Families First Parenting Programs

CONTACT:

99 Bishop Allen Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 868-7687
www.families-first.org

Crista Martinez, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

Families First is a young, leading, "Massachusetts original" charity, already replicated in Montana and Texas, committed to helping kids by helping their parents, who are children's first and most influential teachers. Spun-off in 1988 from a collaboration between The Children's Museum and Wheelock College, its first offerings of parent groups for Museum visitors were so popular that it moved in 1992 to its present site in Cambridge, with Wheelock as its fiscal agent. Still more growth persuaded them to become independent, so they incorporated in July 1998. They reach 4,500 parents and 1,500 professionals annually, in groups extending north to Lawrence, Andover and Newburyport, northeast to Gloucester, southeast through Boston to the Cape, and west to Worcester and Springfield (not to mention Montana and Texas). Clients are extremely diverse — including parents who are working or at home; married, divorced or single; foster- or grand-; immigrant or minority; both those who want, and those who need, to learn more. They teach understanding children's needs and behavior, responding to them in non-hurtful ways, overcoming isolation and stress, confidence based on competence, and pleasures in parenting. They have won the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund Leadership Award, and they need your help to grow even more.

(1999: HUMAN SERVICES: Children and Youth: General)