Recapping Dadvocating with Columbus City Council

As you may know by now, we have been pursuing our Dadvocate for Change campaign for over a year now. The culmination of our most recent efforts partnering alongside four dads who happen to sit on Columbus City Council will wrap up on June 14, as 130+ changing tables will be distributed to area businesses or installed into Columbus Parks & Recreation restrooms.

With the support of Council President Shannon Hardin, Council Pro Temp Rob Dorans and Councilmembers Nick Bankston and Emmanual Remy, area small businesses could submit for changing stations to be put into their public facing men’s and gender-neutral restrooms. This was known as the Changing Station Accessibility Grant that was available to Columbus-based businesses that had 50 employees or less and didn’t have a changing station in either restroom. Nearly 50 businesses, requesting roughly 70 changing stations, took advantage of this grant. The hope is to have this continue annually to ensure easier access for all to change children in public.

It's exciting to think about how many area places will now be accessible for all to have clean, safe ways to change their children in public. This is a wonderful showing of what the public and private sectors can do to try and move the needle even in small ways that add up to a bigger difference.

Through the efforts of The Dadass Podcast and CBUS Dads, the Dadvocate for Change campaign has opened doors and opportunities we have not thought possible just a year ago:

• We’ve been able to not only connect, but record with Congressmen Jimmy Gomez who founded the Dad Caucus in Congress after breaking the internet when he carried his son Hodge on the Capitol floor earlier this year
  
• Our campaign introduced us to the moms who founded Pluie and Donte Palmer who started #SquatforChange
  
• The kickoff event of this campaign collected 1,800 diapers and 720 wipes that benefited 127 families in need
  

Lots to celebrate as we near Father's Day, but there's still more work to do! stay tuned for what's ahead!

-Matt Lofy, The Dadass