Contact and Bio
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.fatherssupportcenter.org
Twitter: @fatherssupport
Facebook: Fathers Support Center
LinkedIn: Fathers Support Center

​Charles Barnes has been employed with FFSC for 20 years. He has served as a Facilitator, FFSC Substance Abuse Program Monitor, Employment manager, Director of Employment Services and now the Director of Community Outreach.
With a history of excellence and extensive experience, Mr. Barnes is strategic and highly motivated while providing facilitation and trainings in the areas of responsible behavior, employment readiness and family reunification. He has facilitated in the community, local, state and federal correctional institutions. 
Mr. Barnes’ life accomplishments consist of an array of experiences which assist to enhance life skills, self-esteem, and decision-making skills, skills on coping with stress, anger management, and family interactions. As well, he teaches families about new ways of living and working together that are healthy.  He’s covered topics that touched on parenting, adult relationships in healthy families, solving family problems, passing on values to children, sex, drugs and rock and roll. He has made significant contributions that have impacted the lives of many children and adults. Mr. Barnes’ true passion encompasses motivating and educating people from all walks of life

Episode 5, Part 1: Charles Barnes, Director of Community Outreach Services

• Introduction to Podcast, Honoring Stories and Integrating Curriculum®: How to Build and Sustain Communities
• Charles explains what his position as Director of Community Outreach entails and whom he is seeking to partner with from social services to businesses who are hiring
• Charles shares how he was a benefactor of Fathers, Families Support Center before working for them, including how Carol Schumer influenced his life and his abilities to communicate with his children
• Charles hones in on the aspects of interpersonal growth, civic awareness and communication skills FFSC emphasizes in their programs and classes
• Charles shares some of the key performance indicators that program participants demonstrate in areas such as building personal agency and productive and healthy relationships
• Charles explains how the father’s rap sessions work and the power of story sharing for personal and community healing
• Charles expands on the range of life supports and life skills participants develop through programming that focuses on navigating legal systems, teenage pregnancy prevention, financial literacies, gang violence prevention, and job readiness
• Charles explains core program tenants as they relate to working with different sectors and to family breakthroughs: preparation, practice, and presentation

Honoring Stories and Integrating Curriculum®: How to Build and Sustain Communities
Honoring Stories and Integrating Curriculum® methods this podcast features

• Personal agency and responsibility as a core tenant of personal growth
• Communities developing and practicing communication skills together
• Classrooms where resources are maximized because everyone shares what they know
• Communities sharing their stories and investing in one another’s healing
• Youth programs: interviewing and networking with different sectors, presenting research to different sectors helps prepare youth for relationship building with a range of sectors that leads to future employment

Contact and Bio
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.fatherssupportcenter.org
Twitter: @fatherssupport
Facebook: Fathers Support Center
LinkedIn: Fathers Support Center

​Carol Schumer, D.C., is an educator by profession and a certified facilitator of the Strengthening Families Parent-Training Program.   Holding a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s in administration, she has over 30 years experience working with youth.    Since 1997, she has conducted parenting programs throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area.   Currently, she ministers at Fathers & Families Support Center, St. Louis and does spiritual formation with the Ladies of Charity of the St. Louis archdiocese.   A 1965 graduate of St. Vincent’s High School, Perryville, MO, she celebrated  54 years as a Daughter of Charity this summer.    She is the daughter of Norbert and Alma Unverferth Schumer and has a large extended family with 8 married siblings, 26 nieces and nephews and 56 greats.

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Episode 4, Part 2: Carol Schumer, Parenting Specialist, Fathers and Families Support Center

• Carol describes how the morning meeting works for men to help build trust, community and support
• Carol describes the kind of parenting trauma men often experienced as youth and how she reframes “discipline” – a form of top-down punishment that removes youth agency and ownership over their decisions – as “disciple” – clearly teaching children in ways that align with their developmental age how to respect themselves and others
• Sarah explains what children who are punished harshly internalize about themselves and what supporting children and their unique forms of expression entails – starting with our own self-acceptance, understanding of our unique gifts, self-possession, and modeling of what being a part of the world in positive ways entails
• Carol shares some of the parenting scenarios she poses to the men who are navigating some of the most challenging moral complexities with their youth and what parenting action supports youth empowerment to make good decisions
• Sarah describes the many places where youth are at risk for internalizing that they don’t matter to the world. She speaks to some of the pressures on families across our region that are impacting youth and the moral complexities they are navigating as a result
• Carol names how children spell love, TIME and encourages parents to make family time with their youth because their youth do want that time with them even if they act like they don’t
• Carol describes why, even as a Daughter of Charity, the men are so willing to share and discuss violence, gang violence, sexuality, and so much more of what they are navigating with her. She takes on a learning stance – learning with them. She shares her failures and is comfortably vulnerable with them. She helps them find their unique gifts. She helps them hear their truths – no matter what belief systems they are faced with. She welcomes the messiness of the world we all have inherited and the ways that mess shows up in all of us.
• Carol explains how parenting skills translate to relationship skills, especially with life partners and commitment to employers.

 
Honoring Stories and Integrating Curriculum®: How to Build and Sustain Communities
Honoring Stories and Integrating Curriculum® methods this podcast features

• Embodying and inspiring personal power
• Doing real life together
• Servant leadership through authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability
• Learning how to find our gifts and how to recognize our expertise
• Learning how to hear and live from our truths
• Transforming harmful narratives in ourselves