Forestdalea Forest Hills-based child welfare agency that serves families in Queens and Brooklyn, received a generous $75,000 award from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation and the Amazing Mets Foundation to support one of its main parenting programs, strong fathers.

The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation and the Amazing Mets Foundation made the contribution to Forestdale in honor of Father’s Day.

Funding will be used for counselling, peer support, material assistance, relationship-focused parenting crash courses, coaching visits and co-parenting workshops.

Bill Weisberg, executive director of Forestdale, said the generous rewards will help fathers create and maintain “positive, healthy, long-term relationships” with their children – consistent markers of success.

“We appreciate the continued support of the Cohen Foundation and are thrilled that the Amazin’ Mets Foundation has joined in supporting our Strong Fathers program,” Weisberg said. “We know the difference it makes for children to have a positive father figure in their lives. This relationship impacts their well-being and the course of their academic performance, as well as their future relationships. So, it’s great when foundations share the same point of view.

Both organizations have supported Forestdale programs in other ways, including recently sponsoring a Mets shopping party and donating tickets to a Mets game at Citi Field to Forestdale families and the auction. .

Fathers who want to be good parents for their children while overcoming significant obstacles, such as job loss, violence, or society’s historical and current practices of racism and marginalization, look to Forestdale for help.

“We are always so stressed. I have three jobs. I have the stress of having food on the table and a roof over our heads,” wrote one father. “I find it difficult to take the time to come to therapy. Help with basic needs makes a huge difference.

Forestdale helps fathers through crises, stabilize their situation and ensure they are equipped to be active and engaged fathers who provide increased financial and emotional support for their children.

Last year, the program reached more than 350 fathers who learned how to become the champions their families need.

Forestdale has been a stable support for fathers from low-income families and neighborhoods in Queens for over 24 years, encouraging and facilitating fathers’ emotional and material engagement with their children. According to the National Fatherhood Initiative, research shows that father involvement is associated with various physical, emotional, and mental benefits related to child well-being.

Founded as a child welfare organization in 1854, Forestdale provides innovative, evidence-based services that promote healing, resilience and opportunity for children and families. Since moving its headquarters from Brooklyn to Queens in 1941, Forestdale has served the nation’s most diverse borough with a focus on low-income and immigrant customers, both inside and outside the system. of child protection.

Since 2020, Forestdale has also provided preventative services to Brooklyn families at risk of having their children removed from home. The organization’s mission is to ensure that children and families have the fundamental assets they need to thrive and live independently, with the goal of ending the intergenerational transmission of poverty and traumas.