WHO WE ARE

We are Dad Guild! 

Founded in 2019, Dad Guild is a Vermont-based nonprofit organization that is home to a growing network of over 1,000 dads across the state. We believe that when dads and masculine-identifying caregivers are engaged in their caregiving roles, children experience positive outcomes, dads experience positive mental health benefits, large steps towards gender equality are taken and cycles of generational trauma are disrupted.

​Mission:

To support and empower fathers by offering opportunities for connection, education, and community engagement.

We have big ideas:

We want to create a supportive network of fathers so that dads from all sorts of different backgrounds can connect with one another through all kinds of activities.

We want to help dads learn healthy strategies for parenting, self-care, and communication.

We want to create a large body of dads who are actively involved in advocating for community issues.

We want peer support groups that provide opportunities for dads to be honest and vulnerable with one another.

We want to see active, healthy, and engaged fathers making a visible change in their communities.

We want to have fun! We want to educate!

We want to connect! And we want to make change!

Some helpful resources

Meet the Founder

Keegan Albaugh - Executive Director ​(he/him)

Hey, I’m Keegan!

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a father. In June of 2016, that wish came true when my partner, Stephanie, gave birth to our first daughter, Coraline. Stephanie and I embarked on the journey of parenthood.

Becoming a father was one of the best things that ever happened to me. But, it came with lots of challenges. Fatherhood in today’s world can be isolating and stressful, and a lot of dads I talked to felt the same way.

Dad Guild was created so that fathers can feel more connected and involved, be better partners, and better dads.

Why Dad Guild?

Dad’s need someone to talk to. 

A 2015 survey asked more than 900 soon to be dads who they could talk to about fathering. One-third of them said 'nobody'. Dad’s are out here trying to do this without support and its hurting them. 

A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 10 percent of men worldwide showed signs of depression from the first trimester of their wife's pregnancy through six months after the child was born. The number spiked to a whopping 26 percent during the three- to six-month period after the baby's arrival.

A 2014 study published in Pediatrics found that depression among new dads increases by 68 percent during the first five years of Baby's life. "The fact is, one in four new dads in the United States become depressed—which amounts to 3,000 dads who become depressed each day."

Supporting dads is also a great way to support moms. 

It should come as no surprise that "women spend significantly more time than men – sometimes up to ten times as much – on unpaid care and domestic work.” Helping dads be effective caregivers is one way we can work towards gender equality. "A study published in 2014 in Psychological Science found that when fathers and mothers share chores more equally, their daughters tend to have broader professional ambitions." When dads get the support they need, everybody benefits.

FAQs

  • To connect dads with one another, build a supportive community, and model positive, engaged fathers for our children.

  • First off, that's not a question. But I'll elaborate on your comment anyways. Most people probably don't have to think too hard to picture that stereotypical image of a dad, disconnected from his family duties, chugging beers while bowling. Dad Guild is not that. Dad Guild provides opportunities for dads to connect with one another, in person or online, with or without children, with or without partners. One of our goals is to have a wide range of activities that meet a variety of different needs. Some of these events do involve beer, but certainly most of them do not. Dad Guild is aware that some folks struggle with addiction, and want to ensure there is a balance of healthy activities that we offer. That being  said, many folks enjoy having a beer while connecting over fatherhood, and there will be opportunities to do so.

  • Currently, Dad Guild offers monthly events that include playgroups at playgrounds and coffee shops, dads' nights' out at bars and climbing gyms, and other family activities. There are also shared resources spreadsheets, so folks don't have to go out and buy a ladder when they need one for 10 minutes. And the Dad Guild Facebook Group and subreddit community serve as venues for local dads to ask questions, organize activities, and connect with one another.

  • We’re a bunch of dads with multiple children. We’re lucky if we get a shower in every 4th day. So grab a pair of scissors and cut us some slack. We're getting there.

  • Free 99. Free fifty. However you want to say it...it's 100% free. Sign up for our newsletter. Join the Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram. Subscribe to our Google calendar. Join our subreddit community. There are a lot of avenues in, and none of them cost anything.

  • Then tell me! Everyone is welcomed (and encouraged) to offer activities and events they want to see. If you have a cool idea, just send me an e-mail and we'll make things happen. Unless it is underwater roller blading. That's just a bad idea.

  • Bloodsport.