| Family Guidance Center of Alabama Awarded Grant to Provide Free Relationship and Marriage Education Programs | ||||
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MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA – Family Guidance Center of Alabama has received a grant through the Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention as part of the Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative. The $75,000 grant has allowed Family Guidance Center to create Life is Fun Together (LIFT): A Relationship and Marriage Enhancement Program which provides education and information on building and sustaining healthy relationships and marriages to all people in Montgomery and the surrounding areas FREE of charge. Using 5 specialized and research-based curricula, LIFT offers educational workshops, information and referral services, on-going support, and even a resource library to teenagers, single adults, non-married parents, adults and children in stepfamilies, premarital couples, and married couples. The skills taught can be used as tools to strengthen almost any relationship. Although classes are taught regularly at Family Guidance Center’s Executive Park location, they can also be provided in schools, workplaces, churches, and other locations within the community. “Family Guidance Center has a lengthy history of providing services to strengthen families and we are excited to be selected as one of the partnering agencies to provide these helpful workshops and resources in the Montgomery area,” said Dr. Walter White, Executive Director. The Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative was developed in response to Alabama’s high divorce rate. According to figures released in 2003 by the U.S. Census Bureau, Alabama has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation, consistently ranking in the top 5 or top 10 for the past 62 years. The Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative is a partnership of the Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, the Human Development and Family Studies department at Auburn University, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, and other organizations across Alabama like Family Guidance Center that wish to combat historically high levels of marital and family instability by providing access to relationship and marriage education programs to all of Alabama’s citizens.
The funding granted to Family Guidance Center is part of an on-going effort by the Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative, a 5-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Family Assistance. Specifically, the grant aims to strengthen family bonds by raising public awareness of the importance of healthy marriages for child, family, and community well being; increasing access to healthy marriage resources; and training community members and professionals in methods of best practices for marriage initiatives.
The first FREE workshops begin January 16, 2008 and meet once per week for 6 weeks. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Family Guidance Center at (334) 270-4100 to enroll in an upcoming LIFT workshop or to find out more about the individual classes offered.
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