Families First team members are leaders committed to building an equitable future for children and families.
We do this work grounded in our shared values.
Core Values
At Families First, We Value:
KINDNESS
We lead with kindness, compassion, and respect at all levels of the organization. We celebrate each other’s milestones and share in the joy of each other’s accomplishments. We lift each other up when learning hard lessons.
INTEGRITY
We approach everything that we do with integrity and responsibility. We prioritize transparency to ensure that our programs and policies fully embody our values.
INCLUSION
We welcome all people and celebrate their diverse perspectives, abilities, cultures, and values. We recognize the incredible value of lived experiences, and we encourage everyone to always bring their full selves to the table.
EQUITY
We know that equity is critical to our mission and vision and that we all benefit when everyone has equitable access to opportunity and resources. We commit to becoming a parent-driven, equity-focused organization that helps to dismantle deeply rooted systems of injustice stemming from racism, bias, and white supremacy.
LEARNING ORIENTATION
We strive to develop a culture of appreciation and learning that allows us to continuously raise the bar and improve our work. We push ourselves to sit with challenging emotions when encountering new ideas or different ways of thinking.
ADAPTABILITY
We believe that our programming must be adaptable and reflect the lived experiences of families in order to effectively meet their needs. Our culture of appreciation and learning allows us to successfully adapt our programming and practices in accordance with the current conditions of families and society.
COLLABORATION
We value a collaborative approach that leverages diverse networks and resources to comprehensively support families and communities. We invite stakeholders and staff of varying levels to participate in key decisions. We work with community partners to advance shared goals, and we participate in neighborhood and citywide efforts to influence large-scale change.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION & BELONGING STATEMENT
Families First believes that respecting diversity, embracing complexity, encouraging inclusivity, and practicing equity are essential for communities to thrive.
We will work alongside parents to improve child outcomes and support parent leadership.
We will incorporate and amplify parents’ voices at every opportunity, especially parents from racial, socioeconomic, and other groups that have long been ignored or silenced in policy design and practices.
We commit to the following:
- Welcoming and engaging all abilities, ages, cultures, religious/spiritual beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, races, family structures, etc., in our programs and at meetings and events.
- Incorporating parent ideas, feedback, and perspectives when making decisions, designing and evaluating our programs, and conducting fundraising activities.
- Aligning our fundraising practices with the Community-Centric Fundraising model rooted in transparency, equity, and social justice.
- Utilizing our network of partners, parents, and community leaders to recruit staff and internship candidates from the neighborhoods where we work.
- Ensuring that the Board of Directors and staff reflect the communities where we work and embrace this DEIB statement.
- Ensuring that all employees are justly compensated and supported.
- Ongoing education, reflection, and skill-building on cultural humility and cultural competence.
