The Dad Gang is a global organization founded by Sean Williams, committed to changing negative stereotypes of Black fathers and shaping the Black fathers of tomorrow.
Williams said he began the organization after a white woman at a store in Long Island told him she was glad to see that he “stuck around” while shopping with his daughter.
He said this moment compelled him to show his community and the world what Black fatherhood can and should look like. He created Dad Gang in 2016 initially through an Instagram page that displayed positive and real examples of Black fathers.
As the page’s following grew and he held events like “Dad Walks,” where fathers and children walk through an area to spread positivity and show what Black fatherhood looks like, he learned that his newfound passion reached further than he imagined.
“Initially, my goal was to build a platform that could change the narrative in media. So it was all about content,” Williams said. “And what then started to happen is I realized the community I was building was not just on social media. (With this understanding), our purpose then developed into being a support system for dads.”
The Dad Walks feature hundreds of fathers who are members of the Dad Gang, and he said they are walking again in Washington, D.C., Aug. 20.
He said his relationship with his father also prompted him to be a reliant and closer father to his children. He explained that his father, a Trinidadian immigrant, worked a great deal and provided for his family, but their relationship was not close.
He saw his first child as an opportunity to be the dad he wanted to have growing up. Williams said his first child, born in 2005, was unplanned, but he ensured he would be an active and reliable father. He said he is delighted with his relationship with his daughter, who is now entering college and growing into adulthood.
He said that after graduating from college, marrying his wife, and having two children, the white woman’s comment on his active parenting was offensive since he had already been a hands-on parent for years. He said that led him to create the organization and added he was accustomed to community building from serving as president of his fraternity.
The Dad Gang’s Dad Walks, Strollin’ with the Homies, stroller giveaways, and roundtable discussions support current and future dads financially and emotionally.
After the pandemic, many individuals were unable to work. He said, thankfully, his organization partnered with Walmart to provide families with financial support and shopping sprees for essential familial items.
The Dad Gang then began its nonprofit “Random Acts of Dadness” to solidify its support system with dads alongside Dad Gang. He said these organizations helped him author his first two children’s books, Girl Dad and Boy Dad, to honor his kids.
His future plans include working on publishing more books for dads and children and developing a podcast that will provide listeners with personal accounts of fatherhood for toddler dads to dads with adult children. He hopes these stories will shed light on how fathers feel and make people better dads.“Our goal is to bring The Dad Gang to every major city, spreading the word and showing proof that Black fathers are, in fact, very present and active in our children’s lives. We aim to set the new standard of what Black fatherhood looks like worldwide. Only then can we change the narrative and normalize the strong presence of Black dads in today’s society,” the Dad Gang website reads.