Nation of Generations

Ascend helps children and parents by taking a whole-family approach.

Give NowThe Ascend Fellowship invests in diverse leaders with the courage and big ideas to bridge divides, build relationships, and accelerate innovation. This includes leaders like Aisha Nyandoro, the CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, who in March 2020 expanded a much-watched pilot on unconditional cash transfers for Black mothers in Mississippi. Her co-fellow Melvin Carter, the mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, is now piloting a cash-transfer program for families there. In the 2020 national elections, Ascend fellow Reverend Raphael Warnock became the first Black US senator from Georgia. In New York, fellow Felix Matos Rodriguez, CUNY’s first Latino chancellor, raised awareness to drive support for student parents.

Ascend’s Fatherhood Learning and Action Community, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, leverages the power of leadership to shift thinking and influence policies to support the important role of fatherhood and families. The evidence is clear: fathers play a critical role in children’s health and influence mothers’ well-being. Yet many policies do not recognize fathers along with mothers as an important family and community asset. Working with the Kresge Foundation, fathers, and other leaders, the Action Community examined the barriers facing families and recommended changes that enable fathers to be part of their children’s lives. Its recommendations range from adding language about fathers to parenting programs and public health policies, to changing the stories we tell about fathers, to including fathers in federal research on what families need. As father and Action Community member Allan Wachendorfer says, “The most important role I will ever play is being a father.”