Funding has been cut for Father to Father, a South Tucson program aimed at training men to be better fathers, said Margarito Casillas, the family support specialist who ran it.
Father to Father was funded by Pima County and put on by Child and Family Resources. It was one of few programs in the state that targeted fathers. Most are motherhood-training courses, Casillas said.
"I saw the need of the fathers who were trying to take classes," he said. "(The class) really made a lot of sense."
The six-week program was a responsible-parenting educational workshop. Men with widely diverse backgrounds would come together to share stories. The workshop, designed to encourage fathers to become more involved in their children's lives, helped pass knowledge to young fathers.
There was a wide variety of fathers who participated in the course. Some lived in half-way houses and others' children had been taken away by Child Protective Services. Many took advantage of the program because it was open to the public, he said.
"It was a nice mixture," he said. "It helped a lot of young, as well as old fathers."
Casillas said these cuts will mostly affect the fathers who attended the program.
"I think it was a bad decision," he said. "At the end it's going to be those that need the help that will suffer the most."
