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In 1999, Oklahoma began to consider how state government might play a role in strengthening families and marriages. To achieve their goals, the governor and key leaders first sought support for a statewide marriage initiative. In the first few years of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative (OMI) various strategies were tested; some worked as anticipated and some that did not were revised or abandoned. Over time, OMI leaders developed an intervention strategy of offering marriage education, identified a stable source of funding, and established a public-private management structure. While relying on existing infrastructure and volunteers, OMI staff also began developing a service delivery system to make marriage education accessible to all Oklahomans. This brief describes how Oklahoma developed public support, designed an intervention strategy, and secured funding, set up a management structure, and formulated goals and objectives for its marriage initiative. (Author abstract)