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Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative:
Grantee Implementation Evaluation

Project Purpose

Hispanics are the fastest growing population in the U.S., increasing 58 percent between 1990 and 2000.  By 2030, nearly 20 percent of the population will be Hispanic.  Hispanics have the highest birth rate; however, less than 60 percent of Hispanic children live with two married biological or adoptive parents, and Hispanic children are three times as likely as non-Hispanic white children to live in poverty.  In response to both the size and needs of the Hispanic population, special attention is being paid to how Hispanic marriages and families can be strengthened through effective, culturally appropriate marriage and relationship education programs.

The Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative (HHMI) is building interest in and capacity to provide culturally relevant marriage education to Hispanics nationwide as part of the Federal Healthy Marriage Initiative.  With the funding for marriage education programs through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and other mechanisms, there is now a sizable number of federally funded marriage education programs that target or serve a significant number of Hispanic couples.

Little is known about how such programs effectively reach and serve Hispanic families.  This evaluation, a joint effort between the Administration for Children (ACF) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), both within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will examine the ways in which healthy marriage grantees are developing, adapting and implementing culturally relevant and appropriate healthy marriage programs for Hispanic populations.  It will:

• Document the diverse programmatic approaches being implemented by a sample of healthy marriage grantees serving Hispanic families;
• Identify the lessons learned in implementing these approaches; and
• Generate hypotheses about which approaches and practices appear most promising.

Key Tasks

This five-year implementation evaluation will accomplish the following key tasks:

• Selection of up to ten sites representing a variety of program approaches
• Development of a research design to evaluate program implementation, including culturally appropriate data collection instruments.
• Extensive qualitative and quantitative data collection.  Field research will include program staff and key stakeholder interviews, participant focus groups, reviews of curricula and observation of program activities.
• Development of practice briefs and presentations describing key findings at each stage of the evaluation.
• A final report describing results of the analysis, recommendations for further research, and assessment and appropriateness of variables, measures and methods used to study program implementation.
• Broad dissemination of project findings to marriage education providers, Hispanic-focused organizations, policymakers at all levels, the research community, and foundations.

The Team

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), in partnership with the Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative leadership, contracted with The Lewin Group and its subcontractors, MDRC and the Washington University Center for Latino Family Research, to conduct this implementation evaluation.  To learn more about this project, please contact:

• Girley Wright, ACF, Co-Task Order Officer at (202) 401-5070 or girley.wright@acf.hhs.gov
• Jennifer Burnszynski, ASPE, Co-Task Order Officer at (202) 690-7409 or Jennifer.Burnszynski@hhs.gov
• Mike Fishman, The Lewin Group, Project Director at (703) 269-5655 or Mike.Fishman@lewin.com
• Luis Zayas, Center for Latino Family Research at Washington University at (314) 935-9448 or lzayas@wustl.edu

More Information

• Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), HHS
• Head Start
• Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative

Where to?

Top of Page

Home Pages:
Human Services Policy (HSP)
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Last updated:  10/02/2008