The National Partnership for Community Leadership serves low-income dads — many of whom do not live with the mothers of their children — and helps them develop positive fatherhood skills. Early in its work, NPCL observed that labeling poor non-custodial fathers who can’t afford to pay child support “deadbeats,” was creating serious problems for the families it serves. The organization turned to LMC for messaging help. We coined the term “dead broke dads” to distinguish those who could pay from those who had no means to pay. We then launched a campaign promoting this message among members of the U.S. Congress, which led to greater awareness of the difference and prompted some representatives to reconsider how the government treats these fathers.

Read a NY Times article about this effort.