- February 2014
- Vol. 15, No. 2
Marriage and Relationship Education
In recent years, relationship education has been regarded as an effective tool for teaching the skills that foster healthy relationships and strengthen marriages. A new publication from the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center (NHMRC) provides practical guidance to organizations wishing to develop effective relationship education programs in their communities. The manual, Marriage and Relationship Education (MRE) Program Development and Management Manual, integrates and expands upon resources created by NHMRC in the course of its work with federally funded healthy marriage grantees, as well as incorporating tools and strategies suggested by those working in the MRE field.
The goal of the manual is to support the work of social service providers in delivering MRE through providing how-to guidance on developing MRE programs on building capacity; budgeting and funding; curriculum development; workshop logistics; program management; building public awareness; recruitment, enrollment, and retention of participants; and evaluation. Addenda include a glossary of terms; a list of online resources; and reproducible worksheets for use in programs, including tools for assessment and budgeting and a sample press release.
The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center (NHMRC) is a clearinghouse for information, resources, and training on healthy marriage for researchers, policymakers, media, marriage educators, couples and individuals, and program providers.
Initial funding for this project was provided by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Hard copies of the manual are available for purchase from NHMRC, or it is available as a downloadable PDF document: