Providence, R.I., is less than an hour’s drive from downtown Boston and even closer to its southern suburbs, so expanding our Massachusetts dads’ group into the neighboring state made much sense. (Google Maps)
Two great New England state capitals now have another thing in common — a City Dads Group.
The Boston Dads Group, one of the first created when City Dads Group went national in 2014, in recent months has widened its reach about 50 miles south to neighboring Rhode Island where fathers living in and around Providence can benefit from its camaraderie and resources.
The expansion started when Michael Malkoff, who had been an active member of our Chicago Dads Group, relocated with his family to Providence earlier this year.
“When my wife, Shawna, and I decided to move to Rhode Island for family and career reasons, I knew that I would need the support and fellowship of a dads group,” Malkoff said. “Only problem was, Providence didn’t have one. I had read a 4-year-old article in the Providence Journal about at-home dads in Providence. Most dads interviewed mentioned that they were hoping there would be a local dads group, but there wasn’t. So, I knew there was a need.”
That’s when he made contact with our Boston fathers.
“It is hard to get a group going on your own and Boston already had lots of dads in southern Massachusetts and some in Rhode Island that we weren’t programming for,” said Robbie Samuels, an organizer for our Boston fathers. “So when Michael moved to Rhode Island and said he wanted to start hosting events, we welcomed him posting his events on our Boston Dads Group site,”
Michael Malkoff, shown with his wife, Shawna, and their two children, is the founder of the Providence Dads Group — part of our larger Boston Dads Group. (Contributed photo)
Malkoff, an at-home dad to a 2-year-old daughter and 3-month-old son, had previously worked in education for 13 years: half as a classroom teacher, half as a new teacher coach/trainer and training event organizer.
The addition of Providence, some increased media coverage and robust programming has helped the chapter to grow from 525 members in March to 610 today.
“It’s been fantastic having him on our organizing team and being able to say that we have events from north of Boston to Providence,” Samuels said. “We’re even planning a cross-city family picnic in September that will be centrally located between Boston and Providence.”
You can find the Providence Dads Group on these social media channels (as part of our Boston group):
City Dads Group is a dynamic and diverse community of fathers redefining, by example, what it means to be a dad in the 21st century. Our national support network has more than 8,100 members based in and around major metropolitan U.S. cities. These include Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York City.
Founded in November 2008 in New York City as a way a handful of fathers could arrange playdates and outings with their children. The organization went national in 2014.
Leave a Reply