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Partners, Programs & Services
Partners
National Fatherhood Initiative:
Involved, responsible and committed fathers are key to healthy families and strong communities. National Fatherhood Initiative provides resources to engage and educate men and fathers, including the Why Knot? curriculum, which helps to prepare men for a healthy marriage. For more information on National Fatherhood Initiative and its programs, please visit
www.fatherhood.org
or call 301-948-0599.
Office of the Attorney General of Texas:
Strong families are the bedrock of Texas. When Texas families are strong, Texas is strong. The Family Initiatives Section of the Texas Office of the Attorney General-Child Support Division supports the agency's commitment to value Texas families and children throughout all its programs, policies and activities. The Family Initiatives Section leads programs to strengthen families, support healthy relationships and marriage, encourage responsible fatherhood, and promote increased parental cooperation and involvement with children. To learn more about these programs and services please visit: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/cs/ofi/index.shtml.
Regional Intermediaries:
The
Regional Intermediaries (RIs)
are facilitating the development and operation of a statewide system to deliver premarital education and other healthy marriage services to support the development of healthy marriages and strong families in the Twogether in Texas Program. RIs are responsible for service delivery management for premarital and healthy marriage education services with community and/or faith-based organizations working in the area of healthy marriage development. RIs are also responsible for supporting service provider registration and coordinating and supporting each of the County Clerks in their HHSC region.
Texas Council on Family Violence:
The Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) is one of the largest domestic violence coalitions in the nation. Founded in 1978, TCFV has been a leader in the efforts to end family violence through partnerships, advocacy and direct services for women, children and men. TCFV’s mission is to promote safe and healthy relationships by supporting service providers, facilitating strategic prevention efforts, and creating opportunities for freedom from domestic violence. TCFV’s membership is comprised of family violence service providers, supportive organizations, survivors of domestic violence, businesses and professionals, communities of faith and other concerned citizens. As a membership-focused organization, TCFV is firmly committed to serving its members, communities in Texas and thousands of victims of domestic violence and their families. TCFV also houses the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH). Through a telephone hotline operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, NDVH provides crisis intervention, information and referrals to victims of domestic violence, perpetrators, and friends and families across the nation.
Another key component of this work is to inform family violence programs about the Healthy Marriage Initiative, facilitate collaboration at the local level, and solicit input from family violence programs regarding this new intersection. TCFV is available to provide technical assistance and training to both healthy marriage and family violence programs in this area.
To discuss TCFV’s work or to request assistance, please contact the TCFV Policy team at 1.800.525.1978 or visit the TCFV website at:www.tcfv.org.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
Programs and Services
AVANCE - Strengthening Marriages Program:
AVANCE-Strengthening Marriages Program, translated as "Fortaleciendo Matrimonios" is a project designed to provide Hispanic couples in four areas (
Bastrop County,
Corpus Christi,
El Paso
and
Houston) with a series of program services aimed at relationship maintenance and improvement. AVANCE is a Spanish word meaning " to advance " or " to progress."
The Strengthening Marriages Program was designed on the foundation of AVANCE's successful parenting program to accomplish their mission of one child, one family, one community at a time.
The program uses a bilingual 16 lesson curriculum entitled: “Parejas Unidas…. para una major vida” [Couples together for a better tomorrow], which was developed by AVANCE and is designed to provide Hispanic couples with skills for overcoming challenges faced within the context of the Hispanic culture and traditions. Support services include transportation assistance, meals for couples and their children, access to counseling, incentives, follow up and outreach.
A unique aspect of the AVANCE program design is the integration of the themes in the curriculum for the couples with the children’s services. From the two year old child to the teenagers in the family, the staff provides activities and discussion topics related to the couple’s lessons at the level of understanding of the child/teenager.
Contact: Dr. Lorena Gonzalez, 210-270-4630, ext 678
.
Bastrop, Texas
2800 South IH-35, Suite 160
Austin, TX 78704
Contact: Rosalia Castaneda, Executive Director
Office (512)326-9335
FAX (512)326-1033
Corpus Christi, Texas
1509 Tarlton
Corpus Christi, TX 78415
Contact: Brenda Dees, Executive Director
Office (361)855-5437
FAX (361)884-7662
El Paso, Texas
616 N. Virginia Ave Suite D
El Paso, TX 79902
Contact: Sanjay Mathur, Executive Director
Office (915)351-2419
FAX (915)351-2457
Houston, Texas
4281 Dacoma
Houston, TX 77092
Contact: Jose Villarreal, Executive Director
Office (713)812-0033
FAX (713)812-1228
Corpus Christi
. These sites won a competitive bid in 2006 for funding by HHSC, and two of the sites subsequently received federal funds to expand their scope. Each coalition is comprised of partners with a shared view of supporting healthy marriage in thier communities. The goal of the CHMI model is to saturate the community with positive messages about relationships and families, with the ultimate goal of improving child well-being through the provision of marriage/relationship education. The coalitions have begun to build capacity in their communities by training marriage educators and delivering workshops. Workshop leaders have been trained in Active Relationships, Family Wellness, Hispanic Active Relationships, How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk/Jerkette, and PREP. More than 600 people have participated in workshops—including engaged couples, married couples and individuals.
Family Services of Greater Houston
3815 Montrose Blvd., Suite 200
Houston, Texas 77006
Contact: Tim Louis
713-802-7854
The Parenting Center
1111 W. Abrams Street, Suite C
Arlington, Texas 76013
Contact: Stacy Pacholick, Administrative Manager
(817)275-7576
Nueces County Community Action Agency
101 South Padre Island Drive
Corpus Christi, Texas 78405
Contact: Isabel Valle-Carpenter, Healthy Marriage Coordinator
Phone: 361-883-7201 Ext. 27
Fax: 361-883-9173
Child Inc.
818 East 53rd
Austin, TX 78751
Contact: Sharon Haney, Healthy Marriage Project Manager
Phone: 512-451-7361
Healthy Marriage Development Program(HMDP):
Healthy Marriage Development Program (HMDP) is a program delivered through Head Start providers in four Texas communities (Corpus Christ, Fort Bend, Fort Worth and Laredo). The project was originally outlined by the Texas State Legislature and recently received funding through one of the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance healthy marriage grants. HMDP delivers 20 hours of marriage education provided to Head Start parents and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients, as well as other lower-resource couples (married and unmarried) and individuals. The Within Our Reach and Within My Reach curricula, two programs based on PREP but tailored to the needs and education level of low-income couples and individuals, are used in the program. In addition, HMDP includes a targeted public advertising campaign to recruit workshop participants and to educate the target population about the value of healthy marriage and its effects on child well-being.
Child Care Associates
3000 East Belknap
Fort Worth, Texas 76111
Contact: Farzana Mughal
(817) 838-8422
101 South Padre Island Drive
Corpus Christi, Texas 78405
Contact: Estella Rocha
(361) 883-7201 ex. 34
TMC-Teaching & Mentoring Communities
5215 McPherson Road
Laredo, Texas 78044-2579
Contact: Cynthia Garcia
(956) 722-5174, Ext. 1182
William Smith, Sr., Tri-County Child Development Council, Inc.
1000 Pultar Road
Richmond, Texas 77469
Contact: Linda Newsome Johnson
(281) 239-2350
The Post-Adoptive Couples Marriage Enrichment Program:
Since 2005, HHSC has partnered with Lutheran Social Services of the South, Inc. to provide marriage education skills to married adoptive and foster-to-adopt couples at weekend Retreats. In eight cities hosting Retreats across Texas, these couples learn skills to enhance their spousal connection, reinforce their parental role, and sustain a safer, happier and secure environment for their children. Host city sites are: Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Harlingen, Houston, San Antonio and Tyler.
At the Retreat, couples are constantly reminded to have fun! Retreat agendas include, &quat; couple time &quat; so that couples spend time alone, as well as networking, so that couples can meet other adoptive couples in their area to build a Support Network. Support Network Events (SNE), which alternately focus on the entire family and couples only, are available to adoptive parents who have attended the Retreat during the year.
Free to eligible* couples, Retreats include a two night hotel stay, meals and snacks, training hours, partial child care reimbursement and optional dance lessons. *Eligibility requirements: married as defined by the Texas Family Code, have adopted a child from Child Protective Services and be available for the entire event.
For more information regarding the Post Adoptive Couples Marriage Retreats, please visit Lutheran Social Services website
or call
Supporting Healthy Marriage(SHM):
Family Service Association of San Antonio, Inc.
702 San Pedro
San Antonio,Texas 78212
Contact: Veronica Salgado
210-563-4926
El Paso Center for Children
1155 Westmorland, Suite 20
El Paso,Texas 79925
Contact: Edna Wilson
915-772-4170
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