African American-Targeted Programs
THE HEALTHY MARRIAGES/HEALTHY KIDS PROJECT OF MISSISSIPPI
PURPOSE: This project will recruit and train African American clergy and volunteer married couples to teach marriage education classes utilizing the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP). The PREP will be taught in the churches and to the Starkville School District’s Family-Centered programs clientele to 50 premarital and married couples [per year??]. A Marriage Bureau will be developed to provide information and referral; one of which will be to maintain an on-going list of clergy and mentor couples who have been trained and are available to provide classes in the community. Individualized marriage classes will be provided for couples who are referred from the Department of Human Services and whose children are either at risk of entering, or are already in, the child welfare system. The grantee plans to host a Marriage Summit to celebrate healthy marriages, disseminate information about the benefits of healthy marriage to children and families, and to share ideas on marriage strengthening.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Starkville School District
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2005 -9/29/2009
FUNDING:
PROGRAM OFFICE: Children’s Bureau
THE HEALTHY MARRIAGES-STRONG FAMILIESINITIATIVE OF WASHINGTON, DC
PURPOSE: The Healthy Marriages – Strong Families Initiative is a collaborative project between East Capitol Center for Change (ECCC) and the East River Strengthening Collaborative, a community based child welfare agency that serves at risk African American families. This partnership will (a) provide a public education campaign on the benefits of marriage and healthy relationships; (b) host an annual “Celebrate Black Marriage Day” event; (3) institute a “Marriage Works” Mini-Grants Program; and (4) offer workshops and other programming based on the African American Family Life Education Program which provides marriage enrichment and parenting education for African American family leaders. The group will also adapt the strategies of the Marriage Savers Program and the FOCCUS premarital inventory to help unmarried parents to consider marriage when appropriate. The project plans to serve at least 50 couples per year.
GRANT RECIPIENT: East Capitol Center for Change
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2005-9/29/2009
FUNDING: $600,000 ($150,000 per year)
PROGRAM OFFICE: Children’s Bureau
THE MARRIAGE FIRST PROJECT OF ILLINOIS
PURPOSE: The goal of this project is to provide African American and Hispanic unmarried cohabiting couples with a variety of marriage enhancing services to increase the number of marriages before conception, to increase the well-being of children, and to increase public knowledge about the benefits of marriage. The project will also serve low-income, married couples. A multi-faceted approach will be used based on the work of Alan Hawkins, PhD from BYU and his colleagues titled, “A Comprehensive Framework for Marriage Education,” which uses the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) for full-and half-day marriage education seminars. There will be three tiers of service delivery: public awareness campaigns and public service announcements; higher intensity, “Integrated Marriage Education” (which includes services to adolescents in need of preventative services) serving 350 couples per year; and intensive case management (which includes marriage-based information and materials), serving 45 families per year.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Rockford MELD
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2005-9/29/2009
FUNDING: $600,000 ($150,000 per year)
PROGRAM OFFICE: Children’s Bureau
THE MARRIAGE WORKS OF PENNSYLVANIA
PURPOSE: The Marriage Works program will develop a network of churches in four targeted African American communities of Pittsburgh that will be equipped to strengthen the relationships of couples with children under the age of 18. The initiative will conduct classes using a culturally appropriate adaptation of the nationally recognized PREPARE/ENRICH marriage education materials, provide couple-to-couple mentoring services, offer crisis marriage support, and refer the most difficult relationships to appropriate sources of help. The goal of the project is to establish five sites in one year and an additional five sites in each of the three subsequent years in which small group relational education programs will be provided. Follow-up mentoring and coaches will provide additional support. Over the course of four years, The Marriage Works project plans to serve 450 to 500 parents of children at risk of entering the child welfare system.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Family Guidance, Inc.
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2005-9/29/2009
FUNDING: $600,000 ($150,000 per year)
PROGRAM OFFICE: Children’s Bureau
FAMILY CONNECTIONS IN ALABAMA
PURPOSE: This project will specifically target African-American and Latino non-married parents who are IV-D clients and who have a youngest child age 2 or younger. An innovative, multi-pronged recruitment and retention strategy will be utilized. Male/female teams and couple mentors from within the target communities will manage the program participation and delivery of the child support services information and marriage education (ME) services. Child support workers will provide educational sessions on child support services and will partner with project personnel to track objective measures of child support outcomes.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Family Connections in Alabama
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/05 – 9/29/08
FUNDING:
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Child Support Enforcement, Special Improvement Project (SIP)
HEALTHY PARENTS, HEALTHY FAMILIES, HEALTHY CHILDREN
PURPOSE: This project focuses on a population of African-American custodial and non-custodial parents, age 18, and offers services enabling them to strengthen the family unit and create a healthy, stable family. The intervention strategies are designed to affect couples and their children and consist of three components: assessment, marriage education and relationship skills and support services to enhance marriagability.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Families under Urban and Social Attack, Inc., Austin, TX
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/05 – 9/29/08
FUNDING:
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Child Support Enforcement, Special Improvement Project (SIP)
TOGETHER WE CAN – CREATING A HEALTHYFUTURE FOR OUR FAMILY
PURPOSE: This project will investigate the efficacy of integrating healthy marriage content into Family Support Education (FSE) programs targeting African-American and Latino families; develop and test an educational intervention on healthy marriage formation for unmarried African-American and Latino parents participating in two Michigan counties, Pontiac and Saginaw; and disseminate program curriculum, lessons-learned and other information to early-parenting programs statewide and nationally. Child support enforcement education will be integrated as a key theme throughout the project.GRANT RECIPIENT: Michigan State University
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/05 – 9/29/08
FUNDING:
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Child Support Enforcement, Special Improvement Project (SIP)
MINNESOTA HEALTHY MARRIAGE ANDRESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE
PURPOSE: This project encourages stable family formation by providing couple mentoring by minority couples to parent couples near the birth of their children. Couples are recruited from in-hospital paternity programs and pre-and post natal programs at local hospitals. Participants and mentors are heavily involved in project planning and design.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Minnesota Office of Child Support Enforcement
PROJECT PERIOD: 7/01/04 – 9/30/09
FUNDING:
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Child Support Enforcement, 1115 Waiver
AISH HATORAH OF WASHINGTON, DC, INC.
PURPOSE: Aish HaTorah of DC is an “international educational organization dedicated to bringing the wisdom of Judaism into the everyday lives of all people.” It’s a non-profit organization, whose main focus is education. Aish HaTorah of DC created the BLISS Marriage Enrichment Seminar, an interactive, multi-media PowerPoint presentation.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Aish HaTorah of Washington, D.C., Inc
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2006 -9/29/2011
FUNDING: $498,654 per year
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance
ALLIANCE FOR NOTRTH TEXASHEALTHY EFFECTIVE MARRIAGES (ANTHEM)
PURPOSE: 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.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Alliance for North Texas Healthy Effective Marriages (ANTHEM)
PROJECT PERIOD: 09/30/06-09/29/11
FUNDING: $903,425 per year
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance
BETTER FAMILY LIFE
PURPOSE: The program grant funds will be used to launch a city-wide healthy marriage social marketing campaign, deliver marriage education to 400 youth using the “Keys to a Healthy Marriage” curriculum, deliver marriage education to 300 TANF-eligible recipients using the “PREP” curriculum, deliver pre-marital education to 200 participants using the “PREP” curriculum, deliver marriage education to 50 unmarried fathers using
“PREP” curriculum, deliver marriage education to reduce divorce rates for 50 couples using the “PREP” curriculum, and will deliver a marriage mentoring program to 150 couples also using the “PREP” curriculum. (All of these numbers are annual numbers
GRANT RECIPIENT: Better Family Life, Inc.
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2006-9/29/2011
FUNDING: $1,097,000 per year
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance
FRIENDSHIP WEST BAPTIST CHURCH
PURPOSE: 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.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Friendship West Baptist Church
PROJECT PERIOD: 09/30/06-09/29/11
FUNDING: $546,025 per year
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance
GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF FAITH-BASED AND COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
PURPOSE: GOFBCI will offer divorce reduction programs that teach relationship skills. 1000 couples will participate in multi-session marriage enrichment. The program is designed to renew the culture of marriage in the service area of Ohio. It will reduce divorce in Ohio in targeted communities, increase the prevalence of pre-marital preparation so that pre-marital preparation becomes a community norm, improve marital satisfaction among participating communities, increase relationship skills in participating communities and access to relationship skills training, especially pre-marital, and increase local marriage supports for married couples and increase the availability of culturally appropriate marriage supports in participating communities.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Governor’s Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives
PROJECT PERIOD: 09/30/2006 – 9/29/2011
FUNDING: $544,140 per year
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance
MOREHOUSE COLLEGE
PURPOSE: Morehouse College plans to use grant funds for the following purposes: 1) to assist couples experience an increase in knowledge of the benefits of marriage and strategies for healthy marriages, 2) assist participants in managing conflict, 3) teach participants in the use of the PAIRS Curriculum, 4) teach participants financial planning strategies, 5) assist unemployed and underemployed participants in seeking employment, 6) increase marriage rate of unmarried couples by 25%, and 7) conduct marriage education discussion groups. Approximately 150 clients, or 75 married and unmarried couples, will be provided services per year as measured by intake data.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Morehouse College
PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2006 -9/29/2011
FUNDING: $549,147 per year
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance
OIC OF AMERICA
PURPOSE: Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America (OICA) was founded in 1964 by the late Reverend Leon H. Sullivan and 400 African-American ministers. OICA’s mission is to lead the nation in providing quality education and training services through a national network of local affiliates that enable economically disadvantaged people of all backgrounds to become more productive members of society. OICA was a co-convener of the HHS African American Healthy Marriage Initiative. In 2004 OICA released a culturally relevant youth marriage curriculum called Keys to a Healthy Marriage, designed for youth ages 12-18. The curriculum is currently being implemented and evaluated in 25 U.S. cities.
GRANT RECIPIENT: OICA
PROJECT PERIOD: 09/30/2006 – 9/29/2011
FUNDING: $550,000 per year
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance
ROCKDALE MEDICAL CENTER
PURPOSE: The Rockdale Medical Center (RMC) will implement the Marriage Appreciation Training Uplifting Relationship Education (MATURE) project. MATURE integrates educational strategies that support healthy marriages through the provision of 15 lessons. It will serve 2000 9th through 12th grade students in the tri-county area of DeKalb, Newton, and Rockdale Counties of Georgia, utilizing the “Pairs for Peers and Connections: Relationships and Marriage” curricula. In addition to marriage appreciation, lessons will address healthy male/female relationships and life-skills information such as dating violence prevention, domestic violence prevention, and budgeting. Activities proposed to accomplish objectives will be achieved through a dual approach (school site and community based). Activities will include a marriage appreciation awareness dinner, an essay competition for students on a marriage related topic, and marriage trading cards with pictures of couples who have been married 25 plus years and their marriage stories and tips for success.
GRANT RECIPIENT: Rockdale Medical Center
PROJECT PERIOD: 09/30/2006-09/29/2011
FUNDING: $455,510 per year
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance
UNITED WAY OF JACKSON COUNTY
PURPOSE: The program grant funds will be used to conduct a public advertising campaign to reach residents of Detroit and at least 50,000 low-income African Americans annually; will deliver relationship education to 500 high school students per year using the Connections + PREP curriculum; provide pre-marital education to 1000 prisoners interested in marriage using the PREP, 700 TANF recipients using the PICK Program, and 300 engaged couples using the PREPARE and FOCCUS inventories; provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training to 300 married couples and 300 blended family TANF recipients using the PREP and Smart Steps for Step Families curricula; provide divorce reduction programs for 150 couples in crisis using the Retrouvaille and The Third Option curricula; and provide marriage mentoring for 300 couples.
GRANT RECIPIENT: United Way of Jackson County
PROJECT PERIOD: 11/01/06 -10/31/11
FUNDING: $1,099,461 per year
PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance