It is a fair question to ask: “”Why a survey on married Arkansans?”” Arkansas has one of the highest divorce rates in country; however, beyond these alarming statistics, this survey was prompted by additional concerns found in local and national data that encouraged marriage educators and providers to work together. In an exploratory stage of this project, focus groups were conducted to determine an area were the faith community might work together with other organizations to have a positive influence on the social, physical, and/or psychological state of the Arkansans. Initial discussions pointed toward the need to provide mentors to serve our at risk youth. Such programs are in place and having an positive result. However, the consensus across four focus groups with social workers, educators, counselors, and other professionals from private, non profit, government and religious organizations, was that the best way to reduce the number of at risk children in our state was to work together in order to improve the chances for healthy marriages for Arkansans who want to be married. This focus group data indicated the importance of healthy marriages to community health in the three following major areas: social health markers, education markers, and economic markers. This concern over the health of marriages resulted in the desire for data specific to Arkansas. Informal working relationships developed between organizations that shared a common interest in gaining valid information about marriages in our state. This newly emerging group, similar to other initiatives in Utah and Oklahoma, began to refer to themselves as the Arkansas Healthy Marriage Initiative (AHMI). This group developed a survey that would inform and guide the initiative. (Author abstract modified)