Former NFL star Jack Brewer taps into faith to promote positive father-child relationships

NWF Health Network and its CEO, Mike Watkins, have connected retired NFL safety Jack Brewer with rural Sheriffs in the Panhandle to bring hope to incarcerated fathers that, even from behind bars, they can still have a positive impact on their children’s lives.

Last week, Brewer visited the Franklin County Detention Center to speak with inmates participating in his foundation’s Father Initiative Program. Brewer is the founder of the Jack Brewer Foundation, which facilitates the program in hopes of ensuring kids have access to their dads, and vice versa.

The program’s mission is to end the nation’s fatherhood crisis through “a national revival to bring biblical truth back to the foundation of our nation’s institutions,” according to its website.

The program has three goals: to serve the more than 5 million fatherless males impacted by the criminal justice system; to mentor the 18.5 million fatherless children; and to “embrace the 10 commandments while advocating for legislators to implement policies that empower fathers, families and the fatherless.”

Speaking to inmates in Franklin County, Brewer explained why he has made it his mission to empower men to be better fathers, and to ensure children without father figures in their day-to-day lives are given motivation to succeed. As a child himself, Brewer said his dad was a constant presence, offering mentorship and guidance throughout his childhood.

The experience for some of his cousins wasn’t the same. They struggled with absent dads, and some of them found themselves in jail. Now, he wants to make sure kids have what he had, by working with incarcerated dads and by mentoring kids.

“Time after time, we’re seeing that our program is working. It’s contagious,” Brewer said, according to WCTV. “We have proof of amazing men that have completely turned their life around and families that have been restored and rebuilt.”

Franklin County Detention Center inmate Stanley Smith told WCTV that Brewer’s talk “did boost my confidence.”

“I need to get out there and be a way better father than I was being,” he told the local news outlet.

Brewer told Panhandle-based News 13 that while “they do have a debt to repay to society,” but that they can one day offer mentorship and support “when they get out.”

An analysis from Big Think found that a child with an incarcerated parent is six times likelier to become incarcerated themselves. It established a program providing mental health and addiction support, as well as life skills education, to break the recidivism cycle. Participants in the program have been found to be 44% less likely to be reincarcerated.

Likewise, Brewer’s program includes steps to also break that cycle. It focuses on the father, but also on the child through after-school and Summer mentorship programs, as well as sports and community programs, which are largely faith-based.