Children First, Sarasota County’s exclusive provider of Head Start and Early Head Start programs, celebrated the completion of its 200^th award-winning Nurturing Dads class on Thursday, May 10.  Over the past 20 years, the award-winning class has reached just shy of 2,000 fathers. The free 10-week course is modeled after The Nurturing Father’s Program, a curriculum created by Sarasota author Mark Perlman. It provides fathers from all backgrounds the opportunity to explore and discuss parenting topics in a comfortable setting with other dads, while stressing the importance of engaged fathering.

On Thursday, May 10 at 7 p.m. fathers who participated in the most recent course were joined by their families at Children First’s Dr. Elaine Marieb Early Learning Center in Sarasota for a graduation ceremony.  They received a certificate and each father read aloud a personally-written promise to their families to be the best father they can be.

The class is open to the community. For more information on the Nurturing Dads and other classes offered through the Families First Institute, click here.