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Tag: Midlands Fatherhood Coalition

  • State cuts funding for Fatherhood Coalition

    WINNSBORO – Barring a Christmas miracle, the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition is in danger of shutting down.

    The Coalition, which serves Fairfield County and is part of the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families, is slated to cease operations Dec. 31. State funding cuts are to blame.

    Santanna Hayes with the coalition’s Fairfield County office said during a recent presentation to Fairfield County Council that the agency is requesting an additional $60,000 per year from the county for the next three years. The county already gives $40,000 annually to the Coalition.

    “We were able to recoup a good bit of funding through some efforts we’ve done this year,” Hayes said. “But, unfortunately, Fairfield remains on the list of offices to be closed.”

    The Midlands Fatherhood Coalition provides services to fathers in need, including support groups, job coaching, transportation assistance, access to men’s healthcare education and other services aimed at helping struggling fathers.

    The coalition’s Fairfield budget is about $213,000 a year, including $40,000 from the county, said Laura Johnson, the county’s acting deputy county administrator.

    On Dec. 9, council members voted 6-1 against awarding the additional $60,000. Councilman Mikel Trapp cast the lone dissenting vote.

    The vote comes following a recommendation by the Administrative and Finance Committee to disapprove the additional $60,000 funding.

    Councilman Moses Bell, who voted against the funding request, wanted to know if there was a way to save the Midlands Father Coalition. To that end, he proposed absorbing the coalition into county government.

    Johnson said that would cost the county the full $213,000 annually. She said the county does not fully fund any agency.

    “Everyone talks about how good the fatherhood coalition has been in this county.

    Can we add this service to another existing group in the county?” Bell asked. Councilman Clarence Gilbert said he sympathized with the coalition’s predicament, but also thought the agency’s funding troubles are beyond the county’s ability to solve.

    “To me it’s like having someone on life support. You want to keep them around, you want them to stay here, but eventually you have to give them up,” Gilbert said. “It’s a great program, but they understood where we’re coming from. If we give them $100,000, what is it really going to do?”

    Hays clarified in committee earlier that the $100,000 would not include the total of the staff’s salaries.

    The issue of cost has arisen previously. At the Oct. 14 meeting, Councilman Jimmy Ray Douglas said the cost was too great.

    “It’s a lot of money to give in addition to what we’re already giving,” Douglas said.

    Councilwoman Bertha Goins voiced sympathy to the coalition’s plight.

    “When you think about the impact it has on personal lives and the quality of life, you’re investing in the future,” Goins said. “We have to be concerned about dollars, but on certain things you can’t put a price tag.”

    Midlands Fatherhood Coalition’s budget crunch is the result of a complex set of funding cuts at the S.C. Department of Social Services, which funds about half of the coalition’s budget.

    In 2016, the state agency reached a settlement agreement in a federal suit involving neglected and abused children.

    As part of that agreement, the state agreed to “make all reasonable efforts to provide funding and other resources necessary to the implementation and achievement of the obligations under the Settlement Agreement,” according to federal court records.

    In turn, losing DSS funding has hindered the coalition’s ability to obtain grants from other sources, Johnson said.

    “Even with county funding, the group would have to scale back operations,” Johnson added. “When they lost DSS funding, federal and state funding all followed. It is a significant budgetary impact.”

    Hayes noted the DSS funding cuts have nothing to do with the coalition’s performance. She noted that since its inception in 1998, the local office has served over 256 fathers and 400 children, providing a tax savings of $331,000.

    “We want Fairfield to stay on the map as an office,” Hayes said. “We’re at a standstill when it comes to DSS funding. There is no promise of additional funding at this time.”

  • Free job training for construction work

    Training Targets Disadvantaged Women, Minorities in Fairfield

    WINNSBORO – “We’re looking to provide free training for 10 Fairfield County individuals over 18 who are interested in careers in highway construction,” Larry Salley with the Benedict Allen Community Development Corporation said in his address to Council Monday evening.

    “But for the last eight weeks we’ve been working with the County’s WIOA, DSS, the Fatherhood Coalition, the Good Samaritan House and we’ve sent 85 letters to churches, and we have only gotten three applications. We need someone to help us get the word out,” Salley said.

    “We are targeting counties with high unemployment rates, and we’re looking for individuals – women and minorities – who traditionally would not be in these kinds of jobs,” Salley said. “We’re looking for current residents of Fairfield County who are economically disadvantaged.

    The training is being offered through the Corporation’s Transportation Careers Training Program and will be conducted at the Fairfield Central High School’s adult education facility.

    The training, Salley said, consists of three phases:

    1. appointment or pre-employment training (soft skills, resume writing, flagger training, etc.),
    2. commercial driver’s license (CDL) training – permit only and
    3. heavy equipment operator training for bulldozers, back hoes, etc.

    Applicants must have a high school diploma or a GED and a valid driver’s license. The training lasts 8 – 9 weeks and, upon the successful completion of the program, Salley said the program’s staff will help the graduates find employment.

    “We work with a number of SCDOT contractors to help place our graduates” Salley said.

    “We pay for all the training except for the pre-employment drug screening,” Salley said. “We pay for physicals, materials, safety equipment and training.”

    Salley said individuals with a criminal history may apply for the program, but applicants must be unemployed or underemployed (part time or temporary).

    “We are trying to get the first training classes filled by the second week in May,” Salley said. “So we are really pressed to find at least 25 applicants.”

    While Salley said that transportation is a problem for applicants in Fairfield County, County Administrator Jason Taylor offered the County’s transportation system to help get individuals in the program to and from training classes.

    Applications can be completed online, however, all submissions must include the requested documentation at the time of application to determine eligibility for the program.

    For more information, contact Venus Sabb at 803-705-4631 or via email at venus.sabb@benedict.edu or Salley at 803-705-4682 or email at larry.salley@benedict.edu.

  • FC offers unemployed a ride to work

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County officials are joining forces with the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition’s Winnsboro office to provide transportation to a Kraft Foods job fair on Sept. 22 in Newberry, according to Fairfield County Deputy Administrator Davis Anderson.

    “If enough applicants get jobs at the plant on the same shift and need transportation between Winnsboro and the plant every day, we’re looking at trying to arrange that, too,” Anderson said.

    Anderson said there might be a nominal fee to use the service on a long term, regular basis.

    “Failure to be able to just get to the job site every day is a big part of the problem we face with employment in Fairfield County,” Fatherhood Coalition Site Manager Rudolph Walker said. “I really see this as a win-win situation.”

    Walker said putting fathers back to work is a large part of what the Fatherhood Coalition office in Winnsboro is about.

    “Many of these men face multiple problems in finding and retaining employment. Besides the problems of getting to work, many also need job training and help with background problems such as expungement of criminal records,” Walker said.

    The program also provides a week-long employment boot camp.

    “At the same time, we work to help these men understand what it is to be a father, to build relationships with their children, co-parents and community,” Walker said. “We understand what happens in negative situations, with no economic stability.”

    The Coalition recently opened a new location at the Ridgeway fire station at 350 S. Palmer Street, and will open another one on Sept. 6 at the Monticello Community Center, 7104 State Hwy 215 S., in Jenkinsville. The Winnsboro office is located at 201 W Moultrie St.

    For more information about the Kraft job fair or about the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition, call Walker at 803-815-044.