In 1999, the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative (OMI) was launched to strengthen marriage and reduce divorce in the State. The initial impetus was an economic study done by economists with the State’s two comprehensive universities that linked various negative social indicators, including high divorce rates, to the State’s poorly performing economy. As a leader in development of this unique program, I participated in numerous discussions about the direction the OMI was to take. We made the decision to help strengthen marriages and reduce divorce because there was a consensus of social science research finding that children reared in single parent families are at higher risk of poverty, have greater difficulties in the labor market and become teen parents and high school dropouts at higher rates than children reared in two parent families. It is increasingly clear that children generally do better when reared by married parents. However, the quality of the parents’ relationship matters. Therefore, helping more couples develop and maintain stable and healthy marriages is sound public policy.