On May 16, NGA’s Health Equity Learning Network held a webinar focused on ways states and territories can address food insecurity through nutrition programs. The webinar featured remarks from Wyoming First Lady Jennie Gordon who highlighted the work of the Wyoming Higher Initiative. Mrs. Gordon launched the initiative in 2019 with the mission to end childhood hunger in Wyoming. The initiative works to prevent food insecurity by increasing awareness and support for the work of local anti-hunger organizations and by connecting like-minded organizations and funding support for local solutions.
Mrs. Gordon highlighted examples of partnerships her initiative has cultivated with numerous nonprofit, business and government entities to further the goals of the Wyoming Hunger Initiative, especially the aim to reach more Wyoming residents who are experiencing food insecurity or who want to help combat food insecurity. Mrs. Gordon noted her initiative has found success collaborating with many organizations, including the state’s cattle ranching industry and the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. These organizations work to provide healthy protein sources, while other partners help provide fresh produce, distribute donations to food banks and raise awareness about food insecurity. Mrs. Gordon stressed the work of her initiative is made possible because it draws on the expertise and experience of partner organizations located across Wyoming.
The nation’s First Spouses often create initiatives that champion causes that closely impact the residents of their states and territories, and First Spouses can choose to work closely with nonprofit organizations to form strategic partnerships that help further the work of their initiatives. By partnering with established nonprofit organizations, First Spouses can rely on the expertise and networks of the organizations to further the objectives of their initiatives.
At the 2025 NGA Winter Meeting, Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine and Oklahoma First Lady Sarah Stitt led a session to showcase ways First Spouses can collaborate with nonprofit organizations to help further the goals of their initiatives. They stressed that partnering with nonprofit organizations can stand as one of the most impactful ways to elevate a cause, noting it enables First Spouses to leverage the contacts, resources, awareness campaigns and research of organizations.
In Ohio, Mrs. DeWine has worked closely with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, successfully partnering with the organization to expand the program, which provides books free of charge to children from birth to age 5, across Ohio. Mrs. Stitt has partnered extensively with Casey Family Programs to further her efforts to advocate for those suffering from mental health conditions and adverse childhood experiences.
At the 2025 NGA Winter Meeting, Maryland First Lady Dawn Moore also presented on her initiatives’ focus on children’s mental health, military families and the arts. Mrs. Moore highlighted the Ad Council as example of an organization First Spouses’ offices can collaborate with to help raise awareness about important causes, stressing the value of partnering with respected organizations that have the infrastructure and resources to help First Spouses reach more Americans when championing a cause or advocacy campaign.
Many of the nation’s First Spouses have developed successful partnerships with organizations to help advance meaningful causes in their home states and territories. For example, when deadly tornadoes hit Western Kentucky before Christmas in 2021, Kentucky First Lady Britainy Beshear organized a toy drive for the children who had just lost everything. She did the same to help children in Eastern Kentucky following the devastating floods in the summer of 2022. The campaigns relied on partnering with individuals, businesses and nonprofits and led to the donation of more than 100,000 toys and $200,000 in gift card donations.
In New Jersey, First Lady unveiled the Nurture NJ Maternal and Infant Health Strategic Plan as part of the Nurture NJ initiative she launched in 2019 to reduce the maternal and infant mortality epidemic in New Jersey. The strategic plan was the culmination of more than a year of meetings conducted with hundreds of critical stakeholders, including national public health experts, such as the nonprofit March of Dimes, New Jersey state departments and agencies, health systems, physicians, doulas, community organizations, and mothers and families.
Additional information about First Spouses’ initiatives can be found at: https://www.nga.org/governors/spouses/.
