The city has expanded a program aimed at getting men who didn't graduate from high school back into the classroom, men who all share the common connection of being young fathers. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.

Christian Ortiz's life is run by a tiny 2-year-old. And it's not just the daily, difficult balance between child care and work. The 20-year-old father says his daughter, Xarella, has motivated him to build a stable career.

Since he dropped out of high school several years ago, that involves going back to school.

That's where the CUNY Fatherhood Academy comes in. It's a program aimed at fathers, and expecting fathers, between the ages of 18 and 24 who want to get back to school.

"I was working at Wendy's. I was working as a delivery guy. It was tough times," said Carlos Colon, a student at the CUNY Fatherhood Academy.

"They are very motivated for their family," said Anthony Bowles, case manager at the CUNY Fatherhood Academy at Hostos College. "They want to be a good role model for their children because they want to be able to provide."

The Fatherhood Academy began in 2012 at LaGuardia Community College as part of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Young Men's Initiative. Last month, it expanded to Kingsborough and Hostos Community Colleges with $2.1 million of new funding from the de Blasio administration.

Most of the men in the program dropped out of school years ago, and diagnostic tests show that some of them are reading and doing math at a fifth-grade level. But an Urban Institute study in 2014 showed Fatherhood Academy students go on to earn their high school equivalency diploma at a higher rate than the state average.

Instructors say they try to structure the academic work so it's relevant to the men's lives.   

"They're looking at math as it relates to, ok, do I purchase these diapers for X amount of money?" said Darryl Rogers of the Hostos Adult Learning Center.

The men also take parenting classes.

"We're kind of like in the same situation," said Roberto Ramos, a student at the CUNY Fatherhood Academy. "So hearing all the stories, it's like a brotherhood."

And all the students, and instructors, understand the challenges of being a parent.

"I want to look better there," Ortiz said. "I just feel more productive there."