Men — it’s time again to grow a mustache for your fellow man’s health: Movember 2024 has arrived!

City Dads Group and Fathering Together are joining forces with two other fatherhood organizations in November 2024 to form a “No Dad Alone” team to participate in Movember, a fund- and awareness-raising campaign to spark conversations about men’s physical and mental health issues.

Movember challenges dudes every November to grow a mustache that will serve as a living awareness ribbon and talking point for the cause. The funds raised during the campaign go for research into and public education on issues such as testicular cancer, prostate cancer, mental health and suicide.

The event is annually run by The Movember Foundation, a leading global organization that brings awareness to serious health concerns for men. It has raised hundreds of millions of dollars since its founding in 2003 to help fund hundreds of health projects globally, according to its website. The organization’s work hopes to counter some of these frightening statistics regarding men’s health:

• Testicular cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men ages 18 to 39.
• Men, on average, die five years earlier than women in the United States.
• One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lives.
• Four of every five suicides are men.

* Join our Movember 2024 #NoDadsAlone team! *

Movember 2024 finds City Dads and its partner, Fathering Together, teaming with The National At-Home Dad Network and Fathers Eve. In June, the groups agreed to join forces as part of a “No Dad Alone” campaign to amplify each other’s messages to help fathers recognize they have help and support in their parenting work.

City Dads has teamed with fatherhood organizations for Movember since 2011, helping to raise more than $135,000 for the cause.

You can help our Movember 2024 team and the cause in several ways:

• Join our Movember City Dads/Fathering Together team. Sign up at our fundraising page. You’ll get a personal fundraising page to link others to.
• Grow a mustache. Shave your face on Oct. 31 and then don’t cut the fuzz off your upper lip for 31 days. Show it off to all, in person and on social media, and tell them why you are growing it. Don’t forget to ask for a donation to help the cause and link to your fundraising page.
• Move rather than mo. Sometimes you can’t grow a mustache. Maybe it’s genetics, maybe it’s because it would jeopardize your marriage. You can still help by committing to walk or run 60 miles in November — one mile for each of the 60 men lost worldwide every hour to suicide. Again, use your personal Movember Dads page for fundraising.
• Host a Mo-ment. Get with your Movember supporters — in person or virtually — for a game night, a sporting event or maybe an initial “shave off” to get the ball rolling and draw attention to the cause.
• Donate. At the least, you can always simply give to the cause. Donate to an individual or our Movember #NoDadsAlone team as a whole.

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This blog post is part of the #NoDadAlone campaign. Fathering Together/City Dads Group, the National At-Home Dad Network, and Fathers Eve are joining forces to amplify messages that help dads recognize we are not alone! Follow #NoDadAlone on Instagram, and learn more at NoDadAlone.com.

Three leading fatherhood organizations are undertaking a yearlong “No Dad Alone” campaign to help more fathers find support and an understanding community.

Fathering Together, of which City Dads Group is a part, The National At-Home Dad Network and Fathers Eve will cross-promote each other’s work to amplify information, resources and events available to dads through each entity. The groups plan to use their organizations’ platforms, including social media, newsletters, blogs and podcasts. The three organizations combined have more than 180,000 followers on various popular social media channels.

“The No Dad Alone campaign aims to address the ever-growing stats surrounding men’s health, specifically, the negative stigmas and untrue portrayals of fathers in the home and beyond,” said Cordan James, executive director of Fathering Together. “The web of resources this collaborative provides will instantly increase the positive impacts of fathers. It will also give people language to address, engage and support fathers in need and elevate the spirit of fatherhood.”

No Dad Alone arose, in part, from increasing U.S. media attention to male loneliness, particularly among fathers. Societal pressures about maintaining traditional masculinity (for example, remaining strong, stoic and independent in difficult times) and fewer resources and attention devoted to helping dads as opposed to moms contribute to these issues.

“Fathers are often isolated and they are not always sure what to do or how to alleviate it,” said John Francis, a co-organizer of the Twin Cities Dad Group and founder of Fathers Eve. “I think this campaign brings awareness to an important issue many guys have trouble with.”

Keith Nagel, president of The National At-Home Dad Network, said, “By highlighting and showcasing each of our organizations’ great work, we can create and build a much larger network of support for all our dads than we could individually. We hope to make other dads aware of our support offerings while connecting our members with ones we don’t provide.”

The ambitious campaign, using the social media hashtag #NoDadAlone, starts Father’s Day weekend 2024 to the following one in 2025. A key kickoff and celebratory ending point will be the annual Fathers Eve celebrations those weekends.

“From my work in the fatherhood area for the last dozen or so years, I see lots of people and groups doing good things to try to help their audience or their local market, but I don’t see a lot of connectivity,” Francis said. “They’re great guys all doing good work. When we work together I know we will make a much larger impact on this important issue.”

About the No Dad Alone organizers

Each organization involved in No Dad Alone has embarked on similar, though separate, missions to provide support and community to dads. At various times, each has worked with the other on a campaign or event.

The National At-Home Dad Network was established in 2003, initially under the name Daddyshome Inc. The first national nonprofit for at-home dads, it focuses on advocacy, education and support for families with fathers as primary caregivers. The network offers a variety of online communities, webinars and virtual opportunities to connect throughout the year. Its annual conference for at-home fathers, HomeDadCon, marks its 28th year this October with a three-day event in St. Louis.

Since 2012, Fathers Eve has gathered groups of dads — formally or informally in public or private spaces — the night before Father’s Day to celebrate each other and the joys and challenges of fatherhood. The event, held in dozens of U.S. towns and cities, lets dads offer support to each other and help foster a positive fathering environment. It culminates in a toast, in person and online, at 8 p.m. local time in each U.S. time zone.

Fathering Together started with the “Dads with Daughters” Facebook group in 2018. It quickly grew to have more than 125,000 followers supporting each other’s efforts to be great fathers. In 2020, the founders created the current nonprofit. It offers Facebook communities, a podcast, and a variety of webinars and resources supporting dads.

City Dads Group began in 2008 as a playgroup for at-home dads and their children in New York City. It now consists of groups of fathers who meet, with and without their kids, in 40 cities across the United States and one in Canada. City Dads Group merged with Fathering Together in 2023.

Stay-at-home dads and work-at-home fathers are scheduled to gather in St. Louis this October for HomeDadCon 2024, the annual conference for these dads to add to their parenting skills, support each other and socialize.

Speakers and topics have yet to be announced for the event, which runs Oct. 17 to 19. Breakout topics at past conventions ranged from dealing with picky eaters to teaching children about sexual consent. Outreach or social activities, such as attending a sporting event, are often part of the program.

The National At-Home Dad Network (NAHDN) event is for stay- and work-at-home fathers who embrace parenting as their most important job. It allows them to network with other active fathers, learn from experts about various parenting and social issues, and take a brief respite from parenting duties. (DISCLOSURE: City Dads Group has been a long-time sponsor and partner with The National At-Home Dad Network for the at-home dads convention.)

HomeDadCon 2024 ticket, hotel information

A ticket to the HomeDadCon 2024 costs $230 for members. It includes access to all event programs, three meals, and a T-shirt. Tickets are only available to NAHDN members. It costs an additional $35 to join the organization for a year.

Discounted hotel reservations are available while they last at the Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch, which doubles as the event venue. The cost is $169 a night for double occupancy. For people wanting to split the rooming costs, the organization has a Discord group to help attendees find a roommate.

+ Buy a St. Louis HomeDadCon ticket +

The nonprofit National At-Home Dad Network offers advocacy, community, education, and support for families where fathers are their children’s primary caregivers. Its stated purpose is to empower fathers and champion a culture that recognizes them as competent parents.

The organization has expanded its work in recent years. It now runs parenting webinars and podcasts plus regular online gatherings for members to discuss issues. The National At-Home Dad Network has also recorded some of the past HomeDadCon sessions, some of which are made available only to dues-paying members.

Editor’s Note: If you’ve ever considered attending HomeDadCon, the annual fatherhood conference held by The National At-Home Dad Network, then this might help make up your mind. It was originally published here in 2014.

When I became a stay-at-home dad in 2008, I was terrified.

My wife and I had just moved from Chicago, where I had lived for 33 years, to upstate New York. I had resigned as a public school teacher after 10 years to stay in our new home and raise our kids, who at the time were 21 months old and 3. I left family, friends, babysitters I knew and trusted, and a community I loved. It meant resetting everything about my life.

The first week was rough. Our son broke his collarbone. Here I was, in a strange city where I was unfamiliar with where the hospital was and I couldn’t get a hold of my wife or her parents who lived in the area for help. I felt lost. I questioned if I really could do this.

A few weeks later, once I got the lay of the land, I sought other dads like me but without luck. I kept seeing the same moms at the gym and at pickup for their kids. Most accepted me as a parent but I still needed guys to share my experiences with.

Then, at church one day, my wife and I met a couple who had kids of similar ages.

“What do you do for a living?” the husband asked.

“I am a stay-at-home dad,” I said, dreading his response.

“No kidding!” he said. “So am I.”

What resulted was a friendship with me, him and his brother-in-law, also a stay-at-home dad. We regularly met on Fridays, which we named “Dads and Subs.” One guy would bring the Wegmans’ sandwiches and the kids would have an instant playgroup while we got to talk to one another about our week.

An at-home dad conference? Really?

In August 2011, my wife received an offer to relocate again, this time to Philadelphia. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity. This was the first city, however, where we knew no one and the first city where we couldn’t rely on family to bail us out of a jam with the kids.

I looked for dads’ groups after we got settled but kept coming up empty. I found plenty of groups for stay-at-home moms of little ones, but nothing for dads. Once, I even tried to join a moms’ group but was quickly rejected because “they didn’t feel comfortable with a man there.” I was on an island with really nowhere to turn.

Then I came across The National At-Home Dad Network’s conference, an event for stay- and work-at-home fathers who embrace parenting as their most important job. It was billed as a chance to meet other active and involved dads, learn from experts about various parenting and social issues, and take a brief respite from parenting duties.

I made plans to go to their convention in Washington, D.C., that next year. My wife and I worked out a schedule with her parents to come while I was gone and watch the kids. I piled into the car by myself and drove to D.C., not knowing what to expect.

It turns out these guys — a fraction of the tens of thousands of at-home fathers in the United States — were just like me.

Focus on being great parents, bonding

The dads came from all over. They stayed home with their kids because it was what was best for their families. They focused on trying to be the best dads they could be.

At the conference, we listened to people who had written books on parenting, a psychologist studying the rise of male caregivers in our society, and a person who had a website devoted to helping male military spouses who were at home.

In break-out sessions, we had honest discussions without judgment. We could share and be heard while dads helped other dads. Panels discussed popular issues with other men just like me. Guys talked about isolation and everything from discipline to diapers and bottles to breastfeeding.

Being around your peers in any field will give you that sense of self-worth. You see that you aren’t the only one dealing with a kid who won’t eat or how your teenage daughter won’t talk to you. I never laughed so much in my life and, at its end, I cried. I didn’t want this feeling of acceptance to end. Finally, I found my people — all in one place, no longer scattered but uniformly united by fatherhood.

The shared moments with them socially and the sessions on parenting were just what I needed. When I returned home my wife saw a change in me. I was dedicated and rejuvenated ready to be back with my kids and be the best dad I could be. It inspired me to start my own dads’ group, which eventually became the Philly Dads Group.

The men I met at the dad conference and of the At-Home Dad Network, an all-volunteer organization working toward the betterment and acceptance of stay-at-home dads everywhere, helped me when I needed it most. These guys became my friends online and in real life. They lifted me higher than I could have imagined.

If you are an at-home dad on the fence about going to the convention, I say take a chance. You never know where it will lead. The National At-Home Dad Network saved me, and it can save you too.

A version of this post first appeared on DadNCharge.

Milwaukee will host HomeDadCon 2023, the annual conference to help at-home fathers hone their parenting skills, this September.

The National At-Home Dad Network (NAHDN) event is for stay- and work-at-home fathers who embrace parenting as their most important job. It allows them to network with other active and involved dads, learn from experts about various parenting and social issues, and take a brief respite from parenting duties.

The Milwaukee Dads Group will have a hand in planning and coordinating this year’s event. (DISCLOSURE: City Dads Group has been and is a long-time sponsor and partner with The National At-Home Dad Network for the at-home dads convention.)

Speakers and topics have yet to be announced for the event, which kicks off with a welcoming party the evening of Sept. 21 and runs through Sept. 23. Breakout topics at past conventions ranged from dealing with picky eaters to teaching children about sexual consent. Outreach or social activities, such as attending a sporting event, are often part of the program.

Ticket, hotel information

A ticket to the HomeDadCon 2023 costs $225. It includes access to all event programs, three meals and a T-shirt. Tickets are only available to NAHDN members. It costs $35 to join the organization for a year.

Discounted hotel reservations are available through August 23 at Hyatt Regency Milwaukee, which doubles as the event venue. The cost is $167 a night for double occupancy. For people wanting to split the rooming costs, the organization has a Discord group to help attendees find a roommate.

+ Join NAHDN & buy a HomeDadCon 2023 ticket +

The nonprofit National At-Home Dad Network offers advocacy, community, education, and support for families where fathers are their children’s primary caregivers. Its stated purpose is to empower fathers and champion a culture that recognizes them as competent parents.

In the past few years, the organization has added parenting webinars and podcasts to its website. It has also recorded some of the past HomeDadCon sessions, some of which are made available only to dues-paying members.

This HomeDadCon 2022 article originally ran in January. It was updated July 25.

Tickets are moving and hotel rooms are quickly booking up for HomeDadCon 2022, the annual conference to help at-home fathers hone their parenting skills, bond with one another, and get a little R&R.

Main speakers for the Sept. 29 through Oct. 2, 2022, conference in Phoenix have also been announced. This marks the first time the event will take place in the U.S. Southwest after being held primarily in the Great Plains, Midwest or Southeast regions.

The National At-Home Dad Network (NAHDN) event is for stay- and work-at-home fathers who embrace parenting as their most important job. It allows them to network with other active and involved dads, learn from experts about various parenting and social issues, and take a brief respite from parenting duties.

HomeDadCon 2022 keynote speakers

The scheduled keynote presenters will be:

• Catherine Pearlman, a licensed clinical social worker, author and owner of The Family Coach parenting consultancy. She will speak on the responsibility, safety and etiquette involved in giving your child his first cell phone
• Matt Lofy and Shaun Ditty of The Dadass Podcast will talk about why it is OK to not be OK.
• Author and pastor Tim Wright will discuss how rights of passage offer strategic pathways for leading and empowering our kids into adulthood.
• Musician, vlogger and former fatherhood case manager Jorge Narvaez. He will talk about thinking about being a father not just for the present but for the future.
• Parenting coach Dustin Bruley will discuss practical and positive co-parenting.
• The Bro Dad blogger David Pidnacet will offer a talk titled “Embrace ‘The Suck’ and Wipe Some Butts!”

Breakout topics at past conventions ranged from dealing with picky eaters to teaching children about sexual consent. Outreach or social activities, such as attending a sporting event, are often part of the program.

Ticket, hotel information

A ticket to the three-day HomeDadCon 2022 costs $195. It includes access to all event programs, a convention eve party, three meals and a T-shirt. Discounted hotel reservations are available through August 29 at The Residence Inn by Marriott Phoenix Downtown, which doubles as the event venue. The cost is $169 a night for double occupancy.

+ Buy a ticket for HomeDadCon 2022 +

One change to HomeDadCon 2022 is you will need to be a member of the NAHDN to attend. In the past, the $35 annual fee to the organization was rolled into the conference ticket.

“The reason for the change is operational. We are working at becoming more than a convention,” NAHDN President Jonathan Heisey-Grove wrote in response to emailed questions from City Dads Group. “We offer more than just an annual event now, and there are operating costs associated with running the organization. So we are severing the association of the membership with the convention and making it a calendar year membership.”

The nonprofit National At-Home Dad Network is dedicated to providing advocacy, community, education, and support for families where fathers are their children’s primary caregivers. Its stated purpose is to empower fathers and champion a culture that recognizes them as competent parents.

In the past few years, the organization has added parenting webinars and podcasts to its website. It has also recorded some of the past HomeDadCon sessions, some of which will be made available only to dues-paying members, wrote Heisey-Grove. He noted those members will also have voting rights at the nonprofit’s annual meeting.

“There is also some small swag that we are going to offer, and who knows what kind of special deals we’ll have in the future,” he also wrote.

(DISCLOSURE: City Dads Group has been and is a long-time sponsor and partner with The National At-Home Dad Network for the at-home dads convention.)

It is hard for me to believe November 2021 marks my sixth year as a stay-at-home dad. My journey began when my wife and I learned were going to have twins. Well, she was going to have the twins. I would spend most of the time binge watching as many series as I could on Netflix when not attending to her every need while she adhered to the bedrest she so rightly deserved.

This was our second time readying for twins. The stress of our loss of twins at 19 weeks in 2011 made us ever vigilant to get to the finish line this time. We were better prepared to do everything necessary to see our bundles of joy, Jackson and Sophia, arrive right on time in September.

The pending arrival of twins is the main reason we even discussed me becoming a stay-at-home dad. It made sense financially since my entire salary would likely be going to a nanny or daycare. And in the end, who better to be home with my kids than me (my wife will tell you plainly the stay-at-home lifestyle is NOT for her). 

Finding a detour along lonely road

But, my first few weeks by myself with the kids, I felt very alone. I knew about “mommy groups” and often saw gatherings of mothers at the neighborhood playground. Very rarely, though, did I see any dads. 

I am a very social person by nature, and while many moms I encountered on playgrounds or at library story times were friendly, I felt my journey as a dad was very different than theirs. Not being the main breadwinner and doing many of the tasks traditionally handled by the mother made me wonder: Am I the only man out here in this role?  

So I did some Googling. A few searches and emails later led me to The National At-Home Dad Network, an amazing organization at-home fathers who support each other and offer resources to help make them the best parents and partners they can be.  And somehow, in a sea of amazing dads who outshine my accomplishments in any number of ways, I was honored enough to be selected as a panelist at this past month’s HomeDadCon, the group’s annual conference.

Seeing all these dads, from various walks of life, who came armed with a number of questions on subjects from camping to mental health to gender and beyond, my most important take away of the weekends was this: Find your tribe.

How to find your tribe

It is so important to know that no matter where you are in life, it is likely there are many others out there who are in the exact same place. Once you accept this and that many of these people have the same struggles, the next step is to find them:

• Look online. Try a random Interest search or using a social platform like Facebook, Meetup or NextDoor. It’s easier than every to find your tribe be they fellow at-home fathers, hobby enthusiasts, musicians or what have you.
• Get to know your neighbors. Sometimes help and comradery is just outside your own front door.
• Get involved. It can be at your place of worship, your local school or a youth center. Volunteering is a fulfilling way to contribute to your community and meet others with common interests and issues.

While you find your tribe, don’t concentrate on finding your own twin. Not everyone should blindly support or echo your way of thinking, your feelings and — worse — your own bad behavior. You can’t grow as a parent if your only reinforce the habits you already have, some of which may not be best to practice.

As parents, we should look to find others who can challenge our way of thinking or give us a new perspective on how raising our children. Maybe they will shine a light on where you truly excel; maybe they’ll help you find where you can improve. Taking a step out of your comfort zone will help you learn more about who you really are, where you really stand, and where you really belong.    

Photo: © william87 /  Adobe Stock.

Want to help save a man’s life? Help us raise some cash by growing a ‘stache with our dads next month during Movember 2021.

City Dads Group again is seeking members and friends to help us support The Movember Foundation, a leading global organization dedicated to bringing awareness to serious health concerns for men such as testicular cancer, prostate cancer, mental health and suicide.

Movember challenges dudes every November to spark conversations about men’s physical and mental health issues. The growing of a mustache is meant to serve as a living awareness ribbon and talking point for the cause. In recent years, the Movember Foundation has also added an exercise challenge for the facial-hair challenged.

+ Join our Movember 2021 team +

The Movember Foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars since its founding in 2003 to help fund hundreds of health projects globally, according to its website. The organization’s work hopes to counter some of these frightening statistics regarding men’s health:

• Men, on average, die five years earlier than women in the United States.
• One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lives.
• Four of every five suicides are men.
• Testicular cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men ages 18 to 39.

City Dads Group is once again joining forces with the Life of Dad social network, the Dad 2.0 fatherhood conference and The National At-Home Dad Network to form a “Movember Dads” team. The group combined to raise more than $10,000 last year.

You can help our Movember 2021 team and the cause in several ways:

• Join the Movember Dads team. Sign up through our Movember Dads page. You’ll get your own personal fundraising page to link other to.
• Grow a mustache. Shave your mug on Oct. 31 and then don’t cut the fuzz off your upper lip for 31 days. Show it off to all, in person and on social media, and tell them why you are growing it. Don’t forget to ask for a donation to help the cause and link to your fundraising page.
• Move rather than mo. Sometime you just can’t grow a mustache. Maybe it’s genetics, maybe it’s because it would jeopardize your marriage. You can still help by committing to walk or run 60 miles in November — one mile for each of the 60 men lost worldwide every hour to suicide. Again, use your personal Movember Dads page for fundraising.
• Host a Mo-ment. Get with your Movember supporters — in person or virtually — for a game night, a sporting event or maybe an initial “shave off” to get the ball rolling and draw attention to the cause.
• Donate. At the least, you can always simply give to the cause. Donate to an individual or to our Movember Dads team as a whole.

City Dads Group, starting in 2011 with its founding NYC Dads chapter, has helped raise more than $133,000 to support the Movember Foundation and its partners.

Organizers of an annual conference for at-home fathers will again try to host an in-person event in 2021.

The National At-Home Dad Network recently put tickets on sale for HomeDadCon 2021, scheduled for Oct 14-16 in Cincinnati, the same locale where the previous year’s conference was set to take place. Health and safety concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic caused the nonprofit organization to scrub the autumn 2020 in-person event for an online only version dubbed DadCon@Home 2020.

The 2020 event would have been the support-and-advocacy network’s 25th annual in-person gathering. Instead, that anniversary will be celebrated at HomeDadCon 2021.

The convention is for at-home fathers who embrace parenting as their most important job. It allows them to network with other active and involved dads, learn from experts about various parenting and social issues, and also gives these full-time parents a chance to relax.

The National At-Home Dad Network is dedicated to providing advocacy, community, education and support for families where fathers are the primary caregivers of their children. Its stated purpose is to empower fathers and champion a culture that recognizes them as capable and competent parents.

Tickets for the HomeDadCon 2021 cost $209. Scholarships are available for those with financial need. Hotel rooms at the convention location are also now available for booking/

* Buy a ticket to HomeDadCon 2021 *

(DISCLOSURE: City Dads Group has been and is a long-time sponsor and partner with The National At-Home Dad Network for the event.)

The network recently posted on its Facebook page a call for speakers and topics for October’s fatherhood conference. In recent years, the at-home convention has held discussions on the importance of the father/daughter bond, budgeting and planning for financial emergencies, strategies for dealing with picky eaters, homeschooling tips, teaching children about sexual consent, and how to discuss diversity and racism with your kids.

Depending on the data source, somewhere between 160,000 and 2 million exist in the United States – a number steadily on the rise in the past few decades as attitudes and gender roles in the workplace and the home have evolved.

Josh Bellish of Beaverton, Ore., hit the internet shortly after the birth of his son three years ago in search of others in a similar situation to his own — an at-home father looking for a way to combat the isolation that sometimes comes with full-time parenting.

Just three years later Bellish has become a leader in two of those groups he found online: co-organizer of our 550-member Portland (PDX) Dads Group and, as of this month, the president of the nonprofit National At-Home Dad Network.

That latest title is of significant note.

Bellish’s election a few weeks ago at the HomeDadCon 2018, the at-home dad network’s annual conference, makes him the first gay father to lead the 15-year-old organization which provides advocacy, community, education and support for families where fathers are the primary caregivers of their children.

“It’s incredible,” said Bellish, 36, a father of a son with his husband, Matt Claeys. “But what’s most incredible is that my being gay didn’t have anything to be with my being elected to the board or president. I wasn’t elected as a gay man, I was elected because people thought I was the right man to run the organization.”

Al Watts, who served as the At-Home Dad Network’s president from 2011 to 2015, backed Bellish’s assessment.

“The membership really looks at finding people with the qualifications to be a leader, and Josh has them,” Watts said. “I’ve talked to Josh extensively in the past few years about the issues we have a stay-at-home fathers and they are much the same as any other father with the exception of the gender of his partner.”

Bellish said his being a gay father has been easily accepted by members of City Dads and the At-Home Dads Network, a point he hopes to capitalize on in promoting the works of both groups.

It was a quick rise to the top for Bellish, who only attended his first HomeDadCon two years earlier. He did support work for the 2017 convention held in Portland, where he was elected to the board of directors, and did extensive planning for the most recent event in Orlando.

Those two experiences will help shape one of the platforms of his tenure: streamlining and simplifying the conference planning so “every future volunteer has a clear path to follow,” he said.

The other platform is increasing the network’s membership both in general numbers and in overall diversity in terms of race, sexual orientation and socioeconomic background — something the organization has focused on the past few years.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are straight, gay, white, black or what have you. This is the place for you,” Bellish said. “We are here for all dads, not just straight white middle class dads.”

While he underplays his own pioneering status as a gay father leading the organization, he does hope it might garner enough attention to bring to light the network’s values and mission.

“Being an at-home dad still isn’t widely accepted, so legitimizing dads as competent and caring full-time parents is still a priority,” he said. Depending on the data source, somewhere between 160,000 and 2 million of us exist in the United States – a number steadily on the rise in the past few decades as attitudes and gender roles in the workplace and the home have evolved.

In addition to being a full-time father, Bellish is a Realtor and helps run a real estate group with his husband in the Portland area.

DISCLOSURE: City Dads Group has been a longtime sponsor of the HomeDadCon and a frequent partner of the National At-Home Dad Network.