What is the New Mexico Marriages First Project?
The impact of divorce is obvious and enormous. Not only is it devastating to couples, but is particularly destructive to children. Children of divorced parents are twice as likely to drop out of school, three times as apt to have a baby out of wedlock and twelve times as likely to be incarcerated than those from intact homes. Sadly, the reported divorce rate in New Mexico is nearly double that of the national rate, with only four states reporting higher divorce figures. The good news is that research shows that relationship skills can be learned. Once learned, these skills can facilitate communication between marriage partners, helping them to avoid conflict and reducing domestic violence, child abuse, divorce and its impacts. New Mexico Marriages First promotes and delivers the skills and education needed to help all couples put Marriage First. New Mexico Marriages First is a healthy marriage demonstration grant funded through the Federal Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
Objectives for the project are as follows:
- Publicly advertise the value of marriage and the skills needed to increase marital stability through advertising campaigns.
- Create and distribute healthy marriage newsletters.
- Educate high school students in area high schools on the value of marriage, relationship and marriage skills such as budgeting, conflict resolution, priorities and goal setting.
- Serve couples through premarital education and marriage skills training.
- Serve couples through marriage education and marriage enrichment projects.
- Train mentor couples to work with premarital couples, couples interested in marriage, and couples in crisis.
The health of a marriage is inextricably linked to the health of a family. Where marital issues arise, whether in the form of arguments, infidelities, verbal or even physical abuse, there are huge impacts on children and other dependents. Children of divorced parents are twice as likely to drop out of school, three times as apt to have a baby out of wedlock and twelve times as likely to be incarcerated as those from intact homes.
New Mexico Marriages First’s aim is to promote healthy and sustainable marriages by providing premarital and marital education to couples throughout Bernalillo and Sandoval counties. Our programs teach the skills that couples need to communicate, resolve conflict and build stronger relationships. Our services include:
- Premarital training and marriage enrichment courses - which we deliver at the invitation of businesses, churches, community organizations and family service providers;
- Couple mentoring for those considering marriage or experiencing relationship difficulties;
- One-to-one mentoring;
- A lending library of books and videos on marriage and parenting;
- A quarterly newsletter on marriage and family issues; and
- A program of other marriage education events throughout the year.
New Mexico Marriages First is eager to work together with other family service providers to ensure that families in Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties have access to a comprehensive range of free assistance and resources to strengthen their marriages and build happy, healthy families. We invite your organization to contact us if our programs and services could be of benefit to the communities or individuals that you serve and complement the services that you provide.