How a Las Vegas nonprofit helped this father turn his life around

Frank Gonzales had struggles with addiction, generational trauma and almost $20,000 to pay in child support until he found Dad Inc.

Before finding support from the Las Vegas nonprofit, Gonzales, 45, didn’t have a relationship with his 24-year-old daughter and an “unhealthy” relationship with his 19-year-old daughter and 21-year-old son, he said. Through the classes and mentoring offered at Dad Inc., Gonzales said he has been able to show up for his kids emotionally and spiritually and show his 8-year-old daughter with his current wife the best version of himself.

“I was losing myself because of all my bad decisions,” said Gonzales. “Things don’t get fixed right away, but in the process of Dad Inc., through the weeks that I was there, I got to understand traumas. I got to understand forgiveness. I got to understand things that were hidden deep in me.”

Dad Inc. is dedicated to helping dads “ignite and reclaim the gift of fatherhood,” according to its website. Through multiweek courses, the nonprofit educates and assists fathers in being more present in their children’s and families’ lives.

“The challenge is, most dads feel like they must do it on their own, and they don’t have a community around them. They may or may not have had a good experience with their own family,” said Dad Inc. Executive Director Tim Veit. “That’s where we come in. We are a fatherhood community.”

Similar to other fathers in the program, Gonzales said he thought he could turn his life around by himself. After years of dealing with addiction and toxic relationships, he started attending church, where he met his now-mentor and case worker Angel Fabian who encouraged him to attend the classes.

Gonzales was hesitant at first, but Fabian was persistent.

How the nonprofit works

Dad Inc. was founded by the International Church of Las Vegas in 2019 with federal grant funding from the Administration of Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While founded by a religious organization, Dad Inc. is not a faith-based program, nor do people have to be involved in the church to join or have specific beliefs — in fact, it’s free.

Dad Inc. works closely with three community groups: Las Vegas residents — although they help dads from all over — addiction recovery and those working toward reintegration and re-entry after prison. They do so by working closely with nonprofits Freedom House, Shine a Light and Crossroads, as well as other community partners such as the Department of Family Services and the district attorney’s office for child support.

The nonprofit offers eight- or nine-week workshops providing training and educating dads on a variety of topics including: co-parenting, legal issues such as custody or child support, relationship training, financial literacy, domestic violence awareness and understanding their own trauma.

Classes are offered in both Spanish and English through their partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno extension office. Any dad over the age of 18 with children ages 24 years or younger can join.

Alongside the courses, Dad Inc. can connect them with employment agencies to help dads get jobs or find other opportunities.

Additionally, each dad is matched with a coach, who is with them for the entirety of the workshop and six months after graduating, such as Gonzales being matched with his coach Fabian.

“I was unable to start my relationship with my kids due to my addiction, bad decisions and separations from their mothers, you know. So, they kept my kids away,” said Gonzales. “I took Angel up on that offer and told him I wanted to do the dads’ program because I wanted to be a better dad and understand my kids.”

That was three years ago.

A more present father

Through the program, Gonzales was able to reconnect with his children, be a more present father, as well as reconnect with his own father and work through his childhood trauma, all of which he considers his “blessings.”

“First of all, I needed to forgive myself. Then the hard part, I had to do was forgive my father,” said Gonzales of his 77-year-old father. “I walked up to him, and I said, ‘Hey, I forgive you,’ and I hugged him and I told him, ‘I forgive you for the way you raised me.’ He held me and he said, ‘I’m sorry, son, I’m sorry that I treated you the way I did. We were sobbing together.’”

Another “blessing” Gonzales said he was given was being relieved of child support debt by the two mothers of his eldest children. For his first child, he had an outstanding debt of around $5,000, and for his second child he had around $13,000. He had already paid almost $50,000 combined on both cases.

According to Gonzales, all of his children’s mothers decided to quash the debt because of the work he had put in with all of their children. His eldest daughter canceled his debt on June 8.

“Frank’s a great success story,” Veit said. “I routinely get a chance to just see him in his father role, it’s just amazing to see that, and we see that over and over again through the program.”

Upon graduation, families are invited to “rally around dad,” with graduates also receiving a $150 Visa gift card. Some graduates have made breakthroughs with their families, including speaking with a child they haven’t heard from in 20 years, said Veit.

“It’s nothing short of a miracle that we’re seeing dads getting reconnected with their kids, regardless of whatever created that disconnection,” said Veit.

Since its founding, Dad Inc. has seen 1,000 to 1,200 graduates through the program, and they are welcome to return at any time.

“I have sent several people to Dad Inc. that really want to change as as a father, because a lot of the times, people are dealing with so many traumas that they went through as a child, and they could be pretty heavy,” said Gonzales. “As long as you apply the system the way that they break it down and that you really reach out to your mentors, it works. It definitely works because you have to want the change.”

Now, Gonzales said he spends his time as working as a truck driver for construction materials and telling his kids he is proud of them.

Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.