Dad Guild fosters an environment that helps fathers bond with their children: An interview with Keegan Albaugh

Keegan Albaugh, founder of Dad Guild. Photo courtesy of Keegan Albaugh.

In a large loft at the top of narrow stairs in Burlington’s Soda Plant, and just next to Pitchfork Pickles, you can stand near the black railing to overlook the busy Soda Plant. The loft space is scattered with desks, each one individual to its owner. On one desk, a photo of a family sits beside a small pile of papers. Keegan Albaugh is tucked away in a corner, sunk into an old sofa, foot up on a wooden table, iced coffee in hand, discussing new business plans for Dad Guild on a virtual work call.

Albaugh became a dad for the first time in 2016. He has two daughters, Caroline, and Penelope. He studied human development at Colby College, and has a deep passion for fatherhood. He started his non-profit organization, Dad Guild, to help fathers form better connections with their children and break the stereotype of having only mothers meet for playgroups or activities.

The nonprofit organization now has around 750 dads participating, including fathers from Winooski, and continues to grow. As the executive director of Dad Guild, and the only staff member, Albaugh says he hopes to continue to expand Dad Guild across Vermont, and eventually the country, helping and supporting as many dads as he can. This organization has received local and national attention for the work it has accomplished.

What does Dad Guild mean to you? Why did you start the organization in the first place?

Dad Guild’s mission is to support and empower fathers by offering opportunities for connection, education, and community engagement. For me, my background is in exploring masculinity and I always wanted to be a dad. This does not exist, so let us make it exist. I became a dad for the first time back in 2016 and was super jazzed to connect with other dads and do some fatherhood stuff. I was really surprised when there was only one group who met once a week in the Burlington area. For me this was shocking because this is a progressive community.

You mentioned before we met in person that you are not from Winooski, so what drew you and your business to work out of Winooski?

I think our organization has always known that we were not going to be limited to Burlington, and that we were going to want to be working with fathers or masculine identifying characters, throughout the state of Vermont. Winooski is such a vibrant community that I have a lot if ties to, and a lot of our dads are from that community.

Within Winooski, what has been your favorite activity you have done for Dad Guild?

Gosh, there are a few. I really love the Winooski library. We have a monthly playgroup there and Kirsten Wilson, who is the librarian, is just such a fantastic person. She is so rad; she gets it in terms of the work that we are doing. We might only have two or three dads that show up to a playgroup but it's amazing because historically there is no space for a dad to discuss how they are feeling, but these guys show up and you ask how they are, and they talk for five minutes about how they are feeling.

Do you think Winooski is a good place to host activities for Dad Guild?

I worked at an alternative school in Winooski for about a decade and there is certainly no other community like Winooski in the state of Vermont, and very few exist in this country, that have the level of diversity and the population of actual square mileage area. It’s such a unique location, and so we are really viewing this as like looking to partner up with more organizations and develop a more trusting relationship.

Twenty percent of households in Winooski speak a different language, does that come through within Dad Guild? Do you see it a lot?

We don’t. It’s a lot of white heterosexual cisgender men which is an important population to engage in, in terms of encouragement to be caregivers and to address gender equality.  The benefits that fathers get from participating in Dad Guild are great, like an increase in confidence in parenting, an increase in number of folks they feel comfortable talking to, and just doing activities with their kids. When other populations aren't actively participating we wonder oh, what societal gaps are we widening, which is a big concern for us. It is complex. Fatherhood means so many different things in different cultures.

Was one of your goals to break the stereotype of “mom groups?”

There is a lot of research that shows how unequal the balance of domestic care and labor is. In heterosexual relationships it is primarily mothers who are taking on the bulk of domestic labor and the care giving, and you can trace that to gender norms in our society, the lack of parental leave for fathers and masculine identifying care givers. When mom has these supports groups and playgroups and is taking time off to be with kids and dad is not, by default she is the one who must think about when do the kids have doctors' appointments.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about Dad Guild?

 Folks can hop over to our website or follow us on Instagram and Facebook to keep up with what we are doing. I would say, whenever you see a father in the community with a young kid, go over and let him know about it. In our society men don't know how to look for a parenting support group. Why would you go look for something that you think does not exist? So, when they find it, they are like, “Wow this is great!” We are approaching 750 dads, which is pretty rad.

Anna Pedreschi is a junior majoring in journalism at Saint Michael’s College.