Marriage Money - Headed for the guillotine? - 12/08/06

[Smartmarriages]

- MARRIAGE MONEY - HEADED FOR THE GUILLOTINE?

I hate to ruin your weekend, but also don't want to withhold information
about clouds forming on the horizon. I realize it can be confusing to send
out a big tah dah about another $5.5 marriage grant award one day followed
by a grim piece like this the next. But, I want to remind everyone that our
Coalition and the Marriage Education Movement existed long before the
federal marriage money was even a glimmer in the fed's eye.  And that if the
federal marriage money fades away, we will continue - just as before, only
the stronger for it.  The need will certainly still be there - couples
needing and wanting help to get smarter about marriage. And, it will still
be obvious to MOST people that an upstream, educational, affordable approach
that helps couples stay together to raise their own kids makes sense - for
the men, the women, the kids, the collective community, and the individual
taxpayer.  I also want to be sure you realize that at the upcoming
conference we'll focus on all kinds of efforts that are not dependent on the
federal marriage funding. Just as before.  Mike McManus and his highly
effective Community Marriage Policies (CMPs) began long before the current
administration became interested in marriage education. The CMPs have
operated on grassroots support from communities and congregations.  If all
we did was band together to weave a pattern of CMPs to blanket the country,
we could count ourselves as successful. But that's, of course, not all we'll
do.  There are dozens of programs, projects and collaborations that will
continue with or without the current federal support. We must all do what we
can to keep the federal marriage initiative funding in place (I'm sure there
will be more on that later), but this is just to remind us that we will
continue our marriage education movement no matter what.

Here are the kind of workshop I'm talking about. These were in the hopper
long before the recent elections - and concerns.  We're not sitting on our
heels. - diane 

> Private Fundraising 101: Beyond the Feds
> Kay Reed, The Dibble Fund
> Learn the basics for successful fundraising with individuals and foundations:
> who, when, and how to ask. Develop a strategic plan, chose your targets, hone
> your message, create perpetuity.

> Community Marriage Policies (CMPs)
> Mike and Harriet McManus
> Learn how to organize a CMP in your area by creating Marriage Saver
> Congregations that recruit and train Mentor Couples that can cut divorce rates
> to near zero.

> Marriage Rally: Teach In
> Transforming Communities Grassroots Style
> Julie Baumgardner, MA, Nisa Muhammad, Jennifer Baker, PsyD, Jim Sheridan, JD
> Learn what communities across the country are doing to strengthen marriage and
> how you can follow their lead. Brainstorm about opportunities ­ free media,
> the web, funding, volunteers, creating buy-in - and how to avoid the stumbling
> blocks.

-------------------------------------------
Headed for the guillotine?
Jonetta Rose Barras, The Examiner
Dec 7, 2006 

WASHINGTON - The fear among national fatherhood and marriage advocates
is palpable; they have been holding news conferences, congressional
briefings and symposia. Those in the District, joined by school choice
proponents, don't feel safe either. They expect the new Congress to maim
or outright kill their efforts.

Democrats aren't against fathers or traditional marriage. But pandas,
global warming and homosexual unions seem to animate them more. And,
they absolutely abhor school vouchers.

Even with Republicans in charge, it wasn't easy for Dr. Wade Horn,
assistant secretary for the administration of children and families in
the federal Department of Health and Human Services, to wrest millions
for marriage education. While D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton supported
Senator Sam Brownback's Marriage Development Accounts (MDA) legislation,
her colleagues will be less sympathetic - although both efforts help
African-Americans, a key and disproportionately affected constituency.

Many liberals share the sentiments of Avis Jones-DeWeever of the
Institute of Women's Policy Research. At a symposium last week that
examined a new report - Consequences of Marriage for African-Americans,
prepared by Linda Malone-Colon for the Institute of American
Values - asserted marriage and fatherhood funds are better
spent helping eliminate child poverty.

Malone-Colon's research and that of the Brookings Institution Center on
Children and Families provide compelling evidence linking marriage and
child well being. Some argue, however, that there is a small difference
between children living with two biological parents and those living
with one. But Paul Amato, writing for the Brookings Institution last
year, said "If the same share of children lived with their biological
parents today as did in 1980, about 300,000 fewer children between the
ages of 12 and 18 would repeat a grade...250,000 fewer would need
psychotherapy, 210,000 fewer would be involved in violence, and 30,000
fewer would attempt suicide every year. In addition, child poverty would
be much lower."

The nexus between poverty and the decline of marriage in the District is
indisputable. Curtis Watkins, head of the nonprofit East Capitol Center
for Change, says about 70 percent of District children live in single
parent homes - most in poverty. He and organizations like Wedded Bliss
Foundation, the D.C. Metropolitan Healthy Marriage and Relationship
Coalition, and the Capital Area Asset Building Corporation (CAAB) are
aggressively trying to alter that reality.

One vehicle they are using is Brownback's MDAs. For every $1 saved by a
married or engaged couple, the federal government provides a match of $2
and the private sector $1 - up to $9,000. Participant's combined
household income cannot exceed $50,000. Individuals ages 16 to 22,
living as independent adults with an annual income of $25,000 or less,
also qualify. The MDA can be used to buy a house, pay for college or
invest in a small business.

"I haven't encountered anything else that is such a powerful
intervention with people," says CAAB Director Colleen Dailey. Next week,
she'll tell how. 

Jonetta Rose Barras is the political analyst for WAMU radio's D.C.
"Politics Hour with Kojo and Jonetta."


**************************
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