Ron Holden Jr had one big question on his mind as a coffee shop-loving father of two daughters, two-year-old Layla and one-month-old Nari: there is a lot of necessary outreach, resources and activities like “Mommy and me” yoga classes for mothers. But what kind of support do dads have?

“You go to doctor visits and quite literally, no one asks the dads: ‘How are you feeling? You all right, today? You good?’ It’s like: ‘Mom, you’re good. The baby is good,’” Holden Jr said.

Earlier this year, Holden Jr decided to start his own group of fathers and their kids that meets bimonthly at different coffee shops around Los Angeles for about 90 minutes. He calls it Dads Coffee Club. A father and daughter hold hands as they walk down a path on a warm sunny day.

There’s no agenda. Fathers and their children can come whenever they want. The men usually feel more comfortable in group settings with their children than by themselves, he said. Usually 25 to 30 dads show up with their little ones, and there’s a range. Some are new fathers. Others have kids in college, and all are of various races and ethnicities, experiencing fatherhood and their own children’s lives differently.

“It’s a safe space for you to just embrace your child being your child, exuding their energy and all that in the coffee shop and experiencing it,” Holden Jr said.

Holden Jr said it’s important to have safe spaces like this because so often men may feel tons of pressure when it comes to providing for their families and societal stress to fit the image of masculinity, so they won’t be vulnerable with sharing their personal lives.