CINCINNATI — While Father’s Day is a happy time for many families, for teens growing up without a Dad in their lives, it presents a wide variety of challenges.

One Ohio nonprofit has been working to improve the lives of teen girls who find themselves in these difficult and heartbreaking situations.

What You Need To Know

  • The nonprofit "From Fatherless to Fearless" helps teenage girls take charge of their own lives despite their circumstance

  • Inspiration for the organization comes from the founder's own story and experience without her father in her life

  • The group recently received $15,000 in the University of Dayton's Flyer Pitch competition

  • Better Together conference is scheduled for June 22 from 9:30 a.m-2:30 p.m.

Candice Crear is the founder of "From Fatherless to Fearless."

She and her team have a big event coming up.

“It’s an exciting time. We’re having the Better Together conference. It’s a mother and daughter conference. We’re looking to unify that relationship,” she said.

The push to unify relationships and to help teen girls all started because of Crear’s own story.

“My father walked away when I was two years old and I felt that rejection and disappointment. I didn’t really recognize that I was missing something until the age of five and as I went through school, I really had a tough time. By the time I reached high school, I was actually molested on a school bus and that compacted with the disappointment of fatherlessness, I was very angry,” Crear said.

She covered the pain well until college.

“That’s when I hit rock bottom on alcohol. Thankfully, God changed my life,” she said.

Crear ended up having a successful career in the banking industry until she reached another crossroad.

“I woke up on a Sunday morning and my face was paralyzed on one side. I actually thought I was having a stroke,” Crear said.

She was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy.

“They believe that it was stress-related, but there’s just no cure for it,” said Crear.

From there, she made a life change and went all in for the nonprofit.

Over the years, the organization has helped hundreds of girls through a unique curriculum and heartfelt conversations in high schools, rec centers and juvenile detention facilities.

“Very rare throughout the United States that there are organization, specifically a nonprofit, that actually does that. But our work is really about mental health, emotional health and financial literacy,” Crear said.

Recently, ‘From Fatherless to Fearless’ was awarded more than $15,000 from the University of Dayton’s Flyer Pitch competition.

The money will help the programs grow even more.

“We actually made five times our revenue last year than we did in 2022,” she said.

From Crear, building the organization from the ground up has been difficult, but rewarding.

On days when the focus is on fathers, she wants girls to know that she understands.

“I think it’s very difficult when it comes to Father’s Day and not having that representation in your life. We want to empower them, but also ensure that they take advantage and take ownership of their whole entire life. That they don’t become a victim of their circumstance,” said Crear.

The Better Together conference will be held Saturday June 22nd from 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati.

For more information, click here.