The Fathers and Families Center (FFC) hosted its inaugural Fatherhood Conference on Oct. 7 at the Indianapolis Marriott North.
“Fatherhood is connected to nearly every issue that affects the health and stability of families, including employment, education, reentry, mental health, and public health,” said Larry Smith, president and CEO of FFC. “This conference will convene people across sectors with the goal of sharing effective approaches, strengthening partnerships, and identifying better ways to support fathers, children, and families.”
The conference featured a keynote address from Charles C. Daniels Jr., co-founder and CEO of Fathers’ UpLift. The nonprofit provides mental health counseling, coaching, and advocacy to help fathers overcome barriers and remain engaged in their children’s lives.
Attendees were able to choose from several sessions across three breakout blocks. Topics such as father-family reintegration following incarceration, culturally responsive engagement with Black fathers, economic ownership and generational stability, healthy relationships and more were available for those in attendance.
The conference also featured a panel titled “Beyond Engagement: Reimagining Fatherhood as a Driver of Family and Community Outcomes.” Panelists Anthony-Martinez- Burton, Lamar Cox, Kelin Mark Sr. and Jarrah Hamer examined how fatherhood can be positioned as a strategy for strengthening families, improving systems, and advancing community well-being.
“For more than three decades, FFC has worked directly with fathers as they pursue stronger relationships, greater stability, and new opportunities,” Smith said. “We want to create a space in which practitioners, researchers, advocates, employers, and fathers themselves can learn from one another and help shape the future of fatherhood support.”
According to a statement from the organization, FFC has served more than 27,000 fathers through services focused on parenting, employment, education, healthy relationships, and family stability since it began in 1993. In 2025, the organization served 1,225 men across its programs.
The conference came as FFC prepares for its next chapter of service through the $5.5 million Vision for the Future campaign, which will support program expansion, additional staff capacity, and FFC’s upcoming physical move. The conference also highlighted the organization’s growing role as a convener for professionals and partners who are working to improve outcomes for fathers and families.
“This was huge for us, because it’s the first conference we’ve had. I go to conferences around the country and get some good information and all that, but then I was like, ‘we can do that here,’” Smith told the Recorder at the conference. “We own our own intellectual properties, so everything we do is evidence based, but we also want to present research from other folks around these topics.”
FFC also shared that think tank Sagamore Institute, led by President Jay Hein, is a co-convener of this conference.
For more information visit ffcindiana.org.
Contact Staff Writer Malik Simon at 317-762-7847.
Malik Simon is a Staff Writer for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. Originally from Memphis, TN, he graduated from Mississippi Valley State University with a Bachelor of Arts in General Studies concentrating on journalism. Before joining the Recorder, he wrote for the Devil’s Gazette newspaper at MVSU and served as a freelance content and video editor. He seeks to use media to help communities flourish through literacy and factual reporting.
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