The National Organization for Women (NOW) has filed a federal complaint against three Responsible Fatherhood programs funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – for alleged sex discrimination against women.
The three grantee organizations are Love in the Name of Christ (Love, INC), Fairbanks, Alaska; Catholic Charities of Idaho; and South Coast Business Employment Corp., Coos Bay, Ore. NOW complains that women are excluded from these programs “solely because they are women.”
Love, INC was given a five-year grant of $205,834 a year for a Fatherhood Initiative Project aimed at helping low- and middle-income fathers improve their economic status through financial and career counseling and other services.
Executive Director Grant Shimanek said three target groups are incarcerated fathers and their families, military fathers and fathers with disabled children. Shimanek said Love, INC has engaged an Anchorage attorney affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund and expects to withstand NOW’s legal challenge.
