New York�Sihmen Mandulo is 21-years-old. He is the father of a 10-month-old son, Zhamere. Mr. Mandulo and the baby�s 22-year-old mother are having problems communicating; he hasn�t seen his son in a month-and-a-half, he says.

"I have come to grips with the reality of not having a relationship with my baby�s mother, but I want a relationship with my son," he says.

James Shavers is a 28-year-old father of two girls and a boy. His children were born out of wedlock, although he admits to a live-in relationship with the mother of his four-year-old daughter. Like Mr. Mandulo, Mr. Shavers is having a communication problem with the mother of his 10-month-old-son. He visits his six-year-old daughter frequently and admits that their conversations sometimes have him at a loss for words. Also, like Mr. Mandulo, he does not have a job.

"I have worked, and I have given money for the care of my daughters, but I need a better job," Mr. Shavers says.

Both men admit that it is difficult, if not impossible, to make required child support payments without a job.

The Clinton Administration reported in 1995 that more than $34 billion in potential child support goes unpaid each year. Reportedly, two-thirds of all mothers get no support, so Congress decided in 1996 to make it mandatory for women to name the fathers of their children if they want to continue to receive welfare benefits. But also there is a growing recognition among policy-makers that fathers play a much larger role in children�s lives than just as breadwinners.

"I don�t want my baby on welfare," insists Mr. Mandulo, adding, "that is why I have come to the Partners for Fragile Families program. They can help me get a better paying job, and help me cope with the issues of fatherhood."

"This is a revolution that has great implications for minority communities," said Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, head of the Washington, D.C.-based National Center for Strategic Nonprofit Planning and Community Leadership (NPCL), during the group�s second annual conference held recently in New York City.

NPCL advises community-based fatherhood groups and also oversees the Partners For Fragile Families (PFF) program, which started in 1999 and is the first comprehensive national initiative designed to help poor, single fathers pull themselves out of poverty and help them build stronger links to their children and their mothers.

STRIVE, an employment and fatherhood development program in East Harlem, administers PFF for the Harlem community. Its senior director is Rob Camona, one of the chief architects of the national effort to bring the fatherhood issue to the forefront.

Mr. Camona, Dr. Johnson and Dr. Ronald Mincy Sr. of the Ford Foundation, met in 1985 and formed a working alliance, which has seen the program grow to 11 states and a $250 million grant from the Department of Labor.

"Our biggest problem was there were no Black or Latino researchers working with the policy agencies," Mr. Camona explained to The Final Call.

Thanks to Dr. Mincy�s insistence, there are six "minority" researchers working with Dr. Irwin Garfinkel, who is directing a study on fragile families for Columbia University.

"This is public policy that affects the Black community and there are now people of color in the room," Dr. Mincy noted in his address to the 2nd Annual Fatherhood Conference. According to Dr. Mincy, researchers are now admitting that as many as 65 percent of young fathers are involved in some way in the first two years of their children�s lives.

What works for Sihmen Mandulo and James Shavers is the atmosphere they encounter at STRIVE�the chance to have people around who have been there, done that.

"When I first came here, I thought it was just about job training, but I soon found out differently," Mr. Shavers said. Job trainers like Colin Ransom are picked, not only for their professional skills, but because they have experienced what the Mandulos� and Shavers� are feeling.

"When I sit down and talk to my counselor about not being able to see my baby, I know I am getting advice from someone who has been there," offers Mr. Mandulo.

"A lot of these guys have to first come to grips with dealing with themselves and then they have learn how to deal with the peer pressure that comes from the streets," Mr. Ransom said.

"I know we can�t continue to make these babies and not take care of them," A. Ston Barkley, 23, said. Mr. Barkley does not have a child. His former girlfriend had a miscarriage, so he joined the program to learn the responsibilities of fatherhood.

"I don�t want to get a girl pregnant and then not be with her. � I don�t want to do that to my kid," he said.

As for James Shavers, he is planning to marry his four-year-old daughter�s mother, who he is living with. "I will get a good job and finish college. I know it will be rough having a relationship with all three of my children, but, now at least I know where to start," he said.