Julie M. Baumgardner

First Things First is a community based nonprofit initiative dedicated to strengthening marriages and families through education, collaboration, and mobilization.  Based in Chattanooga, TN, FTF is mobilizing one community to strengthen families and restore a marriage culture.

Research indicated that despite all of the great things that have happened in Chattanooga in the 70’s and 80’s, difficult systemic problems endured.  Concern remained high about crime, a poorly equipped work force, poor health status despite soaring health costs, and the racial tension that continued to stress our city.

In 1997, a group of civic leaders who were frustrated with the vast resources being devoted to some of these issues -- sometimes with relatively limited results – began to question whether proactive preventive measures could address the issues of educational quality, crime, and related issues.

Research revealed the compelling links between family breakdown and the core issues facing our community.  Their next discovery truly mobilized them:

Chattanooga’s family health indicators were stunning:

• The divorce rate was 50 percent higher than the national average (33 percent/22 percent);

• Tennessee ranked fourth in the nation for divorce (6.8 per 1000; national is 4.6 per 1000). In 1999, the state had the dubious distinction of moving to number two in the nation, behind only Nevada. 

• Chattanooga had the 5th highest unwed birth rate of 128 cities in the nation, and in 1994, 50 percent of births in the city and 39 percent of births in the county were to single mothers;

• Tennessee ranked 3rd worst in the nation for the number of families headed by a single parent (1 in 3 families, compared to 1 in 4 nationwide). In 2000, we moved to 8th worst.

• There was a significant lack of father involvement.

FTF’s Vision 

In an effort to reverse the trends of destructive relationships and to strengthen the infrastructure of our community, First Things First:

• Advocates for strong, healthy, life-long marriage between a man and a woman;

• Promotes the fact that it is imperative for both mothers and fathers to be active in the lives of their children; and

• Works to prevent out-of-wedlock pregnancies.

Strategic Directions

Several strategic organizational decisions have guided FTF’s work.

• To build on the common ground shared by all people in our community;

• To be a secular organization that intentionally seeks to build bridges between sacred and secular, public and private;

• To demonstrate that these issues are common concerns shared by and impacting people of all faiths, races, and socioeconomic groups;

• To focus on advocacy, education, mobilization, and technical assistance;

• To work with a wide array of programs and initiatives that support family formation, increasing family stability, and creating systemic and long-lasting change; and

• To create a community-wide assault involving:  government, education, places of worship, social service agencies, healthcare, corporate entities, the private sector, the media, and private citizens.

To mobilize around these issues we developed four areas of strategic action:

• To use credible research to identify and understand significant problems facing Chattanooga, emphasizing families and youth. 

• To identify solutions that are based on traditional values and principles; to measure the effectiveness of these solutions based on credible, empirical data and to evaluate the impact of these potential solutions.

• To build broad public support for values based solutions through advocacy, communication, and collaboration rather than providing direct client services.

• To engage and equip local leaders and professionals who work with families who are also promoting values-based solutions, and to provide support that advances their effectiveness. 

First Things First has three strategic goals:

1. Reduce the number of divorces filed in Hamilton County by 30 percent

2. Reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies in Hamilton County by 30 percent

3. Increase sufficient involvement of fathers in raising children by 30 percent

Since 1997 we have contributed to a 33 percent decrease in divorce filings, a 27 percent decrease in the divorce rate and a 29 percent decrease in teen out of wedlock pregnancies.

Our Community Mobilization Strategy

Collaboration and Partnership

FTF builds partnerships and collaborations on three key levels:

1. Collaborating with agencies and institutional partners

2. Mobilizing individual partners and volunteers

3. Strategic use of media

Collaborating with agencies and institutional partners

At the same time, First Things First has sought to build strategic alliances with key agencies and programs that serve families or that have an impact on family policy.  FTF’s partnerships with area news media is a good example of this. Other strategic partnerships have included:

• The Hamilton County Courts

• Hamilton County Department of Education

• Hamilton County Health Department

• Churches, Synagogues, and Other Places of Worship

• Business Community Outreach

• Regional Health Council

• Colleges and Universities

• Healthcare

• Mental Health Professionals

• Families First Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancy Task Force

• Volunteer Agencies

• Fathering Initiative

• Early Childhood Education Programs

• Special Interest Groups

Mobilizing Individuals and Volunteers

Mobilizing individuals is crucial to implement true cultural change. We have mobilized individuals around these issue areas so they can go forward in their individual areas of influence – churches, workplaces, agencies – and in their personal lives to make an impact.

How have we done this?

• Finding volunteers (and creating the first database)

• Recruited volunteers and potential supporters who were friends of board or staff, community leaders, church leaders, fellow leaders in civic organizations.  We created a unique 4,000-person database in our first six months; we now have a 17,000-person database.

• Recruited 100 initial partner couples, who made financial contributions and were invited to first community mobilization training seminar. They in turn recruited other couples and individuals.

• Sign-up sheets for potential volunteers and for newsletter at every event.

• Finding creative ways to involve and engage volunteers, including:

• Recruiting key civic leaders to serve on the Board of Directors and Committees.

• Utilizing volunteers in all public events, including seminars and training.

• Using their skills and talents for media interviews, letters to the editor, writing, photography, and public speaking.

• Providing training to volunteers and community leaders, including:

• Community Mobilization Training (which encouraged at least three people to run for public office, including one person who won a Chancery Court race);

• Skills training for program leaders in curricula

• Training marriage mentors in area churches to promote and develop family life ministries that focus on marriage preparation and nurturing, fathering and parenting, and focus on all stages of family development.

• Producing a Marriage and Family Resource Manual for area church leaders.

• Educating them about family formation issues and empowering them to be a voice for families on the boards, commissions, and work groups on which they serve.

• Mobilizing and educating volunteers about how they can make a difference in their own spheres of influence.

• FTF frequently uses the “14 Things You Can Do” handout to motivate and encourage people to do something.

Steps For Starting A Community Initiative

Step One

Do your homework.  If you are passionate about starting a CHMI you will need to do your homework so you can talk intelligently about the issue.  Having passion is important, but you have to be able to back up your passion with facts.What are the divorce stats for your community?  How many children are born out of wedlock each year?  Is fatherlessness an issue for your community?  How does your community rate compared to similar communities across the country?  What are the state statistics for these issues?  What is happening nationally?  There is a wealth of information and research about marriage and divorce available on the internet.  You will need it in order to educate others about the issue and why they should come along side your efforts.Meet with your government officials. Spend time getting to know your city, county and state officials. Help them to understand how issues such as divorce, fathering and out of wedlock pregnancies are affecting the community and adding additional financial strain to taxpayers. Let them know about your plan and how they can get involved.

Step Two

Find like-minded friends who are also passionate about building strong marriages.  These will be folks who are willing to get out there and champion the cause with you.  Share the information you have found with your friends so they can pass it on to others in their sphere of influence.  This could be the beginning of a coalition of people who are willing to help you get this off the ground.  In Chattanooga, one person invited approximately 30 people to meet to discuss what was happening to marriages and families in our community.  From that group of people came the founding board of First Things First.Begin compiling a database of individuals who will rally around the cause. You can begin collecting this information from directories, community organizations, friends who give you names of people, etc.  Start communicating with them on a regular basis through a simple newsletter or email.

Step Three

Determine what is already happening in your community to strengthen marriage.  There is no point in reinventing the wheel.  You may have some great things happening in your community that are best kept secrets.  Do your homework to find out if there are premarital education classes, marriage retreats, marriage enrichment classes, etc being offered by churches, synagogues, agencies, counseling centers, etc?  How often and for how much?

Step Four

Develop a strategic plan for moving forward.  You will need to think about goals and objectives and develop corresponding plans of action.  See Strategic Plan document on this page.

Step Five

Get to know your local media personalities and work with them to raise awareness about issues surrounding marriage/divorce and what you are doing. After you have a plan in place, consider holding a kickoff press conference.

Step Six

Develop a strategy for funding your initiative.  This could be a seed grant from one foundation or corporate entity or it could be funding from several sources.  To get an initiative going a beginning budget of $250,000 would be reasonable.  See Development Plan document for an example of ways to fundraise.  If you have not investigated the requirements for obtaining your 501c3 status, you need to do so.

Step Seven

Get Educated.  There are many excellent marriage education curriculums you and your friends can be trained to teach.  Get involved with organizations like Smart Marriages (www.smartmarriages.com) or Association for Marriage and Family Ministries (www.amfmconference.com).  These groups highlight and provide training for the best demonstrated practices across the country.  They also help you get connected to other similar community initiatives across the country.

Step Eight

Evaluation and Outcome MeasuresTo determine progress it will be important for you to have baseline data you can refer to.  There are a number of surveys available to help you obtain data from your community (www.okmarriage.org; Hamilton County Marriage Report, Barna Research). In many instances communities can partner with local institutions of higher learning to complete this task.