Hispanic-Targeted Healthy Marriage Programs

 

THE HEALTHY MARRIAGES PROGRAM OF EL CENTRO

PURPOSE: El Centro de Recursos Para Familias, a program within this Diocese, will implement the El Centro Healthy Marriage Initiative. This project will provide the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) curriculum in Spanish to 200 Latino couples in the Mercer County area. They propose serving approximately 50 couples during each of the four years of the grant. The model will utilize linguistically and culturally appropriate outreach and intervention services using both bilingual and bicultural staff.

GRANT RECIPIENT: Catholic Charities Diocese of Trenton

PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2005 – 9/29/2009

FUNDING: $600,000 ($150,000 per year)

PROJECT 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

 

PROJECT CORAZON DE LA FAMILIAR-MARRIAGE EDUCATION ANDFAMILY ENRICHMENT SERVICES

PURPOSE: Spaulding for Children proposes to provide services for 365 pre and post adoption couples in 23 counties in South Texas. They plan to offer marriage education in Spanish and English, post adoption support to parents and children, and professional counseling.

GRANT RECIPIENT: Spaulding for Children

PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/06 – 9/29/2011

FUNDING: $1,250,000 ($250,000 per year)

PROGRAM OFFICE: Children’s Bureau

 

STRENGTHENING MARRIAGES IN TEXAS

PURPOSE: Strengthening Marriages, translated as “Fortaleciendo Matrimonios”, is a project designed to provide Hispanic couples in Head Start/Early Head Start programs and Child Protective Services with a four months series of program services aimed at relationship maintenance and improvement. The program includes 16 lessons during this four month period designed to provide Hispanic couples in the Houston area with skills for overcoming challenges faced by married couples. The project will use the “Family Building Communities” curriculum and will serve 105 couples per year. The project will also address extended family cultural issues that impact Hispanic married couples such as in-laws who reside in the home with the married couples.

GRANT RECIPIENT: Texas Health and Human Services (Avance)

PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2005-9/29/2009

FUNDING: $600,000 ($150,000 per year)

PROGRAM OFFICE: Children’s Bureau

 

 

THE POR LOS NINOS PROJECT

PURPOSE: This project proposes to test the efficacy of collaborative intervention strategies to improve child support performance and outcomes for children and families by improving parenting, co-parenting skills, and encouraging healthy marriage. The target population is low-income and unwed couples.

GRANT RECIPIENT: Family Service and the Division for Families and Children of the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, San Antonio, TX

PROJECT PERIOD: 9/1/06 – 8/31/10

FUNDING:

ROGRAM 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

 

ACTIVE RELATIONSHIPS CENTER

PURPOSE: HARP will serve 1472 couples over five years. Active Relationships seminars will comprise the core marriage education content; other activities will include peer support groups, mentoring and weekend marriage retreats. The project will be launched by a multi-media public awareness campaign which, in addition to branding, marketing and public relations components will present annual events including a play, golf tournament and a Matrimonio Magnifico event to showcase healthy marriages and identify potential mentor couples

GRANT RECIPIENT: Active Relationships Center

PROJECT PERIOD: 09/30/06-09/29/11

FUNDING: $524,705 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

ALLIANCE FOR NORTH 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

 

AVANCE – AUSTIN CHAPTER

PURPOSE: The AVANCE – Austin Healthy Marriages for Travis and Bastrop Counties program will provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs for married couples. The program plans to serve 80 low-income married couples during its first year. Some of the objectives of the AVANCE – Austin Healthy Marriages for Travis and Bastrop Counties program are to guide couples in forming a positive support base, provide couples with information to reduce conflicts and provide couples with community resources and support services. Some of the desired outcomes are for couples to increase their knowledge of essential relationship skills, increase marital satisfaction and spend more time together. AVANCE – Austin has 22 activities planned for the project period which include weekly interactive sessions discussing healthy marriages and couple’s nights.

GRANT RECIPIENT: AVANCE – Austin Chapter

PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2006-9/29/2011

FUNDING: $261,825 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

AVANCE – CORPUS CHRISTI CHAPTER

PURPOSE: The Strengthening Marriages Program of Corpus Christi plans to provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs to married couples who meet Federal poverty guidelines. The Corpus Christi Chapter of AVANCE, Inc. has worked with the Austin and Houston, Texas chapters to better gauge what activities would be successful prior to the grant period. Some of the objectives of the Strengthening Marriages Program are to help couples increase communication skills to reduce conflict, understand the value of interpersonal relationships and assist fathers in becoming more active in childrearing. Some of the activities to meet the objectives are weekly interactive sessions to teach healthy marriage skills, community support services and classes on financial literacy

GRANT RECIPIENT: AVANCE—Corpus Christi Chapter

ROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2006-9/29/2011

FUNDING: $250,000 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

AVANCE – HOUSTON CHAPTER

PURPOSE: The AVANCE – Houston Chapter plans to provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs to low-income married couples. Some of the objectives of the Healthy Marriage Demonstration Project are to promote a positive relationship in married couples, help couples improve communication skills and assist participants in clarifying their value systems. Activities to meet the objectives are four-month marriage enhancement modules and recreational family outings. Some of the outcomes the program expects are improved marital satisfaction, longer lasting marriages and increase.

GRANT RECIPIENT: AVANCE – Houston Chapter

PROJECT FUNDING: 9/30/2006-9/29/2011

FUNDING: $236,851 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

CRECIENDOS UNIDOS/GROWING TOGETHER

PURPOSE: Creciendos Unidos/Growing Together’s Healthy Marriage Demonstration program will provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs to low-income married couples. Objectives of the program include helping couples improve communication skills, improve problem-solving skills and improve satisfaction within their marriage. The program will have three levels of marriage education services based on participant’s schedules and other factors (transportation and childcare) as well as couple’s events to encourage retention in the marriage education sessions

GRANT RECIPIENT: Creciendos Unidos/Growing Together

PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2006 -9/29/2011

FUNDING: $274,091 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

EL PASO CENTER FOR CHILDREN, INC.

PURPOSE: The El Paso Healthy Marriage Initiative plans to provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs to married couples. The El Paso Center for Children will use classes and workshops to provide couples with marriage skills and will also have monthly follow-up sessions for up to one year. Additionally, social events such as ranch retreat and a mountain retreat will take place. In the first year, the program aims to serve 125 couples with children and will continue to serve that number of couples in the remaining years. Some of the objectives are to pilot the PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) Spanish curriculum, prepare and provide service plans for each participating couple, and support the formation of peer support groups.

GRANT RECIPIENT: El Paso Center for Children, Inc.

PROGRAM PERIOD: 9/30/2006-9/29/2011

FUNDING: $490,460 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

FOUNDATION FOR A GREAT MARRIAGE

PURPOSE: The program funds will be used to serve 11 of the 14 most populous counties and 57% of the population in Wisconsin, approximately 3.04 million people. Residents will be informed and given access to opportunities to learn the skills and knowledge necessary to form and sustain healthy marriages. FGM will use skills-based, research-validated resources and network with leaders in the healthy marriage movement. The allowable activities that will be implemented include: public adverting campaigns (particularly targeted to the Latino population), marriage education in high schools, premarital education and marriage skills training (particularly targeted to the Latino population), and divorce reduction programs. The project expects to provide marriage classes to a minimum of 1,620 couples over its five year span.

GRANT RECIPIENT: Foundation for a Great Marriage

PROJECT PERIOD: 09/30/2006 – 9/29/2011

FUNDING: $545,000/year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

LAUGH YOUR WAY AMERICA, LLC

PURPOSE: the Hispanic Multimedia Marriage Seminar will provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training program to low-income married couples. Objectives of the Hispanic Multimedia Marriage Seminar are to help couples through marriage coaching and divorce reduction. Some of the activities that will take place are the viewing of educational videos, interactive role-playing and presentations on the changing roles of men in the Latino culture. A unique feature is that the staff will use humor as a basis for couples opening up as well as feeling more comfortable in the environment.

GRANT RECIPIENT: Laugh Your Way America, LLC

PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2006 – 9/29/2011

FUNDING: 265,336 per year

PROJECT OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

NUEVA ESPERANZA, INC.

PURPOSE: The Marriages of Hope Program intends to provide marriage enhancement and marriage skills training programs to low-income married couples. The goal of the Marriages of Hope program is for the couples who are being served to sustain and improve their marriages in spite of challenges. Objectives of the program include providing culturally relevant marriage enhancement training and training congregational couples to serve as marriage mentors. Activities include implementation of the marriage curriculum, marriage workshops, a marriage enrichment retreat and a marriage mentoring program.

GRANT RECIPIENT: Nueva Esperanza, Inc.

PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2006 -9/29/2011

FUNDING: $550,000 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY-SAN MARCOS

PURPOSE: The goal of the Building Relationships between Adolescent Parents project is to assist adolescent parents in building and maintaining healthy relationships by helping them develop their personal and relationship skills. They plan to train Texas State interns in a modified version of the Connections: Relationships and Marriage curriculum and to serve 60-120 adolescent parents and 20-40 of their family members the first year and 120-240 adolescent parents and 40-80 family members in subsequent years. Sessions of 10-20 participants will be held concurrently in the Austin/San Marcos area each fall and spring semester, one to two times a week, over a 12 week period during the lunch hour.

GRANT RECIPIENT: Texas State University-San Marcos

PROJECT PERIOD: 09/30/2006 – 9/29/2011

FUNDING: $464,937 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

THE EAST LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY UNION (TELACU)

PURPOSE: The program grant funds will be used to conduct a public Advertising in which they will collaborate with Hispanic Communications Network to develop a 5-year awareness campaign about the benefits of marriage that will reach over 100,000 families; will build relationship skills among high school students using the Love U2 program to 540 students annually; will provide pre-marital education using the Within My Reach (PREP) curriculum to 200 individuals annually; will provide marriage enrichment using the Family Wellness and Relationship Enhancement curricula to 1,225 married couples annually; and establish marriage mentoring for 600 couples per year.

GRANT RECIPIENT: The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU)

PROJECT PERIOD: 09/30/2006 – 9/29/2011

FUNDING: $1,100,000 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance

 

WELD COUNTY HEALTHY MARRIAGE INITIAVE

PURPOSE: The program grant funds will be used to launch a media campaign to raise the awareness of the benefits of healthy marriage to reach all residents of Weld County; will conduct marriage enrichment weekends for 300 couples and provide marriage education classes and booster sessions for 350 couples annually; will use marriage educators to develop relationship skill paths for couples who are facing divorce; and will conduct interactive seminars on building strong families that pair 210 married mentor couples with 210 young couples interested in marriage.

GRANT RECIPIENT: Weld County

PROJECT PERIOD: 9/30/2006 -9/29/2011

FUNDING: $907,655 per year

PROGRAM OFFICE: Office of Family Assistance