2023 in the world of Dad La Soul

Dad La Soul charts another year full of activity, adventure and awards.

From launching new events with an array of different partners in a host of different locations to being recognised in the corridors of power, it’s been an eventful 12 months on our mission to battle social isolation in dads.

Our Worthing playdates for dads and their kids have continued to grow, as have the dads-only night time events. We’ve also added another dads-only meet-up in Hove with Freedom Works, and in Brighton in association with Propellernet and the Early Birth Association. In addition, this autumn saw us complete our first year of Brighton playdates at Plus X, which have proved a huge success.

During the summer, Dad La Soul partnered with the Baton of Hope, the UK’s biggest ever suicide prevention initiative. For that, we hosted an after-school playdate and even opened the doors to mums for the first time!

In June, we received a letter from Number 10 Downing Street to tell us that the Prime Minister had chosen Dad La Soul to receive a Point of Light award. Rishi Sunak wrote: “Through Dad La Soul, you have built a community of dads with global social impact. Congratulations, and thank you.”

But it wasn’t only the PM’s office that we infiltrated in Westminster. In November, our founder Dan Flanagan attended the House of Lords for a review of the State of the World’s Fathers report. It was a proud moment to have Dad La Soul take its place as a credible part of global conversations on gender equality and engaged fatherhood.

Interest also came from Sussex University, with whom we worked on a research project case study that used us as a model of a successful social enterprise.

Online, we launched a new podcast, Dad La Soul Extra Time, which provides listeners with chat topics to take to the pub or drop into the WhatsApp chat. And our Dad La Soul Sessions live stream included a powerful and funny interview with journalist Sam Delaney as well as chats with a self-defence expert, a comedian who jokes about his mental health, a man who takes on extreme challenges to raise money to save babies’ lives and many many more.

All in all, 2023 has been a riot. Here’s to more of the same in 2024.