Halbert Sullivan, founding president and CEO of the Fathers’ Support Center (FSC), received the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University on Wednesday, March 26.
More than 300 people attended the awards ceremony and dinner held at the Palladium Saint Louis, 1400 Park Pl. in downtown St. Louis. Distinguished alumni and a faculty member from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at WUSTL were recognized for their contributions to social work and public health.
Other awardees included Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, an associate professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and director of the Racial Disparities in the Arkansas Criminal Justice System Research Project; and Bethany Johnson-Javois, CEO of the non-profit St. Louis Integrated Health Network.
“Our awardees come from various backgrounds, and their paths have been uniquely theirs,” said Barbara Richter, MSW, co-chair of the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Awards Steering Committee.
“They did not always take the easiest or shortest route in their lives or their careers. But, their passion for their work and the people they serve is what unites them all.”
During his introduction of Sullivan, Brown School Dean Edward F. Lawlor said Sullivan has dedicated his career to improving the quality of life for children and families.
Sullivan acknowledged a dedicated staff and their hard work over the last 16 years. He spoke of receiving a number of awards, including the President’s Call to Service Award and the Charles A. Ballard Pioneer Award in Responsible Fatherhood. But, this is the award he said he always wanted.
He said he was never intimidated, as an older student who started higher education at a community college, by the prestige of Washington University.
“It wasn’t intimidation,” he said. “I look for a big mountain every day.”
At the Brown School, he developed a love of research, serving as the primary investigator or co-investigator on several research projects. His past research projects include “Engaging Fathers in Positive Parenting,” “Family Formation & Employment Placement” and “Healthy Relationship Skills for Fragile Families.”
Currently he is working on the “Parents and Children Together Reach Project,” conducted by Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, D.C. This project will result in the FSC being listed in the federal registry of evidence-based practices.
“This group really gave me the opportunity to be of service to humanity,” Sullivan said during his acceptance speech, “and I’m very grateful for that.”
His path to the FSC started at the Brown School. During his research, he completed a practicum in the St. Louis Public Schools as a school social worker.
“Ninety-five percent of our children are good children,” he said, “but there may be some bad adults around these children.”
Working with troubled youth who had no responsible father in the home helped influence him to establish a fathers’ support program.
The FSC promotes fathers’ involvement in their children’s lives through intensive job training, group therapy, community service and parenting workshops. Since its inception, FSC has served more than 11,797 fathers and their families, transitioning nonparticipating fathers to a position of involvement and equity in the lives of over 29,000 children.
Sullivan has not always taken the easiest route in life. He was 43 when he began studying at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park. His main goal was to obtain a piece of paper that would help him land a decent-paying job, he said.
He went on to Fontbonne University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in human services. He earned a MSW from the Brown School in 1997, the same year he established the FSC.
“It really makes a difference when you go to a quality university,” he said. “That university will open doors for you, just its name in itself.”
