Being a dad proved a little crazy in these parts last week, what with an appearance at a special “dad edition” of The White House Summit on Working Families, us launching our nation City Dads Group website, and — oh — a few hundred media outlets around the globe deciding, “Hey, let’s ask these characters what they know about fathers playing an important role in their kids’ live” all at once.

You’ll find some of the highlights in City Dads Group Father’s Day Media Takeover, and here are some more specific NYC Dads Group items:

• The June issue of New York Parenting does an extensive feature on the Devoted Dads the members of our group are.
• MyFox5.com did a piece showing that if you are a dad and you are not involved with your child, then you are not the norm in the modern world of Doting Dads.
• Frequent blog contributor Christopher Persley appeared on Good Morning, America as one of “Three Dads Surprised by Kids’ Father’s Day Messages.”
• Another frequent contributor Sat Sharma and one of his daughters appeared in “Little Ones Weigh in on Why Dads are so Special” on the Today show

Christopher Persley on Good Morning, America last week.

Dads: You’ve come a long way with your babies.

Nearly six years ago, Matt Schneider and Lance Somerfeld started NYC Dads Group so local fathers had access to the same kind of parental camaraderie, support and network that the mothers they encountered around Manhattan had built and relied upon.

Today, NYC Dads Group consists of 1,000 fathers strong.

Today, Matt and Lance are participating in a special one-day conference at The White House with business leaders, Obama administration officials and others, such as N.Y. Mets’ second baseman Daniel Murphy who some criticized this year for taking paternity leave, to discuss the evolving role of fathers in raising children  along with issues working fathers face these days. It is part of The White House Summit on Working Families.

Today, at that conference, they will be joined by fathers from dads’ groups in Boston and Philadelphia that are part of a new national network of “communities for fathers” that Matt and Lance have helped spread in recent months.So, today, we are proud to announce the official launch of that national network and its website under the banner of City Dads Group.

City Dads Group is a dynamic and diverse community of fathers dedicated to being active in their children’s lives and, by example, redefining what it means to be a dad in the 21st century. We have groups centered around 11 major metropolitan areas throughout the United States.

City Dads Group – like the NYC group — brings fathers together, online and in real life, to:

• Support each other’s efforts to be the best father and parenting partner they can be
• Share their parenting perspectives, knowledge and experiences – good and bad – with each other and those who care about them
• Demonstrate that the new reality of parenting includes caring and capable fathers who are actively involved in the upbringing of their children

The new website, CityDadsGroup.com, acts as a hub of information for all the organization’s outposts. The site:

• Puts every city group’s many Meetup events in one location that is easily sorted by location and date
• Houses our award-winning blog filled with tales of fatherhood that give you food for thought, inspiration or a chuckle – sometimes all three.
• Hosts The Modern Dads Podcast with experts in parenting, work-life balance and more.

The NYC Dads Group blog will remain, but it will revert to a more localized source for our NYC members rather than the broader “news all fathers can use” site it has become at times.

So please: visit, bookmark and subscribe to our new City Dads Group site and all it’s social media features today … for who know what great things tomorrow holds for us, you and fathers everywhere.