Bad News/Good News: Grants | Baseline Survey| PR Campaign | NETWORKING | Webinar Now Available | MarriageTeam | Humor in Marriage - 2/13/08

Wed Feb 13 14:24:27 EST 2008

- DENNIS STOICA UPDATES
- NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES IN SAN FRANCISCO - CHMIs AND OTHERS
- GRANTEE CALL ON SEPARATION OF RELIGION AND MARRIAGE ED NOW AVAILABLE
- MARRIAGETEAM 
- HUMOR IN MARRIAGE

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- DENNIS STOICA SENDS UPDATES

This update could be called the bad news and the good news....

First, very bad news about the cancellation of the Compassion Capital
funding, but we will march on.  These $50k grants did so much good "capacity
building".  

And then good and exciting about the Calif survey data (this will help us
make our points not just in California but across the country) and their new
PR campaign really is a fun one.  Hope you'll all check it out. Keep
clicking through them until you see the ones about Money, Rocks, School,
Kissing, World....then you'll know you've seen them all.   - diane
----------------------
Dear Diane,
I'd like to provide a brief update to the list on the following topics: 1)
ACF's announcement regarding Compassion Capital Fund grants, 2) some current
data from California¹s Marriage Baseline Survey, and 3) a brand new
advertising campaign we just launched in California.

#1) I was saddened to receive an email Friday morning Feb 1 announcing that
funding for the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) Intermediary grant and
Targeted Capacity Building Grants has not been renewed this year by ACF.

These two CCF grants have made incalculable contributions to the National
Marriage Education Movement. The California Healthy Marriages Coalition
(CHMC) was fortunate to be one of the CCF Intermediaries from October of
2005 through February of 2007, and during that time we worked with a dozen
fledgling Marriage Education coalitions here in California  coalitions that
now form the backbone of our Healthy Marriage Demonstration Grant project.
In addition I am aware of dozens of other Marriage Education organizations
across the country that benefited greatly from receiving the $50,000
Targeted Capacity Building Grants.

This is a very sad development for the Marriage Education field.

#2  Some more data from the California Marriage Baseline Survey.  We
recently concluded 20-minute phone surveys with 2005 Californians dealing
with attitudes and opinions around a range of Marriage and Marriage
Education related topics.  Because of the wide range of topics covered and
the massive amount of data involved, we will be releasing the information a
little at a time between now and the Smart Marriages San Francisco
Conference.  One of the sections of the survey asked respondents who had
experienced divorce what they thought the major and minor factors were which
contributed to their own divorce. Because of the recent interest on the
newslist about spiritual issues in marriage, I thought I would share that
27.6% of those respondents indicated that ³religious differences between the
partners² was either a major or minor factor in their own divorce 
something to keep in mind as we think about what topics to include/exclude
in our various Marriage Education programs.

#3  New advertising campaign.  Please visit www.FresnoBee.com to see a
sample from our latest advertising campaign.  After you see it once, hit
³refresh² to see another version of the ad.  Repeat.  Repeat again. Ah, go
ahead, try it one more time (we have 5 versions of the ad that cycle through
on a random sequence.) We will be running these ads in four different
regional newspapers at various times throughout February  and we are using
the same theme in our ³1,000 signs campaign² during Marriage Week and on
billboards and bus kiosks in various places throughout the state.

That¹s the latest from California!

Dennis Stoica
President
California Healthy Marriages Coalition
www.CaMarriage.com 

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- NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES IN SAN FRANCISCO - CHMIs AND OTHERS

I've had many requests from folks across the country who want to connect
with others while they're in San Francisco to find out what people are doing
in their communities - what's working. In a way that's what the entire
conference is about - the annual gathering to swap ideas. We have many
NETWORKING opportunities built in - workshops that provide updates on
various projects; institutes that include community marketing and organizing
strategies; keynotes that update on community action and tools of the trade;
and the Morning Roundtables designed specifically for Networking.  BUT,
because it sounds like you still want MORE, MORE, MORE, we're adding MORE.
So, in addition to the Morning Roundtables we've added Fri Afternoon
Roundtables.  And, we're adding CHMI NETWORKING meetings.  In the brochures
(you should have them next week) we list only one CHMI Networking meeting on
Thurs from 5:30-7pm.  We've decided to add two MORE that will meet on Fri
and Sat at lunch (grab a sandwich and drink and join the meeting).
To see the list of NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES visit:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/roundtables.html

And, as I always say, start conditioning now....we need to be in tip-top
shape for San Francisco! We go from early morning to late at night for a
week.  Not a wasted minute.  - diane

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- GRANTEE CALL ON SEPARATION OF RELIGION AND MARRIAGE ED NOW AVAILABLE

This call was from the feds to inform the marriage grantees about marriage
education programs and religion, but if you're curious, anyone can now
listen.  It was recorded.....our tax dollars at work.
 - diane 

> Webinar Recording Now Posted
> The audio recording of January Webinar: "Ensuring Compliance: How 45 CFR Part
> 87 Applies to Curricula Use" has now been posted. Federal healthy marriage
> grantees with questions, please contact your Federal Project Officer. Click
> here <http://www.healthymarriageinfo.org/prog_grant/tta.cfm#jan08>  to hear
> the recording.

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- MARRIAGETEAM 

Here's a wonderful comprehensive article on the Marriage Mentoring model and
radio show of Autumn and Alan Ray, who presented a workshop at the Denver
2007 Smart Marriages Conference. Bravo to the Rays! You can order a
recording of their 90-min session at 800-241-7785 or at
http://www.iplaybacksmartmarriages.com

> 713
> MarriageTeam Couple Coaching
> Autumn and Alan Ray, MS
> This effective new team approach uses marriage coaching skills, and provides
> training and support to mentor coach couples working together on a
> community-wide, coordinated basis.

COACHING MARRIAGES 
The Columbian (Clark County, Washington)
February 13, 2008
By MARY ANN ALBRIGHT, Columbian staff writer

Getting married is like being traded to a new sports team. Fumbles are
likely to occur if each player comes to the game with an old playbook, one
with strategies the other person doesn't recognize. Vancouver-based
MarriageTeam helps couples develop new plays to win the marriage bowl.

MarriageTeam offers training sessions led by volunteer marriage coaches, and
in late January brought its version of a relationship boot camp to the
airwaves.

On the Saturday radio show, marriage coaches Al and Autumn Ray of Camas help
a couple work through an issue on-air. The Rays are not licensed counselors,
but they offer a neutral third party to help facilitate discussions. The
approach on the show is faith-based, but the couple-to-couple coaching
technique can be adapted for a more secular technique.

"We don't solve their problems. We give them the tools to solve the problems
on their own," said Autumn Ray, 58, who co-founded the nonprofit
MarriageTeam along with Al, her husband of 37 years.

Using the sports analogy helps couples start thinking of themselves as a
unit, the Rays said, adding that it's an especially effective frame of
reference for men.

"So often in a relationship, it's me against you. When you change the focus
from getting my way to getting the best solution for the team, you've got a
common objective," said Al, 60, MarriageTeam's executive director.'

For the full article plus more info on how to get involved:
http://tinyurl.com/2sgbao

How to get involved with MarriageTeam
MarriageTeam's radio show airs from noon to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays on
Christian radio station KPDQ 800 AM. Segments also can be downloaded from
MarriageTeam's Web site, marriageteam.org. Couples who would like to be
on-air guests and work through an issue with marriage coaches Al and Autumn
Ray can call 360-450-6042. There is no cost to be on the show, but the
couple would need to come to KPDQ's studio near Milwaukie, Ore., for an hour
or two on a Saturday.

MarriageTeam is looking for more couples to become trained marriage coaches.
Coaches volunteer their time, helping other couples work through challenges
and develop positive communication skills. To become coaches, couples must
undergo 26 hours of training, spread over two weekends. The next training
session starts March 7. The cost is $199 per couple. Some scholarships are
available. For more information, call 360-450-6042 or visit
marriageteam.org.

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- HUMOR IN MARRIAGE
Diane:
An interview I did with the local NPR affiliate aired this morning. The
focus was on our book A Perfectly Funny Marriage.  It is 4-5 minutes long.
Listen at: 

http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/news/9816/

Susanne Alexander
Marriage Transformation Project
susanne at marriagetransformation.com

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12th Annual Smart Marriages® Conference, Hilton San Francisco Hotel,
July 2 - 5, 2008  
Pre-Conference Training Institutes June 30-July 2
Post-Conference Training Institutes July 6

List your program and resources on the Directory of Classes at
http://www.smartmarriages.com/directory_browse.html

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Diane Sollee, Director
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http://www.smartmarriages.com
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