HEADS UP: Grant / Utah Divorce Legislation/ Extension Web Resource/ More Comments - 3/9/07

Fri Mar 9 22:59:11 EST 2007

- ACF CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS ANNOUNCED
- UTAH PASSES DIVORCE "ORIENTATION" LEGISLATION
- NEW RESOURCE FROM COOPERATIVE EXTENSION!
- MORE COMMENTS FROM SUBSCRIBERS
- TOO MANY EMAILS 
- SPLITTING IT DOWN THE MIDDLE

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- ACF CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS ANNOUNCED

Due date: April 10, 2007

>From what I can gather (just reading the announcement) there will be
approximately $10 million awarded in approximately 200 "mini
grants" of up to $50,000 each. The $50K is for 12 months of "capacity
building" work. This money comes from the Capital Compassion Fund (CCF)
which President Bush created this CCF fund in 2002 to "help community
organizations improve their effectiveness".

Your application needs to explain the needs of your organization in at least
one of the five critical areas of capacity building: 1) leadership
development, 2) organizational development, 3) program development, 4)
revenue development strategies, and 5) community engagement.  Applications
will be evaluated on the extent to which the applicant presents a compelling
need for strengthening their organizational capacity in the community.

MANY in the Coalition have been greatly helped by these grants and you
should get busy and try to get one.

For complete information:
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/grants/open/HHS-2007-ACF-OCS-IJ-0036.html

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- UTAH PASSES DIVORCE "ORIENTATION" LEGISLATION

This is a great idea.  I often think, "if we just had an hour to sit couples
down and "orient" them  to the territory that lies ahead - give them a
realistic picture of life after divorce  many of them would turn around".
Use this template in your state!  - diane

Dear Diane:
I am an attorney and Utah state legislator, and attended your conference
last year in Atlanta.  I just passed the nation's first divorce orientation
legislation, HB 128 and it has been funded!  This bill is in addition to the
already required 2 hour divorce education class for parents. The divorce
orientation class is to help them understand the impacts of divorce, provide
resources for strengthening their marriage, and resources to go through the
divorce and deal with post-divorce issues with less pain, if they proceed.
It also allows couples to file for a temporary separation, WITHOUT filing
for divorce, for up to one year.  During the separation, they must take the
course.  If they proceed with the divorce, the relatively small filing fee
for the temporary separation is applied to the divorce filing fee.  It
passed the HOUSE unanimously and the Senate with only one dissenting vote.
The court administrator's office is ready to begin implementation through
the office that now administers the divorce education class for parents.

I would like people to know about this legislation so that they can
introduce something similar in their state.   I appreciate all that you do
for marriage and families in this country.

Copy and paste this URL into your browser and you will have several options
to retrieve the text or even listen to committee and floor debates.

http://le.utah.gov/~2007/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0128S01.htm

Lorie Fowlke
Representative
District 59
Orem, Utah

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- NEW RESOURCE FROM COOPERATIVE EXTENSION!

The National Extension Relationship and Marriage Education Network (NERMEN)
has launched their website at http://www.nermen.org . The website is
designed to provide information on healthy relationship and marriage
education efforts and resources available across the Extension system.
ALSO, plan to attend their Denver workshop and check out their POSTER
Session learn how to tap into the many FREE resources in your community.

> 612 - Sunday, July 1, Denver Smart Marriages
> Partner With Cooperative Extension: Create Capacity
> Francesca Adler-Baeder, PhD, Ted Futris, PhD
> This vast network of educators and researchers offers free to low-cost
> programs and information and obvious partners for your community,
> marriage-strengthening, coalition-building efforts.

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- MORE COMMENTS FROM SUBSCRIBERS

> Diane,
> I have been fortunate enough to attend the conference the past 3 years.  You
> have helped me tremendously with your list of "new" seminars.  Last year I
> signed up for one of the same seminars from the year before so I ended up
> missing out on a session.  However, I always purchase the MP 3 of the entire
> conference + DVD's of sessions and I share the information with my colleagues.
> I pay for the conference out of pocket since I work for a non-profit agency.
> It is well worth the money!
> Sarah Kramer, LISW
> Family Service Association
> Dayton, OH

> Dear Diane,
> Here's a note of encouragement for those presenters whose workshops weren't
> attended by large herds or who didn't receive Top 40 status: If just 10 people
> attended your workshop and learned something that they applied in their next
> 10 marriage education sessions at home and if those sessions had just 10
> people, the original presenter will have had a positive impact on 1000
> marriages. So presenters with even the most sparsely attended conference
> sessions can make a big impact.
> Deb Strubel
> Institute for American Values

> Diane,
> Funny how things go. I wasn't aware of Willard Harley until the "discussion"
> on the list about his banquet. I'm now mighty curious and want to add the
> banquet to our registration. He sounds like my kind of guy. I went back on
> line and don't see a button for "additions". That would be for both Joyce and
> myself. We were going to just go out and do the town on Fri night but I looked
> at the Harley website and now wouldn't miss this.
> Stew 

It's very easy to add the banquet tickets to your registration but you can't
do it on-line.  Just call 800-314-1921 ext 22.  - diane

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-   TOO MANY EMAILS

> Diane I have received 5 (five) smart marriage emails from you today thus far.
> It is only mid afternoon!  I feel I am  IM ing with you. I simply do not have
> time for this many messages hitting my email all day long.  You have a great
> organizationŠŠŠbutŠŠŠŠŠwould you consider sending only one update per day?
> Please!
> "Flooded on Friday"
> Robert Hilliard 

For every request like this one, I get one from someone asking me if I could
please not send such long emails  could I please, instead, break them up
into shorter posts with the explanation that they're much easier to keep
track of and search for if I break them up.

AND, for each of those I receive, I receive at least five asking WHY I have
not yet sent out their material/news/notice/request to the list.

I sent three posts yesterday and two today. So far.

If it's too much for you it is easy to unsubscribe and then visit the
archive on your own schedule to see what's been posted.

To unsubscribe, go to
http://www.smartmarriages.com and click Newslist in top left column.
To visit the archive: http://lists101.his.com/pipermail/smartmarriages/

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- SPLITTING IT DOWN THE MIDDLE

German man chainsaws house in two in divorce split

BERLIN (Reuters Life! MARCH 9, 2007) - A 43-year-old German decided to
settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making
off with his half in a forklift truck.

Police in the eastern town of Sonneberg said on Friday the trained mason
measured the single-storey summer house -- which was some 8 meters (26 feet)
long and 6 meters wide -- before chainsawing through the wooden roof and
walls.

"The man said he was just taking his due," said a police spokesman. "But I
don't think his wife was too pleased."

After finishing the job, the man picked up his half with the forklift truck
and drove to his brother's house where he has since been staying.

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11th Annual Smart Marriages Conference, Denver Adam's Mark Hotel,
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Pre-Conference Training Institutes June 26-28
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Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (CMFCE)
Diane Sollee, Director
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