This brief offers recommendations for working with faith-based organizations to support State or local Healthy Marriage Initiatives. It explains that faith communities can offer a solid base of volunteers who are invested and passionate and who can be empowered and equipped to carry on the sustained work of healthy marriage programs. Recommendations are then discussed […]
This brief offers recommendations from an Oklahoma State policymaker on managing a statewide Healthy Marriage Initiative. Information is provided on the development of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative (OMI), the goals of the program, and the strategies used. Recommendations include: deliver evidence-based or research informed services; be prepared to change based on emerging research; include potential […]
This brief draws on the personal experience of the Project Director for Family Services of Greater Houston in Texas, to offer tips for lobbying a State’s legislature for the implementation of marriage preparation and relationship strengthening services. Recommendations include: know your legislators, know the lobbyists, do your homework before you pick up the phone, be […]
In September 2006, the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance (OFA) awarded grants to 226 organizations designed to promote healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood. This report summarizes the service models, activities, and preliminary outcomes of a select group of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grantees that were identified as part of OFA’s […]
This brief lists resources available to assist healthy marriage programs in delivering and enhancing services to Hispanic couples and families. Information is provided on national organizations and State and local Healthy Marriage Initiatives and coalitions. Excerpts are then provided from various working papers developed by the Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative to support program administrators as […]
The National Healthy Marriage Academy, held January 8 and 9 in Arlington, VA, provided an opportunity for representatives from several States to learn more about the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Healthy Marriage Initiative. ACF planned this Academy as an opportunity to answer several questions about the initiative, including: – What is the Healthy […]
This website provides resources for facilitators teaching marriage and relationship education classes. Links are given for information that addresses adult learning styles and dealing with difficult class participants, as well as for quizzes for assessing learning styles and teaching styles. Descriptions of three different types of class activities is provided, including activities designed to break […]
This brief explains that faith-based marriage promotion and education programs incorporate tenets of religious faith into operating principles regarding issues of marriage and family life. Key components of the programs are described and specific programs are profiled, including: Marriage Savers, Catholic Engaged Encounter, PAIRS, PREP, Reconciling God’s Way, the Third Option, the Caring Couples Network, […]
This brief cites research that indicates children who grow up in healthy married, two-parent families do better on a host of outcomes than those who do not, and that many social problems affecting children, families, and communities could be prevented if more children grew up in healthy, married families. The federal Healthy Marriage Initiative is […]
This report summarizes the proceedings of a conference held at the Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, Virginia, October 5-7, 2009, that brought together 35 leaders and practitioners from the youth development and relationship education fields to discuss the needs of disadvantaged youth and the capacity of the field to deliver relationship education to this population. […]