Forest Institute gets $5.2M grant to foster healthy marriages

The institute is one of 14 recipients chosen from 1,600 grant applications received by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Family Assistance.

Education and resources

The five-year grant is designed to provide education and resources to increase marital satisfaction and decrease divorce and out-of-wedlock birth rates in 29 southwest Missouri counties served by the institute.

Jennifer Baker, Psy.D, and director of Forest’s marriage and family therapy program, said institute officials are excited about the grant because strong marriages are the foundation of strong communities.

“Research shows married men and women live longer than single men and women, (and) married people recover faster from injuries and illnesses,” Baker said in a news release.

“Male employees in stable relationships are more productive than their single counterparts, and children who are raised in healthy marriages are better adjusted and make better decisions about their own relationships,” she added.

The 2004–05 Springfield Public Schools Annual Report shows that nearly 36 percent of all students in the district live in a single-parent household. The grant funds are part of the Healthy Marriage Initiative, which works to increase the percentage of children raised by two parents in a healthy marriage.

The initiative also aims at reducing domestic violence and increasing public awareness of the value of healthy marriages.

Partnership effort

Two major grant partners are Pregnancy Care Center and Ozarks Marriage Matters. Pregnancy Care Center will focus its efforts with the funds on working with high school students in nine school districts, and with unwed expectant parents in the region.

Ozarks Marriage matters will provide educational services to target referral groups and couples at risk for divorce. There are more than 20 local regional partners in the grant, including members of the faith community, social service agencies and Head Start.