Programs and Initiatives in Texas

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Active Relationships Programs
Active Relationships Center
Kelly Simpson M.A. Psyc., LMFT, CSC
25 Highland Park Village, Suite 100-734
Dallas, Texas 75205
(877) 724-7789
Authored in 2003, Active Relationships is a state-of-the-art series and is a compilation of healthy marriages and relationships BEST practices, with available programs such as communication, money personalities, romance, traditions, active adults (for singles), active relationships for young adults (for youth), reunions (for military) and military life skills (for single or married military personnel).

Affair Recovery Center & Emergency Marriage Seminar
Crossroads Counseling Associates
4131 Spicewood Springs
Suite K-1
Austin, Texas 78759
888-5ARC-EMS
The Affair Recovery Center is a partnership of counseling professionals dedicated to the restoration of marriages crippled by infidelity. Our community includes numerous couples who have experienced the abundant blessings of reconciliation and renewal.

We offer:

  • A Community of Hope, made up of couples who have been where you are
  • Individual counseling is available through Crossroads Counseling & Associates at 512-346-9299
  • Affair recovery groups for couples and individuals
  • Free resources and links on our website
  • Seminars for organizations, ministries and churches
  • Subscription-only services for in-depth resources and ongoing support

Assistance to Refugee Couples (ARC)
Boat People SOS, Inc.
Office of Refugee Resettlement
Vietnamese view family matters as private and do not discuss personal health, family violence, or marital distress even with parents, children or siblings, let alone professionals. BPSOS has adapted the PREP curriculum to Vietnamese culture, and translated it. Assistance to Refugee Couples (ARC) provides marriage enrichment and family wellness services in hopes that Vietnamese couples will become equipped and receive assistance to better manage their marriages and families in healthy ways. To learn more about our program, please visit: machsongmedia.com.

AVANCE – Austin Healthy Marriages for Travis Counties
Avance, Inc.
2800 S. Interstate Highway 35, #160
Austin, TX 78704
Use(s) of ACF Program Grant Funds: The AVANCE – Austin Healthy Marriages for Travis and Bastrop Counties program will provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs for married couples. The program plans to serve 80 low-income married couples during its first year. Some of the objectives of the AVANCE – Austin Healthy Marriages for Travis and Bastrop Counties program are to guide couples in forming a positive support base, provide couples with information to reduce conflicts and provide couples with community resources and support services. Some of the desired outcomes are for couples to increase their knowledge of essential relationship skills, increase marital satisfaction and spend more time together. AVANCE – Austin has 22 activities planned for the project period which include weekly interactive sessions discussing healthy marriages and couple’s nights.

Building Relationships between Adolescent Parents
Texas State University - San Marcos
Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences
601 University Drive
San Marcos, TX 78666
The goal of the Building Relationships between Adolescent Parents project is to assist adolescent parents in building and maintaining healthy relationships by helping them develop their personal and relationship skills. They plan to train Texas State interns in a modified version of the Connections: Relationships and Marriage curriculum and to serve 60-120 adolescent parents and 20-40 of their family members the first year and 120-240 adolescent parents and 40-80 family members in subsequent years. Sessions of 10-20 participants will be held concurrently in the Austin/San Marcos area each fall and spring semester, one to two times a week, over a 12 week period during the lunch hour.

Building Strong Families in TX
Texas Office of the Attorney General, San Angelo and Houston, TX
Office of Child Support Enforcement – 1115 Waiver

El Paso Healthy Marriage Initiative
El Paso Center for Children, Inc.
1155 Westmorland Dr.
El Paso, TX 79925
The El Paso Healthy Marriage Initiative plans to provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs to married couples. The El Paso Center for Children will use classes and workshops to provide couples with marriage skills and will also have monthly follow-up sessions for up to one year. Additionally, social events such as ranch retreat and a mountain retreat will take place. In the first year, the program aims to serve 125 couples with children and will continue to serve that number of couples in the remaining years. Some of the objectives are to pilot the PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) Spanish curriculum, prepare and provide service plans for each participating couple, and support the formation of peer support groups.

El Paso Healthy Marriage Project
Model Cities - El Paso
11199 Pellicano Dr.
El Paso, TX 79935
915-591-0404
Use(s) of ACF Program Grant Funds: Model Cities-El Paso plans to provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs for married couples as well as, marriage skills training for couples or individuals interested in marriage. Using the Six Building Blocks of a Healthy Marriage (6BB) 12 hour curriculum, Model Cities expects to serve 1000 couples the first year, implement and operate an efficient and effective healthy marriage education training and support program for needy families in West Texas; implement and operate an efficient and effective program to promote responsible parenting, and implement and operate an efficient and effective program to reduce and eliminate aggressive behaviors and to promote non-violent married family life as the expected lifestyle.

The Family Enrichment Program (Houston)
Alliance for Multicultural Community Services, Somali Bantu of Greater Houston, Multi-Ethnic Community Center and Catholic Charities
Office of Refugee Resettlement

For Better and For Ever - Marriage Preparation
1617 Iowa St.
San Antonio, TX 78203
250-534-1129
In 1975, For Better and For Ever was designed to help local churches provide quality Christian marriage preparation for engaged couple. Since 1996, Marriage Preparation Resources has been on on-line resource for dating/engaged couples and churches.

What do we do? We teach what Christian marriage is and the skills needed for it.

Whom do we assist? We assist couples considering Christian marriage and Covenant marriage. We also assist clergy, marriage educators and "sponsor/mentor couples" who help couples prepare for Christian marriage and Covenant marriage.

Four Connections And A Fun Day
DePelchin Children’s Center
Childrens' Bureau
DePelchin Children’s Center will provide services to build resilience and strengthen marital and family functioning among adoptive families by establishing healthy connections: 1) cohesive marital relationships; 2) positive family relationships; 3) broad support networks; and 4) therapeutic expertise. The service components include (1) quarterly Fun Days; (2) four cycles of marriage education classes using the effective Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP), interwoven with the Educational Network for Adoption – Building Lasting Environments (ENABLE) curriculum which will be offered annually. Concurrently, children will participate in related social-emotional, educational and skill-development groups; (3) Office and home-based therapy services; (4) Financial assistance for respite services; and (5) Training for therapists on techniques, skills and promising approaches to work with adoptive families.

Greater Houston Healthy Marriage Coalition
Family Services of Greater Houston
3815 Montrose Blvd
Suite 200
Houston, TX 77006
Family Services is requesting funds to add five new activities to the Greater Houston Healthy Marriage Coalition’s array of services to increase its effectiveness in promoting healthy relationships among Houston’s low income population. Those activities include (1) developing a targeted media campaign to promote the Coalition’s goals and activities reaching over 50,000 people per year; (2) teaching relationship and communication skills to teens at various Houston-area high school locations reaching 620 teens per year; (3) coordinating the delivery of a pre-marital inventory (RELATE) among Houston’s leading non-profit counseling organizations to reach 400 couples per year; (4) conducting an annual multicultural marriage enrichment weekend program for 120 couples; and (5) using mentors to enhance the effectiveness of the core marriage education program to reach 20 couples annually. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen existing marriages and to prepare unmarried couples for successful healthy marriages.

Healthy Family Initiative
Healthy Family Initiative
7500 Beechnut
Suite 366
Houston, TX 77074
Healthy Family Initiative plans to provide Marriage education, marriage skills, and relationship skills programs that may include parenting skills, financial management, conflict resolution, and job and career advancement for non-married pregnant women and non-married expectant fathers. They will use a pilot program called "Loving Couples Loving Children" as a model to essentially reach out to 100 couples per year by capitalizing on the "magic moment" of birth, when the majority of unmarried parents’ marriage hopes are high and romantic ties are strong, to connect couples to a comprehensive package of healthy relationship/healthy marriage education and services and broader family support services.

Healthy Marriage
Child, Inc.
818 E. 53rd street
Austin, TX 78751
Through the Healthy Marriage program, Child, Inc. plans to provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs for married couples. Some of the goals of the program are provide family support services and monthly enrichment programs; some of the program’s objectives are to improve communication skills, improve marital satisfaction and improve child-parent relationships. In addition to providing marriage curriculum Child, Inc. plans to offer booster sessions and family support services.

Healthy Marriage Demonstration Project
Avance, Inc.
4281 Dacoma
Houston, TX 77092
The AVANCE – Houston Chapter plans to provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs to low-income married couples. Some of the objectives of the Healthy Marriage Demonstration Project are to promote a positive relationship in married couples, help couples improve communication skills and assist participants in clarifying their value systems. Activities to meet the objectives are four-month marriage enhancement modules and recreational family outings. Some of the outcomes the program expects are improved marital satisfaction, longer lasting marriages and increased problem-solving skills.

Healthy Marriage Program / Fortilacion Familia
AVANCE - Corpus Christi Chapter
1509 Tarlton
Corpus Christi, TX 78415
The Strengthening Marriages Program of Corpus Christi plans to provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs to married couples who meet Federal poverty guidelines. The Corpus Christi Chapter of AVANCE, Inc. has worked with the Austin and Houston, Texas chapters to better gauge what activities would be successful prior to the grant period. Some of the objectives of the Strengthening Marriages Program are to help couples increase communication skills to reduce conflict, understand the value of interpersonal relationships and assist fathers in becoming more active in childrearing. Some of the activities to meet the objectives are weekly interactive sessions to teach healthy marriage skills, community support services and classes on financial literacy.

Healthy Parents, Healthy Families, Healthy Children
Families Under Urban and Social Attack, Inc., Austin, TX
Office of Child Support Enforcement – SIP

Hispanic Active Relationships Project (HARP) in Cameron County
Active Relationship Center
25 Highland Park Villiage
Dallas, TX 75205
Use(s) of ACF Program Grant Funds: HARP will serve 1472 couples over five years. Active Relationships seminars will comprise the core marriage education content; other activities will include peer support groups, mentoring and weekend marriage retreats. The project will be launched by a multi-media public awareness campaign which, in addition to branding, marketing and public relations components will present annual events including a play, golf tournament and a Matrimonio Magnifico event to showcase healthy marriages and identify potential mentor couples.

Institute for Life Coach Training (ILCT)
Plano, Texas
888-267-1206
The Institute for Life Coach Training, (formerly Therapist University), is the first-of-its-kind training institute that specializes in training psychotherapists, psychologists, counselors and helping professionals in building a successful coaching practice.

LIFE Matters Healthy Marriage Program
Friendship West Baptist Church
2020 West Wheatland Rd.
Dallas, TX 75232
The program funds will be used to establish an outreach and support program; a media campaign; a marriage education and training program for married and engaged couples for over 1,000 couples per year; a relationship skills program for 2,500 teens per year; and a marriage enhancement and preservation program.

Mi Carrera Familia Unida
Young Women's Christian Association of San Antonio, Texas
314 North Hackberry #101
San Antonio, TX 78202
YWCA plans to provide education in high schools on the value of marriage, relationship skills and budgeting, as well as to provide pre-marital education and marriage skills training for engaged couples or couples and individuals interested in marriage. 200 high school students will be served at 5 high schools using the Active Relationships for Young Adults (ARYA) curriculum during weekly sessions with groups of 6-15 students. 150 individuals will be served with the 12 hour Active Relationships Center (ARC) curriculum offered in Spanish and English to provide pre-marital education and marriage skills training.

Nueces County Community Action Agency
101 SPID
Corpus Christi, TX 78405
361-654-7913
Grants funded for healthy relationship sessions are for couples and singles in the community including premarital, TANF recipients, and Head Start parents. The workshops range from 8 hours to 20 hours of education. The skills based workshops focus on communication, conflict resolution, financial management, and parenting skills. Healthy relationship workshops are also offered free for youth ages 12-17. In these sessions, youth learn how to build self-esteem and how to make appropriate choices. Incentives are offered to participants who complete the classes. These workshops are FREE to the community and FUN to attend. Come and build your long lasting healthy relationship.

Pat Love & Associates: Become a Certified Love Educator™!
Pat Love & Associates
4509 Foster Ranch Road
Austin, Texas 78735
512-892-5474
Distinguished professor, Certified Love Educator, Pat Love, Ed.D. is known for warmth, humor and commitment to learning. For more than twenty-five years, she has contributed to relationship education and personal development through her books, articles, training programs, speaking and media appearances. Dr. Love has published several professional articles, been featured in many professional books and developed relationships education media and materials being used nationally and internationally.

The Por Los Ninos Project
Family Service and the Division for Families and Children of the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, San Antonio, TX
Office of Child Support Enforcement – SIP
This project proposes to test the efficacy of collaborative intervention strategies to improve child support performance and outcomes for children and families by improving parenting, co-parenting skills, and encouraging healthy marriage. The target population is low-income and unwed couples.

Strengthening Marriages In Texas
Texas Health and Human Services (Avance)
Childrens' Bureau
Strengthening Marriages, translated as "Fortaleciendo Matrimonios", is a project designed to provide Hispanic couples in Head Start/Early Head Start programs and Child Protective Services with a four months series of program services aimed at relationship maintenance and improvement. The program includes 16 lessons during this four month period designed to provide Hispanic couples in the Houston area with skills for overcoming challenges faced by married couples. The project will use the “Family Building Communities” curriculum and will serve 105 couples per year. The project will also address extended family cultural issues that impact Hispanic married couples such as in-laws who reside in the home with the married couples.

Strong Families Dallas
Alliance for North Texas Healthy Effective Marriages (ANTHEM)
1201 Elm street
Dallas, TX 75270
Use(s) of ACF Program Grant Funds: The program grant funds will be used to deliver marriage education services to 8,360 married and engaged couples and persons interested in marriage, 5,910 non-married expectant parents and 3,445 high school students over the project period. ANTHEM will also launch a public awareness campaign to reach all Dallas-area residents.

Texas Healthy Marriage Development Program
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
909 W. 45th St.
Building # 2, mailcode 2010
Austin, TX 78751
Use(s) of ACF Program Grant Funds: Weekly workshops will be provided to 600 low-income unmarried couples considering marriage, pregnant TANF clients and her partner, and married and unmarried Head Start and TANF couples annually. In addition, a targeted public advertising campaign will be used to recruit program workshop participants and to educate the target population about the value of healthy marriage and its effects on child well-being. Curricula used will be: Within Our Reach and Within My Reach, two programs based on PREP but tailored to the needs and education level of low-income couples and individuals.

VOW Marriage Program
Longview Wellness Center, Inc.
1107 E Marshall Ave
Longview, TX 75602
Use(s) of ACF Program Grant Funds: The program grant funds will be used to educate 5,400 high school and college students in the Soul Mate curriculum annually; engage 800 couples annually in the Prepare/Enrich marriage program; hold enrichment weekends for 96 married couples annually; assist 288 couples annually who have high conflict marriages; and engage 50 mentor couples annually who will work with high-risk couples.