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Resources for
Community Leaders

As a leader, you have a lot on your plate. You want to do what’s best for your community, but it can be difficult to know where to start. In this collection of resources, we make it easy to understand why supporting responsible fatherhood is the right choice for your community.

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Great Communities Program

Good Dads Make Great Communities

At Good Dads, we believe in the power of supporting engaged fatherhood. When fathers are equipped with the tools they need to be good dads, everyone wins. In fact, when a community is committed to promoting father engagement, we have found that four critical outcomes occur:

Neighborhoods are safer.
  • Adult male scarcity in a community is a predictor for high rates of youth assault. 

  • A 1% increase in the proportion of single-parent families in a neighborhood was associated with a 3% increase in an adolescent’s level of violence.

  • When dads are positively involved with their children early on, children have fewer behavior problems in middle childhood and adolescence.

  • Responsible, engaged fathers and their children are less likely to abuse drugs and, in general, are less likely to be involved in crime.

  • Teen boys who live with their fathers are less likely to carry guns and deal drugs.

  • Formerly incarcerated dads who participate in fatherhood programs are less likely to recidivate.
  • One study comparing father-adolescent relationships found that teens with absent fathers had lower academic performance and were at a higher risk of school and course failure. Adolescents who had never met their biological fathers were at the greatest risk of all. Conversely, students living with both biological parents have higher GPAs and consistently outperform their peers in school.

  • Fathers tend to ask open-ended questions and engage in more conversationally challenging dialog with their children, expanding their language skills and aiding in linguistic development.

  • When dads read to their children and engage in educational play, children’s cognitive development benefits, including improved vocabulary and understanding the meanings of words. 

  • When father are involved in their children’s educations, students learn more, do better in school and exhibit healthier behavior, said the U.S. Departments of Education and Health & Human Services in a joint report.
  • The bad news: Father absence in generational. Men who grew up with absent fathers were more likely to become absent fathers. Likewise, women with absent fathers were more likely to have children with absent fathers. 

  • But the good news is this: When parent couples work together, they are better off. Positive communication, high-quality support systems and especially father involvement contribute to higher relationship/marital satisfaction.

  • One study found a correlation between parents’ marital problems and children’s behavioral problems. 

  • Fathers’ playful interactions with their children can translate to positive social, emotional and cognitive outcomes for youngsters.

  • Adolescents who have warm relationships with their fathers are more optimistic and have higher-quality relationships with others. They are less stressed and have fewer depressive symptoms. 
  • Men who spend more time with their children are more likely to be satisfied at work and less likely to look for another job. These fathers feel more enriched on the job and at home. 

  • When we invest in fathers, they earn more, pay more in taxes and are more involved in the community. They are less likely to go to jail. And their children see increased lifetime earnings, too.

  • One study found nearly $6 billion a year is lost in decreased productivity stemming from relationship and marriage problems.

  • Children in homes without their fathers make up half of all SNAP (formerly food stamps) recipients.

  • Children raised with their fathers are less likely to experience poverty.

Our Unique, Collaborative Model

We suggest that without a focus on father engagement, Americans are destined to have continued problems with poor schools, unsafe neighborhoods and weak economies. That is, if we continue to do what we’ve always been doing, we will continue to get more of what we’ve already got. If we want things to change, we must do something new …
something different. 

Good Dads Great Communities is a new and different approach. The program gathers people in a community or organization to focus on father engagement for the explicit purpose of building great communities by encouraging good dads. 

We know that community programs are only successful when many disciplines, expertises and experiences can come together for a common goal. Our Six Sectors model ensures you won’t need to champion fathers alone. Only an intersectional approach with buy-in from many areas of a community can maintain long-term, sustainable change.

Download the Six Sectors

Click each Sector for more information.

Program Summaries

Good Dads is for all dads. When you bring Good Dads’ services to your community, you’ll have access to a variety of Good Dads programs to help you reach your goals.

Good Dads
Strong Schools

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Programs for
At-Risk Dads

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Workplace
Programs

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Programs for
Faith Communities

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What is Good Dads Great Communities?

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Brochure

A fanned-out stack of Good Dads brochures - the cover of which has a photo of a dad and his two children facing away from the camera, walking through a green, grassy field under a bright, blue sky.
A fanned-out stack of Good Dads brochures - the cover of which has a photo of a dad and his two children facing away from the camera, walking through a green, grassy field under a bright, blue sky.
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Brochure

Dive into Good Dads Great Communities

Podcasts

The Good Dads Great Communities podcast is essential for actionable insights on community building from a responsible fatherhood lens. Discover how your community can foster positive change through initiatives that strengthen families and neighborhoods. Gain practical strategies to encourage fathers and create thriving communities!

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Good Dads Great Communities Episode 5
Connecting Your Identity in the Community with Your Goals
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Good Dads Great Communities Episode 4
Finding Community Champions
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Good Dads Great Communities Episode 3
Identifying Your Community Goals
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Good Dads Great Communities Episode 2
Getting Started – Six Essential Sectors
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Good Dads Great Communities Ep 1
Why Good Dads Are Critical to Community Well-Being

Community Engagement Blogs

Dive into the latest updates from Good Dads’ community development efforts.

The Dad Factor: a father and daughter sit on a couch. The daughter holds out a present while the father covers his eyes.

12 Stats That Will Change the Way You Think About Responsible Fatherhood

Somehow, we blinked and the holidays are already here. While we hurdle toward the end of the year, nonprofits everywhere are neck-deep in their spreadsheets: crunching their numbers, gathering statistics and packaging everything together in appeal letters, annual reports, PowerPoints, e-newsletters and everywhere else we

The Dad Factor: Good Dads Great Communities podcast recap with guests

Simple Moments, Big Impact: Dads Making a Difference at School

In the latest episode of the Good Dads Great Communities podcast, we spoke to experts about father involvement in elementary schools. Hosts welcome Strong Schools Coordinator Jim Millsap and Good Dads Board Member Dr. Mike Dawson for a meaningful discussion about how even a few

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What Leaders are Saying

“Good Dads provided the training, materials and strategy to enable Love Columbia and our community to address the critical needs of fathers, particularly those disconnected from their families. What they brought to us was exactly what we needed and had long hoped to find.

We could not be more pleased with our first year of partnership and the impact on the participants we have served. We believe the establishment of a local chapter will help to more widely disseminate the high quality and effective programming of Good Dads.”

Jane Williams

Exec. Director, Love Columbia (Columbia, MO)

“When I started Good Dads, I was a struggling father and husband. Good Dads helped me turn that around. Now I have a great relationship with my wife, and I’m rebuilding that with my children. Beyond that, now I get to see that in other men as they go through this (New Pathways for Good Dads) program. In our last Good Dads 2.0 class, we had one man in particular who had virtually no contact with his kids or their mom. Now he has regular contact—and it’s good contact, healthy relationships. I see him around town all the time with his children, and they all look so happy. Word is spreading in my community. Men who’ve taken the classes are telling others. There are major moves happening in this community, and I’m so blessed to be a part of it.”

Ross Kula

Chapter leader and facilitator, Good Dads Lebanon

“The benefits of the program extend beyond the individual fathers to the community at large. We teach participants to be better fathers today, tomorrow and in the future. Their presence and engagement can transform them into neighborhood role models.

I have witnessed remarkable success while teaching these classes. Participants have transitioned from being disengaged in their children’s lives to mending relationships and becoming active and present parents. Some have even regained custody of their children. This course empowers them to improve their situations, and the sense of accomplishment is profoundly impactful for both the participants and their families … I wholeheartedly endorse this program.”

Richard Harmon

Employment Specialist, Reentry Opportunity Center and Chapter Leader, Good Dads Columbia

“The Alliance of Southwest Missouri is proud to offer Good Dads programming to clients in the Joplin area. New Pathways program in particular has played a key role in family restoration. The program has fostered strong support networks among men, helping them build lasting, healthy relationships beyond graduation. Any community would benefit from having a Good Dads Chapter.”

Marlissa Diggs

Director of Grown-Ups Programming at the Alliance of SWMO and chapter leader, Good Dads Joplin

“It’s been amazing as we’ve launched Good Dads in St. Joseph to see the broad support of community leaders. Each group I’ve spoken with has overwhelmingly affirmed the need for resources that champion and equip men in this vital role. With so few existing programs geared toward fathers, Good Dads is meeting a critical need, and we anticipate a great impact on individual families as well as our community!”

Tim Doyle

Pastor, Restoration Church, and Chapter leader, Good Dads St. Joseph

The Stockton-based David’s Mighty Men Ministries is growing and already getting calls from men seeking a place in the next available Good Dads 2.0 class, reports Virgil McGinnis, Director of David’s Mighty Men Ministries. McGinnis was sold on the benefits of the New Pathways for Good Dads program after attending training to become a facilitator in Springfield, MO, a few months ago. He told me, “I couldn’t believe how what I learned in the training was so much of what I needed.” He said the skills he learned transformed his own communication skills and interactions in his own home. 

Cheryl Thornton

Director, Family Restoration Center of Missouri, and Chapter leader, Good Dads Cedar County

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