Water First

Launched in 2010 by the Lexington Tweens Nutrition and Fitness Coalition, Water First aims to decrease sweetened beverage intake by promoting drinking water. The program provides online educational tools for parents and tweens and interactive resources such as journals to track water intake and text reminders to drink water. This initiative targets parents of tweens primarily and tweens secondarily, since parents strongly influence their children's beverage intake habits. Tween focus groups determined early on that the campaign should positively treat water as the default drink of choice rather than a purely negative portrayal of sugary beverages for optimal reception. Water First is supported by Florida Prevention Research Center, with funding from CDC.

Water First aims to reduce the sugary beverage intake and increase water intake in tweens through an educational website for tweens and their parents, and promotion in the community.

Water First has launched its website, an interactive resource for improving water drinking habits, and has promoted its campaign for water in many community centers.