We are very pleased to announce that Brian Bannister, our Community Engagement Coordinator for Seedco’s Strong Fathers Stronger Families (SFSF) program, is one of the 2015 NYCETC Opportunity Award winners of the Bonnie Potter Workforce Frontline Staff Award. Through SFSF, Seedco and its community-based partners across New York City help low-income fathers to enter and succeed in the workforce, while also strengthening their families. Low-income, non-custodial fathers often face a host of societal, emotional, and economic barriers that affect their ability to engage with their children, limit their economic stability and mobility, and impede healthy relationships with their partners. SFSF provides fathers with job preparation, placement assistance, and help with career advancement, while at the same time supporting fathers in the process of building stronger, more meaningful relationships with their children, co-parents, and partners.
As a father of three and a graduate of the SFSF program himself, Brian manages all of the program’s outreach activities with fathers across the city by organizing and attending community events, advocating on behalf of everyday Dads in workforce practitioner settings, and providing one-on-one support and guidance to non-custodial fathers in need of services. After two years in his current role, Brian is now widely regarded as a key leader, resource, and subject-matter expert in the Fatherhood movement – among workforce support practitioners at all levels, as well as among the city’s community of Dads. He participates in numerous coalitions and special initiatives for fathers and is often invited to contribute at high-level stakeholder meetings and events, where he is able to represent and amplify the voices of underserved non-custodial fathers. At the same time, Brian consistently engages directly with thousands of fathers in the community, connecting with them as a father who relates to their struggles and empowering them to improve their lives for themselves and for their children. Thanks in part to Brian’s tremendous work, Seedco was recently awarded $10 million over 5 years to continue the SFSF program.
To learn more about the NYCETC Opportunity Awards, this year’s award winners, and the details of this year’s awards reception, which will be held on November 17th, go here.