Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative

Fact Sheet

• The Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative (ACHMI)  is a a partnership among the Center for Children, Youth, and Families in the Human Development and Family Studies Department at Auburn University, the Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention/The Children's Trust Fund, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, a consortium of other state agencies, and a growing network of public, non-profit, and faith-based community organizations focused on supporting healthy, stable relationships and marriages in Alabama. 
•  Alabama has a persistent history of high levels of marital and family instability.  One indicator is our ranking in the Top 5 or Top 10 for highest divorce rate in the nation for the past 63 years.
• In the fall of 2006, a 5-year award was received through a competitive grants program from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Family Assistance to expand the work of the Initiative.
• The goal is to broaden outreach and promote access for our citizens to research-based information on skills and knowledge associated with healthy relationships/marriages and to effect positive changes in people’s lives - in their homes, in their workplaces, and in their communities.
• The grant aims to strengthen family bonds by raising public awareness of the importance of healthy marriages for child, family and community well being; increasing direct access to healthy marriage resources through on-line means and by training and equipping an increasing number of community members and professionals in methods of best practices for providing educational programs for youth, non-married parents, premarital couples and married couples in their communities.

  “Healthy family relationships and stable marriages foster a safe, nurturing environment for children and ultimately serve as the foundation for a stable and economically vibrant society,” Dean June Henton, The College of Human Sciences, AU.

For more information regarding ACHMI, please visit our website at www.alabamamarriage.org