We’re seeking to expand the innovative Dadfit program after outstanding results from a twelve-month pilot program supporting 150 families. This project will launch the Dadfit program in 3 new LGAs (Brimbank, Hume, Geelong), supporting 200 dads in culturally diverse and financially disadvantaged communities between July 2024 and June 2025. The Dadfit program for new fathers ...
Dadfit Community Ltd
Dadfit – Supporting healthy, gender-equal families by assisting disadvantaged fathers

GOAL
$20,000
Field of Interest
- Health/wellbeing and medical research
- Individual/family services and support
Target Population
- People experiencing socio-economic disadvantage or vulnerability
- Asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and people from CALD backgrounds

Dadfit is a Melbourne-based charity supporting healthy, gender-equal families by assisting disadvantaged men to be game-changing fathers who are healthy, loving and nurturing.
The challenge:
Unequal care-giving between parents is a major barrier to gender equality, with long-term impacts on women’s careers and family relationships. To create a gender equal future, we urgently needs dads to step up as care-givers.
However, too many men struggle with the fatherhood transition:
-1 in 2 increase negative health behaviours
-1 in 4 are isolated
-1 in 10 develop post-natal depression
-Only 1/3 of child-care is done by fathers
When dads struggle, entire families suffer, with increased risk to family health and of family violence. Existing supports (e.g. Maternal Child Health) fail to reach most dads, due to a lack of father-specific services. These challenges are magnified in disadvantaged communities.
The Dadift solution:
Dadfit's innovative program helps dads team up locally to exercise together, participate in facilitated discussions about mental health, parenting and healthy relationships (‘Dad Chats’), and put new ideas into practice (‘Dad Challenges’). This creates a lasting community that continues meeting beyond the five-week program.
Dadfit has incredible impact:
-93% of participants report positive mental health impacts
-90% of participants report positive physical health impacts
-90% say it’s helped them be a better dad
After supporting 150 families in our first year, we're seeking to expand our programs in 2024/25, focusing on culturally diverse families with children aged 0-5.
Project Summary
We’re seeking to expand the innovative Dadfit program after outstanding results from a twelve-month pilot program supporting 150 families. This project will launch the Dadfit program in 3 new LGAs (Brimbank, Hume, Geelong), supporting 200 dads in culturally diverse and financially disadvantaged communities between July 2024 and June 2025.
The Dadfit program for new fathers involves five weekly two-hours meetings, combining physical exercise (Dad Workouts), facilitated discussions about mental health, responsive parenting, healthy relationships (Dad Chats), and support to put new ideas into practice (Dad Challenges).
We’ll deliver the program 4 times in each LGA (12 times in total), partnering with Drummond Street and Community Hubs Australia, organisations with deep experience working with culturally diverse families in Melbourne’s West, North and Geelong. The projects will be delivered at local community hubs supporting families with children aged 0-5.
Our project will create lasting impact for 200 families AND provide valuable opportunities to attract long-term partners (local government, state/federal government, large foundations), building a sustainable model to enable our mission of supporting 20,000 families nationally by 2028.
Project Outcomes
We’ll directly support 200 dads with children aged 0-5 from culturally diverse, financially disadvantaged communities in the Hume, Brimbank and Geelong LGAs (combined population: 700,000). This includes families from India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Syria and Turkey. The project will indirectly support approximately 200 mothers and 400 children.
We'll measure the outcomes of the project using post-program surveys and interviews, in partnership with Drummond Street Services.
Expected outcomes for fathers:
- Improved mental health (reduced stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms)
- Improved physical health
- Improved social connection
- Increased self-confidence as a parent
- Increased knowledge of positive behaviours (parenting and relationships)
- Increased use of positive behaviours (parenting and relationships)
Expected outcomes for families:
- Improved maternal and child health
- Decreased risk of family violence
- Improved father-child relationships
- Improved partner relationships
- More equal sharing of unpaid care work
The project will also benefit the broader community through increased social inclusion and gender equality in families.
Budget Breakdown
TOTAL BUDGET: $55,000
FUNDING
Funding source | Amount |
---|---|
In-kind funding from Dadfit and project partners (confirmed) | $35,000 |
Funding gap (unconfirmed) | $20,000 |
EXPENSES
Expense item | Amount |
---|---|
Project coordinator (0.2 FTE) | $20,000 |
Program facilitators | $15,000 |
Bi-cultural co-facilitators | $9,000 |
Venue hire | $5,000 |
Equipment | $1,500 |
Refreshments | $1,500 |
Promotional materials | $1,000 |
Program evaluation | $2,000 |
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