Good Dads in the Spotlight

The impact of fatherlessness on children can rip through a community.

Research institutions, such as the National Institution of Health (NIH), have focused more on fatherlessness since the mid-nineties. Their evidence shows that fathers can contribute uniquely to their children’s well-being. The NIH found that fatherlessness can increase a child’s risk of poverty, poor academic performance, aggressive behavior, adverse mental and physical health, drug and alcohol use, the likelihood of dropping out of school, and teen pregnancy, among other outcomes.   

Good Dads, established in 2015, is a nonprofit dedicated to creating a community that connects fathers to their children by providing inspiration, resources, and events for local dads. Headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, Good Dads serves communities across the state and opened its Columbia chapter in February 2024. It began when leaders in southwest Missouri recognized the impact of a father’s absence on a child’s well-being and came together to support fathers.   

For D’Markus Thomas-Brown, regional director for Good Dads, the organization was a missing puzzle piece for a community-oriented holistic system of care in Columbia.   

Good Dads is in the business of prevention — preventing children from becoming another statistic. Good Dads believes the three key ingredients for a great place to live are robust economies, safe neighborhoods, and strong schools and families — where great communities begin.   

Jane Williams, founder and executive director of Love Columbia, brought Good Dads to Columbia after seeing the need for its services. Good Dads offices are located in Love Columbia’s Victorian House next door to Love Columbia’s main office at 1209 E. Walnut St. Love Columbia provides referrals, sometimes walking clients across the parking lot to the other’s building.  

Good Dads also collaborates with TMT Consulting, The ROC, Grandma’s Southern Eats, Sophia’s Helping Hand, and Community Enrichment Inc., among other educational and faith-based organizations and social services agencies.   

How can you be a good dad if you’ve never seen one?   

“A good dad is a dad who is trying,” said Thomas-Brown. “If you’re trying to be a dad in my book, that constitutes a good dad.” 

Thomas-Brown explained that his team often builds from ground zero. Some fathers participating in Good Dads programs have not had a healthy fatherhood example in their lives, but they are present to break their generational patterns.  

Good Dads offers a variety of programs in each chapter. The organization emphasized that the programs and curriculums are evidence-based and data-driven, and developed in collaboration with organizations like PREP Inc., a prevention and relationship education program.   

One of Good Dads’ most popular programs, Good Dads, Strong Schools, is currently at West Boulevard Elementary and Alpha Hart Lewis Elementary schools. Held an hour before school begins, the program provides donuts, coffee, and milk to kids and dads and includes an activity to facilitate conversation and bonding.   

New Pathways for Good Dads and Good Dads 2.0 are programs created with at-risk fathers in mind. Thomas-Brown defined at-risk dads as fathers “at risk of losing their family, at risk of losing influence in their kid’s life, in their family’s life, at risk of a substance use disorder, at risk of recidivism, and at risk of poverty.” The programs help fathers enter their child’s life at an appropriate pace that works best for their child.    

Other programs include faith-based and community-orientated programs focusing on modeling and influence, emotional intelligence, and other topics. The programs run in sixteen and eight-week intervals and conclude with a graduation ceremony celebrating the work achieved.   

Fathers who enter a program with Good Dads are assigned a case manager who checks in with their progress and helps assist with other aspects impacting their fatherhood, such as managing child support. Case managers are also an ear to listen and lend support if a father needs to talk.   

After a father completes a program, their case manager continues to follow up with them, and they are encouraged to join continuing support groups. In the support groups, dads from all walks of life share a space to talk about the different stages of their children’s development, what it’s like to be a father, maintaining positive mental health as a dad, co-parenting and everything in between. Thomas-Brown noted that those groups naturally evolve into a community of dads uplifting each other.   

“Part of our secret sauce for that is that dads learn from each other,” said Thomas-Brown.  

As the fathers uplift each other, they uplift their communities. Thomas-Brown explained that a good dad is good for everyone. One involved father in a neighborhood can positively impact other children by providing a positive male role model for kids who might not have one at home, potentially mitigating some of the adverse effects of fatherlessness.   

On its website, Good Dads provided findings that engaged fathers are more engaged at work and experience more job satisfaction. Put simply, happy dads are happy employees.  

Thomas-Brown also pointed out that “present fathers” have been linked to better pregnancy outcomes for the mother. The NIH reported that father involvement during pregnancy is associated with a range of improved maternal and child health outcomes. When fathers are more involved, mothers are more likely to seek prenatal care and avoid unhealthy behaviors.   

A year into its existence as a chapter, Thomas-Brown explained that one of the top things he wants people to know about Good Dads is that everyone can participate.  

“If someone is thinking, ‘Man, I wish I could get involved,’ call me,” he said. “I think we’re all affected by fatherlessness in one way or the other. So, we all can be involved in remedying the gap.”  

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