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Family Strengthening Initiative
February 2009 Newsletter
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In This Issue:
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| FuturoNow 2009 Goals: |
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1. Expanded Target Populations
Add new classes for the following groups:
- Foster and Adoptive Couples
- Couples Working to Regain Custody of Children
- Men's and Women's Recovery Homes
- Gang Intervention Program Participants
2. Expanded Community Outreach
- Sponsor 15 public education events hosted by our partners in their own communities.
- Offer additional relationship strengthening resources to community members at events.
- Community members introduced to partner organization's marriage/family strengthening programs
3. Expanded Organizational Development & Training
Offer 2 day training event focused on:
- Budget and accounting systems
- Leadership Development
- Evaluation systems
- Enhanced class delivery
4. Focus on Fathers
- Increase participation of fathers, thereby increasing the positive impact to the family/children.
- Equip partners with new curriculum targeted at relationship strengthening for men.
5. Expanded Evaluation
- Continue gathering standard evaluation data
- Add evaluation/research mechanisms that track the related behavior change of participants 6, 12, and 18 months after completion of classes.
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Goals:
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FuturoNow Partner Spotlight:
Southern Pacific Latin American District of the Assemblies of God
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Helping ministers organize and extend their churches' reach into the community has been the central mission of the Southern Pacific Latin American District of the Assemblies of God (SPLAD). As one of 61 districts across the U.S., the district has 240 plus churches listed in its membership roster, and covers a large geographical area that starts below Bakersfield, California and extends south to the Mexican border. In addition, two churches in Maui and several churches in Las Vegas, Nevada, are included in the membership.
SPLAD's staff of fifteen, assists its member churches with all aspects of organizational development and expansion. As churches multiply in this fast growing grassroots movement, SPLAD's leadership provides programs to serve families and individuals in these newly affiliated churches and their communities.
One such program is the healthy relationship classes. Naomi Gamez, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent of SPLAD, Dr. Sergio Navarrete, has done an exemplary job managing the project. "It is a great partnership, one that will help us reach many families. SPLAD offers us a chance to leverage their rapid growth, thereby reaching more people," comments Mark Orphan, Director of FuturoNow.
As trained facilitators, Mrs. Gamez and her husband, Israel, offered their first class in December 2007 at their "home" church to 14 individuals. To date, they have facilitated sessions for over 100 individuals. "We make presentations at our Churches, promoting the classes to congregants and their friends in the community. A reminder phone call and postcard before each class really helps get them there." Offering classes in English and Spanish, they generally experience a higher female attendance and larger numbers of younger couples between 23-25 years old.
Two goals SPLAD set for 2009 includes, forming external community partnerships and attracting more fathers and husbands to the classes. Mrs. Gamez reports that they have already begun offering classes to a local Head Start group. "Often, we have cohabiting couples, divorcees, and married couples together in class. Whether it is a class for our Head Start group or one of our own congregations, we emphasize that regardless of marital status, mother and father play a crucial role in their kid's lives. The life tools we present in the classes, allow our participants to strengthen their families, greatly impacting their children."
Two new facilitators have now been trained and will join the Gamez' in spreading the word about the benefits of healthy relationships.
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| Futuro Now - Staff Profile |
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In the last newsletter, the outstanding results from year one and two of the Hispanic Healthy Marriage initiative were shared. We would be remiss, if we did not feature one key person in our organization that is our "keeper of the numbers." Tabitha Gonzalez has been a very valued member of the staff of FuturoNow from the inception of the healthy marriage initiative.
Some interesting facts about Tabitha include:
- Position At FuturoNow: Project Analyst, working directly under the supervision of the Director, Mark Orphan.
- Key Responsibilities: Utilizing excellent organizational skills, Tabitha juggles a lot of tasks and is primarily responsible for managing governmenatal reporting and relationships with 16 partner organizations.
- Years With FuturoNow: She's been working on the project since 2006.
- Hometown: Houston, Texas
- Her Life's Mission: Tabitha is passionate about helping others. "I think I was born with it...that love of wanting to do all I can to help improve the lives of others."
- Big Influences In Her Life: Her family and her youth minister from her High School days in Houston.
- Her Thoughts On This Job: "It was a total God thing. I had a job with a large financial institution, but it was not what I wanted to pursue as a career...it was not what was in my heart. This job fulfills that dream."
- Favorite Aspect of Her Job: One of the favorite aspects of Tabitha's job is doing site visits with the partners. "I am amazed at the level of commitment of our partners...it's a lot of work and they all work hard to get it all done. It helps me realize even more that everyone is a part of the team and although a lot of my time is spent doing paperwork...when I see the numbers, they represent lives that were changed. I am so thankful and feel blessed to have this opportunity."
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FuturoNow Focused View: Findings on Cohabiting
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With the increasing number of years that most young adults are single and the growing social acceptance of cohabitation, it is interesting to explore how Cohabiters" are different from married couples, to look at some of the characteristics of couples that cohabit, and examine if cohabiting contributes to marital failure. Findings presented here are based on a recent New York Times article.
How Do Cohabiters and Married Couples Differ?
There are several characteristics that distinguish cohabiters from married couples:
- Cohabiting couples have lower levels of personal happiness and higher rates of depression than married couples (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
- Cohabiters value independence more than married partners and have more individual freedom (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
- Cohabiters are less likely to be supportive financially of one another than are married partners (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
- Cohabiters have more negative attitudes about marriage than non-cohabiters (Axinn & Barber, 1997).
What Are Some Characteristics of Couples That Cohabit?
- Couples living together have the lowest level of premarital satisfaction when compared to other living arrangements (Stewart & Olson), 1990; Olson, 2001)
- Marriages preceded by cohabitation are more likely to end in divorce (Popenoe & Whitehead, 1999)
- Cohabiters have lower scores than non-cohabiters on religious behaviors, personal faith, church attendance and joint religious activities (Thorton, A., Axinn, W.G. & Hill, D.H., 1992)
- Married couples that cohabitated prior to marriage have poorer communication skills in discussing problems than couples that did not cohabit (Cohan & Kleinbaum, 2000)
- Cohabiting couples are less sexually committed or trustworthy (Waite & Gallagher, 2000).
- Cohabiting males are less involved in housework and childrearing (Waite & Gallagher, 2000)
- Cohabiting increases the risk of couple abuse and, if there are children, child abuse (Thompson, Hanson & McLanahan, 1994).
Does Cohabitation Contribute to Marital Failure?
- Lack of Commitment to Marriage: Cohabiting couples are much more oriented toward their own personal autonomy and are more willing to terminate the relationship. (National Marriage Project, 2000).
- Inability to Make A Decision About Marriage: Cohabitation reflects uncertainty. As professor, Pepper Schwartz, explains, "I think there is something in the experience of cohabitation that makes it hard to know when is the time to make a choice, to change one way of living for another, and to say, "yes, this person is the one for me." (Schwarz, 2000)
Is Cohabiting A Good Way to Prepare For Marriage?
Generally not. The social science evidence suggests that living together is not a good way to prepare for marriage or to avoid divorce. In fact, virtually all the major studies have shown a higher divorce rate among couples that cohabited before marriage than those who did not. No positive contribution of cohabitation to a successful marriage has been found to date. It is important to note that cohabiting that is within 3-6 months before marriage is different from cohabiting as an alternative to marriage. If a couple cohabits a few months before the wedding, and if each partner has had no prior cohabitation experience and no children, then the adverse effects are not strongly supported in research (Popenoe & Whitehead, 1999).
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| Reasons Couples Give For Cohabiting: |
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With the idea of cohabiting becoming more prevalent, couples report several common reasons for cohabiting:
Economic advantages: "We can save money by sharing living expenses."
Time together: "We are able to spend more time together."
Increased intimacy: "We have more opportunities to share sexual and emotional intimacy without getting married."
Less complicated dissolution: "If the relationship doesn't work out, there is no messy divorce."
Testing compatibility: "Living together enables us to better learn about each other's habits and character and see how we operate together day-to-day."
Trial marriage: "We are planning to marry soon.
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| Save The Date! |
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March 18: FuturoNow Partner training in new "Fathers & Husbands" curriculum
March 19: Love U2/Conflict Management Training for students at Azusa Pacific University
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