First Things First, Inc.
First Things First, Inc. (FTF) is a community-based nonprofit initiative dedicated to strengthening families through education, collaboration and mobilization. Goals are to lower the divorce rate and the rate of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and to increase father involvement in the lives of Hamilton County children.
FTF provides skill building workshops for couples, parents, singles and fathers and a resource library. Through mass media FTF educates the public about how to have strong marriages and families. The organization also offers cutting edge training of professionals who work with families.
Formed in 1997, FTF partners with community and religious organizations, foundations, governments, schools and others to help change attitudes and behaviors about the importance of family.
Over the years thousands of people have attended FTF classes and enrichment opportunities, and more than 300 communities across the country have requested training from FTF to start their own healthy marriage and family initiatives.
Last fall FTF received a grant from the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services for development of new programs, services and resources aimed at helping individuals and couples interested in or preparing for marriage, as well as those already in marriages.
FTF has been cited for its “tremendous impact” on the community and described as “the kind of grassroots organization we need to replicate throughout the U.S. to instill the importance of family values in the fabric of our next generation.”
Julie Baumgardner, president and executive director of FTF, spoke at the White House Conference on Helping America’s Youth, testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee about the benefits of marriage and has presented at the Brookings Institute.
