The Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a project called Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM). Led by MDRC, a team of nationally known policy research organizations, and leading experts on marriage, marriage education programs, and services for low-income families, the SHM project is the first large-scale evaluation of marriage education and skills programs to benefit economically disadvantaged married couples and their children. The main goal of SHM is to learn about the most effective ways to help couples maintain or achieve healthy marriages. It is motivated by research showing: 1) married adults in low-conflict relationships and their children do better than others on a host of outcomes; 2) low-income couples’ marriages are more likely to end in separation and divorce; consequently, their children are less likely to receive the benefits of living with both parents throughout their childhoods; and 3) marriage education programs can bring about improvements in marital relationships. Because research on marriage education to date has focused primarily on middle class couples, SHM will provide important new evidence about whether these services benefit lower-income couples, and in turn their children. SHM will study programs that provide marriage education — instruction and support to improve relationship skills and strengthen marriages — for couples who volunteer. Service providers that become part of the SHM project will recruit and serve married couples who have children and will develop culturally appropriate services that are engaging and relevant to the couples they serve. These programs will also help participating couples find services to address individual barriers to healthy marriage, such as problems with employment, housing, or health. This document provides guidelines on the SHM program model, including the target population, program components, supports for participation, and types of potential service providers. (Author abstract)