MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™
Stronger Households. Stronger Children. Stronger Communities.
It Starts With My Household.
MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ is a National Opportunity League opportunity designed to strengthen the household by bringing parents, guardians, and children together around respect, discipline, responsibility, emotional regulation, education, entrepreneurship, and family discovery.
We often talk about what needs to change in our schools, neighborhoods, and communities.
MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ starts with a different question:
What can we strengthen inside our own household first?
Because when households become stronger, children become stronger.
When children become stronger, schools become stronger.
And when households and schools become stronger, communities become stronger.
The Challenge
- Across America, families are facing increasing pressures.
- Parents are working.
- Children are spending more time on phones and social media.
- Families are spending less meaningful time together.
- Communication is becoming more difficult.
Young people are being influenced by people and platforms outside of their households. And too many children are learning some of life's most important lessons only after experiencing the consequences of not knowing them. MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ exists to bring the household back together around learning, communication, discovery, responsibility, and opportunity.
The MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ Philosophy
We cannot ask schools to do everything.
We cannot expect communities to solve everything.
We cannot blame society for everything.
There are things we can begin doing ourselves.
MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ teaches a simple philosophy:
Before I ask someone else to change, I can strengthen my household.
Before I ask the school to do more, I can strengthen my household.
Before I ask my community to do more, I can strengthen my household.
Before I expect a better future, I can help prepare my household for it.
MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST.
Not because the rest of the community doesn’t matter.
But because strong communities begin with strong households.
Why MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ Matters
What children learn inside the household travels with them when they leave it.
A child who understands respect carries respect into school.
A child who understands discipline carries discipline into their responsibilities.
A child who learns to regulate emotions is better prepared to handle conflict.
A child who understands consequences can make better decisions.
A child exposed to entrepreneurship can begin seeing opportunity differently.
And a family that communicates, learns, and works together can become stronger together.
MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™
creates opportunities for families to practice those principles instead of simply talking about them.
What Households Learn
Understanding the importance of respecting yourself, your family, authority, and others.
Learning that success requires consistency, responsibility, commitment, and completing what you start.
Learning to recognize emotions and respond to them without letting temporary feelings create permanent consequences.
Understanding that every decision has a potential outcome and learning to consider the cost before making important choices.
Creating opportunities for parents, guardians, and children to talk, listen, ask questions, and learn more about one another.
Introducing young people and households to ownership, creativity, problem-solving, business, and economic opportunity.
Helping families better understand money, budgeting, saving, planning, and financial responsibility.
Creating experiences that allow family members to discover things about one another that everyday schedules and distractions may otherwise prevent them from learning.
Teaching every member of the household that strengthening the family requires participation, accountability, and effort.
THE FAMILY DISCOVERY CHALLENGE™
Discover Together. Learn Together. Win Together.
The Family Discovery Challenge™ is a featured component of MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™.
It turns household development into an interactive family experience where eligible households complete challenges and activities together while learning valuable life skills.
The Family Discovery Challenge™ is designed for households with at least one eligible child ages 7–18 who is enrolled in school.
Families don’t just talk about strengthening their household.
They compete together. Learn together. Discover together. And have the opportunity to WIN together.
The Family Discovery Challenge™ Grand Prize
One participating household will have an opportunity to win a package designed to make a significant financial difference for the entire family:
TWO YEARS OF HOUSING SUPPORT
Up to 24 months of rent or mortgage payments, capped at $2,500 per month.
Potential value: up to $60,000.TWO YEARS OF GROCERY SUPPORT
Up to 24 months of grocery support, capped at $500 per month.
Potential value: up to $12,000.TWO YEARS OF GAS SUPPORT
Up to 24 months of gas support to help reduce another major household expense.
A NEW FAMILY VAN
Helping the winning household with reliable transportation for work, school, activities, appointments, and family life.
A FAMILY VACATION
An opportunity for the winning family to step away from everyday responsibilities and create memories together.
Imagine the Impact
Imagine having your rent or mortgage supported for two years.
Imagine having grocery support for two years.
Imagine having gas support for two years.
Imagine receiving a new family van.
And imagine taking your family on a vacation together.
That could change a household financially.
But the Family Discovery Challenge™ is designed to create something that can last even longer:
A stronger family.
The prizes provide the incentive.
Family development is the mission.
Second-Place Family
The opportunity doesn’t stop with the Grand Prize.
The Second-Place Family can receive:
Up to 12 months of rent or mortgage support, capped at $2,500 per month.
Up to 12 months of grocery support, capped at $500 per month.
A Family Vacation.
Winning School District
MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ recognizes that families and schools share an important responsibility in preparing young people for their futures.
The school district connected to the winning household can also be recognized through the Education Excellence Award, creating an opportunity for the Family Discovery Challenge™ to benefit not only a household, but the educational community supporting its children.
The MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ Framework
Every participating household should be encouraged to ask:
Do we really know one another?
Do we communicate with one another?
Do our children understand consequences?
Do we practice respect inside our household?
Do we understand how to regulate our emotions?
Are we teaching financial responsibility?
Are our children being introduced to entrepreneurship and ownership?
Are we preparing our children for life—or simply hoping they figure it out?
And most importantly:
What can we do together to make our household stronger?
That is MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™.
The MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ Commitment
My household matters.
My children matter.
Our communication matters.
Our decisions have consequences.
Respect starts with us.
Discipline starts with us.
Responsibility starts with us.
Preparing our children for the future starts with us.
I cannot control everything happening in the world.
But I can help strengthen what happens inside my household.
MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST.
Who MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ Serves
Helping young people develop respect, discipline, emotional regulation, responsibility, financial awareness, and an understanding of consequences.
Providing opportunities to engage with their children through meaningful activities, conversations, discovery, and learning.
Creating structured reasons for families to spend meaningful time learning and accomplishing something together.
Creating another bridge between education and the household while encouraging family participation in a child's development.
Providing an opportunity to engage families around responsibility, education, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and stronger household relationships.
Supporting families while reinforcing values, responsibility, service, accountability, and stronger relationships.
Allowing organizations to invest directly in stronger households and stronger communities.
Our Vision
To create a national culture where households intentionally spend time learning, communicating, discovering, and growing together.
To equip young people with respect, discipline, emotional regulation, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, personal responsibility, and an understanding of consequences before those lessons have to be learned through costly mistakes.
To encourage parents and guardians to recognize that they remain one of the most powerful influences in the development of their children.
And to demonstrate a simple principle across America:
STRONGER HOUSEHOLDS CREATE STRONGER COMMUNITIES.
MY HOUSEHOLD FIRST™ It Starts With My Household. Featuring the FAMILY DISCOVERY CHALLENGE™ Discover Together. Learn Together. Win Together. Put Your Household First.