Last week, we welcomed Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Kiame Mahaniah and DMH Assistant Commissioner Dr. Funmi Aguocha to Fathers’ UpLift. We began with a walk through our Dorchester neighborhood and ended around the table, listening, learning, and imagining what is possible when government and community walk together.
Last week was a special morning at Fathers’ UpLift.
We had the privilege of welcoming Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Funmi Aguocha, Assistant Commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH), to our Boston home.
But we didn’t begin the visit with a presentation or around a conference table.
We walked through the Codman Square neighborhood surrounding Fathers’ UpLift, sharing why this community—and our place within it—matters to the work we do with fathers and families.
Our location is more than an address. This neighborhood is part of our story. It is where people live, raise their children, worship, work, struggle, heal, and build community. We wanted our guests to see the environment in which our work takes place before we talked about programs or partnerships.
After our walk, we returned to Fathers’ UpLift, shared breakfast, and gathered around the table.
Members of our team, students learning and working alongside us, and a father we serve had an opportunity to speak directly with Secretary Mahaniah and Dr. Aguocha. They shared their experiences, perspectives, and hopes for the work ahead.
That mattered to me.
As co-founder of Fathers’ UpLift, I can tell the story of our organization. I can talk about why we started, what we have learned, and where we hope to go.
But there is something different when leaders hear directly from the people doing the work and the fathers whose lives are connected to it.
Those voices must remain at the center of conversations about behavioral health and fatherhood.
During breakfast, we talked about fatherhood, mental health, substance use, family relationships, and our new partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and the Office of Behavioral Health Promotion and Prevention (OBHPP).
More importantly, we talked about what becomes possible when government and community work together.
For years, Fathers’ UpLift has believed that fathers deserve behavioral health services that recognize their experiences, their strengths, their struggles, and the importance of their relationships with their children.
Fathers deserve places where they can talk honestly about trauma, stress, recovery, relationships, and the challenges of fatherhood without shame.
They deserve to be heard.
And they deserve opportunities to heal and reconnect with the people who matter most to them.
Our partnership with DMH and OBHPP gives us an opportunity to carry that belief even further—working together to strengthen behavioral health and wellness supports for fathers and families.
I am grateful to Secretary Mahaniah and Dr. Aguocha for coming to our home, walking our neighborhood, breaking bread with us, asking questions, and listening.
I am equally grateful to the Fathers’ UpLift team members, students, and the father who shared their experiences. They reminded us of something that should always guide this work: the people closest to the challenges must have a voice in shaping the solutions.
This visit represented more than an opportunity to talk about what Fathers’ UpLift does.
It was an opportunity to imagine what we can build together.
We are thankful for our growing partnership with DMH and OBHPP, and we look forward to what is ahead for fathers, children, and families across Massachusetts.
Government has reach and resources. Community has relationships, proximity, and trust. We need both.
And perhaps there was no better way to begin this next chapter than the way we began our morning: walking together.
Grateful.
— Dr. Charles C. Daniels, Jr.
Co-Founder & CEO, Fathers’ UpLift
“Government has reach and resources. Community has relationships, proximity, and trust. We need both.”