like this at Family Star? No, father involvement has evolved and along the way, it has transformed the organization, its staff, and the lives of many families. Family Star is a national model for developing and maintaining a cutting-edge fatherhood program.

The Beginnings
Located in northwest Denver, Family Star Early Head Start was launched in 1995, six years after the agency began. The program for infants and toddlers provides a dual language Montessori educational approach. (Hudgens et al. 2002). When there was an opportunity to become one of 21 EHS fatherhood demonstration projects, the Executive Director of Family Star, Lereen Castellano, states that they “aggressively pursued this funding opportunity to learn how to work with fathers in the Latin community. It is essential that we foster and nurture our relationships with fathers so we can effectively support the entire family.”

When the three-year demonstration grant was awarded in 2001, Craig Hart became the Director of the Fatherhood Project. Well-known in the community and a founder and the first administrator of the Head Start program, Craig was an easy choice. According to Lereen: “His capacity to love others is what drew us.” There was no doubt he could relate to the young men the program wanted to reach. And Craig himself seized this opportunity to learn more about “how to be a better father and grandfather.” The organization’s needs and Craig’s personal journey meshed.

From the beginning, Craig took an asset-based approach. “We look at Dads as a major untapped resource. We knew they had strengths.” Instead of starting off with a needs assessment that would highlight their deficits that needed “fixing,” Craig hung out on the front steps of the center, with a supply of donuts and coffee, ready to talk with men about this new initiative. Building trust and gaining their confidence, Craig was able to move forward.

In July 2001, a visioning session was held with 15 fathers and father figures, program staff, and other community members. Craig asked the group, “What can we do to build a great fatherhood project over the next three years?” They jotted their ideas on post-its and placed them on a large board in their meeting room. Two key principles emerged that continue to guide the project:

• Taking ownership and accountability of the project. The fathers said they wanted to take leadership and ensure that the project would succeed.
• Achieving greater intimacy with their children. The fathers wanted to become more involved in their children’s lives and in the Family Star community.

All other ideas have since flowed from these first two principles. The group established major categories that called for action (see side box). These action areas continue to guide the fatherhood project. The original post-its are still up on the board, along with some new ones, as the vision has expanded.

Three months later, in the fall of 2001, El Concilio (The Council) was born. It functions as a “Board of Directors” for the project and includes nine fathers or father figures from Early Head Start, one of whom is the chair. Eight other fathers from the Denver area, representing the mental health field, media, government, and the Office of Child Support Enforcement serve on El Concilio. Meeting monthly, El Concilio generates activities and decides the direction of the project. Within Family Star, it operates at the same level as advisory councils for family services and health services.

Steps Taken—Building Personal Relationships
As the first post-its on the board indicated, building stronger personal relationships in the fathers’ lives is central to the vision of the project. Among the project activities that help fathers achieve this goal are

• Co-parenting classes. A majority of the fathers do not live with their children but in these seminars, the moms and the dads learn how to problem-solve and work together with the child’s best interest in mind.
• SuperDads fatherhood development training course. Originally intended for fathers of preschoolers, Family Star has adapted the curriculum to fathers of infants to 3 year olds. Seven fathers who have finished this 14-week program are now facilitators. Moms, too, wanted a course like this; with the support of the fatherhood project, Family Star created a SuperMoms course. Several moms are now facilitators.
• Special out-reach to live-away dads. A staff person is assigned to nonresident dads to involve them in home visits, parent-teacher conferences, and family night activities. Craig sums up the impact of the SuperDads course by recalling how one father has learned to tell his children, “I love you.” This dad is now working on expressing his love to his own father. Other examples are plentiful of how fathers and their children are forming enduring, loving relationships and becoming more active in Family Star.

Family STAR Calls for Action!

• celebrating fatherhood
• maintaining a partnership with the Family Star staff
• telling stories that connect the past to the future
• building in a support system for fathers
• male bonding
• reuniting families in marital relationships
• building a better future with jobs and training
• providing role models and mentors

Early on, it was clear that father-staff relationships needed to be strengthened. In August 2001, one day of a week-long annual staff training was devoted to father involvement and included the sharing of personal experiences and a panel discussion with Family Star fathers. At that time, staff remarked how helpful it was to hear the perspective of fathers in the program. Now the pre-service training related to the fatherhood program has expanded to two days. Building on the staff’s desire to learn more about fatherhood and dads, LUNCH AND LEARN seminars are held every month on relevant topics, such as men and relationships and men and depression. Craig emphasizes how important it is to keep the male perspective “on the front of the minds of staff” and to provide ongoing learning especially for new staff.

Coaching—rather than case management —is another way that relationships have been forged between the fatherhood project staff and the men involved in EHS. Craig acknowledges that most males do not like to admit they need help or are hurting emotionally. But once trust is established, and the fathers or father figures open up, Craig and his staff provide one-on-one coaching and address the men’s needs on an individual basis. As time consuming as this approach is, coaching often represents the first healthy relationship that a dad has with another male.

Steps Taken—Building Organizational Relationships
After the second year of the Fatherhood Project, it was time to revisit the earlier vision. Back to writing post-its and mounting them on the board in the conference room. Based on the success of the SuperDads workshops, the dads decided they wanted to expand father involvement throughout the city of Denver. In the absence of an overarching city-wide project, the dads wanted to create one. Referred to as The Fatherhood and Families Collaborative, coordination is now underway with nine different agencies to provide technical assistance to fatherhood projects, conduct training in fatherhood development, and engage in grass-roots fatherhood research. In October, 2004, through a partnership with Red Rock Community College, the Collaborative will offer training that will lead to a professional certificate for fatherhood practioners. In addition, the Fatherhood Project has provided outreach to other local Head Start programs that want to replicate father involvement efforts.

To provide space for all future fatherhood activities and The Collaborative, plans are being made to renovate 6,000 square feet of vacant space in the Family Star EHS center. Adhering to their guiding principles, the dads have taken leadership in the design and emphasized how the space should nurture positive relationships. According to Craig, “The fathers wanted a non-bureaucratic space; they wanted dads and families to actually experience what it is to be a ‘dad.’” Included in their plans are an artist’s studio for fathers and children to use together and a tree house that projects through the roof offering a view of the Denver skyline and the night sky. They also want to expand the services of Family Star by adding 4-5 classrooms for preschoolers. Fund raising for the expansion project is scheduled to begin on Mother’s Day, 2004.

Not surprisingly, the vision of the new space has forged stronger relationships between other institutions and the agency. The School of Architecture at the University of Denver is providing expert design skills; the contractor will do sweat equity with the fathers, who will provide the labor. Craig sums up the agency’s ambitious plans, spurred by the dads, in this way, “The fathers will build it and the fathers will come.”

What Has Changed?
The Executive Director credits Craig and the fatherhood project with bringing about a paradigm shift for the organization. New ways of thinking are reflected in the language used around the agency. Lereen explains, “Instead of talking about serving fathers, we talk about partnering with fathers.” Administrators, classroom staff, and support staff look at fathers differently —they embrace qualities of partnership and value fathers’ strengths.

In the late 1940s, Maria Montessori recommended that a child’s first bath be given by the father. Whereas the mother represented basic nurturing and the security of the home, the father represented a link to the external world. With his strong hands supporting the baby in the bath, he would impart a different experience, hopefully inspiring a sense of confidence and security to the newborn. It is not surprising that the posters in the entrance to Family Star Early Head Start show fathers holding their babies, intimately joined, safe and secure in their relationship. Maria Montessori would be proud of the fathers and what they have achieved.

REFERENCES
Hudgens, T.J., L. D. Castellano, P. Spicer, & R. Emde. 2002. Our experiences as an EHS research site. Head Start Bulletin, 74: 28-29.

Written by Bulletin staff based on interviews with Craig Hart and Lereen Castellanos and review of program materials.

Craig Hart is Director of the Fatherhood Project at Family Star Montessori EHS in Denver, CO. T: 303-477-7827; E: craig@familystar.net; Lereen Castellano is Executive Director, Family Star Montessori EHS in Denver, CO. T: 303- 477-7827; E: lereen@familystar.net.