Healthy Marriages Healthy Relationships
Overview
The HMHR project provides relationship building skills to participants in the Grand Rapids area.
HMHR uses a collaboration of faith-based community organizations to provide the relationship classes. The main two classes are Family Wellness and No Jerks. The Family Wellness class is for people interested in improving communication and problem-solving skills in couple and family relationships. The No Jerks class is designed for singles who want to learn what to look for and what to avoid in searching for a healthy relationship. The classes are voluntary and are offered at the community organizations at no charge.
For more information on the HMHR project or to inquire on current classes please contact the Project Coordinator Marlene Olson via e-mail at Marlene.Olson@pinerest.org.
Funding
The HMHR project was a five-year federal grant funded by the Department of Human Services Administration for Children and Families through a contract with the State of Michigan Department of Human Services; match funds for the grant were provided by the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. The purpose of the federal grant was to provide relationship building skills to parents and expectant parents in order to improve the well being of their children. The federal grant, which occurred from October 2003 to September 2008, served over 4200 low-income participants.
Following the successful completion of the federal grant the State of Michigan’s Department of Human funded the project for another year with possible funding of two additional years. The State expanded the project to serve youth in addition to parents and expectant parents. The collaboration has already served almost 400 participants in the new state grant.
Nationally The project was one of fourteen such national projects, serving more than two and a half times the number of participants than the next most successful project. The HMHR project was closely evaluated by national evaluators and has been identified as a best practice site by the Administration for Children and Families. HMHR is successful because of its unique model of using existing neighborhood and community organizations to recruit and coordinate services at their site and the use of a community intermediary to keep the collaborative partners connected together and provide support.
Project oversight is provided by Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. For more information on the HMHR project please contact the Project Coordinator Marlene Olson via e-mail at Marlene.Olson@pinerest.org.
For information on the ACF Implementation report click here:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/strengthen/eval_com/reports/grand_rapids/grand_rapids.pdf