Start a Dad's Group

One of the best-received sessions of the 9th Annual At-Home Dad Convention in November 2004 was a presentation by the Dayton Dads on how to establish a local group for at-home fathers. With their permission, I’m posting the handout from the convention. Credit for this document goes to Tony Peters and Bill Beagle.

1. Setup a contact point

a. Build a website. It sounds harder than it really is. A simple effective website can be built using Microsoft Word. Most Internet Providers offer free space to host your site, and most have tutorials to help you get started. If not, geocities.com and webmonkey.com are both great resources for starting websites. Once your site is set up, be sure and submit it to local websites as well as places like google.com and yahoo.com (those search engines have a place at the bottom of the page that says “submit your site”). This way, when someone enters in “Boston stay at home dad” your site will come up.

b. Setup an email account. If creating a website sounds like a big headache, at least set up an email account for stay at home dad correspondences. Most Internet Providers allow you to have multiple email accounts for free. yahoo.com and msn.com offer free email as well. You could always use your personal email, but it might be nice to keep it separate.

c. Phone line. When all else fails, Ma Bell could also work.

2. Get Your Name Out There: Getting on the local news is not as hard as it sounds. News organizations are always looking for that “warm and fuzzy” story to sandwich in-between the latest robbery and shooting. There’s also the “unique” side of it. “Men taking care of babies, that story at eleven.” With just a little work, you should be getting your group’s name out all over town.

a. Write a press release (example attached). Keep it simple. Have it tell about your group and when you meet. Make sure it contains your phone number so they can set up an interview with you.

b. Start small. Most towns have a weekly community newspaper that is just dying for any kind of news. Call and talk to the editor, set up an interview. Have them do a story on your group.

c. Mail your release to local TV, radio and newspaper. All of these numbers are found in the phone book. Call them up and get the name and address of the news director or local beat writer.

d. Follow up the release with a phone call and a fax. Be persistent.

e. Plan an event. A stay at home dads’ car wash would make for good TV. Also Father’s Day is an ideal time to start your publicity - but plan several weeks ahead.

3. Be Patient: It was six months before anyone found our site. It was another six months before we had enough guys to start meeting regularly.

4. Set up a regular meeting time/place: If it’s warm, a park is an excellent meeting place. A nursery at a local church or kid-friendly restaurant is also good.

5. Make Business Cards: You can buy cards in a sheet and print them on your computer or take them to somewhere like Kinko’s. This way, when you come across another stay at home dad, you have something with your name, email, website, etc.

6. Plan a “Dads Night Out”

7. Make up a monthly newsletter of upcoming events.

8. Set up an email list so people can stay in contact with the group (i.e. http://www.groups.yahoo.com)