About Us
Goals | Vision | Board Members | Consultants

The healthy Marriage Coalition of Central New York is dedicated to strengthening families by promoting and supporting the establishment of lasting, healthy marriages based on mutuality and respect.

GOALS

Our goals are to increase:

• Marital Success
• Marital health
• Couples receiving pre-marital education and Marriage Enrichment.
• Father involvement.

While decreasing:

• Divorce rates
• The number of children growing up in father-absent homes.
• Out of wedlock pregnancies.
• Domestic Violence.

And to identify and remove obstacles to a healthy marriage.

Our coalition has come together around the following three considerations:

• Recent polls show that approximately 85% of Americans across all socio-economic lines aspire to a healthy, lasting marriage.
• Research demonstrates overwhelming evidence that healthy, lasting marriages are, on the average, highly beneficial to children, to spouses and to society at large.
• Marriage gives children the best access to both parents—fathers and mothers.

We wish to be clear on these points:

• We are not judging those who are divorced. We recognize that divorce is painful and our goal is helping to prevent future divorce.
• Many single parents do a heroic job. The coalition is not criticizing single parents.
• We are unabashedly pro-marriage but we are not saying that everyone must remain married no matter what.. We are advocating healthy marriages. Marriages involving domestic violence are not healthy.
• We recognize that not everyone wants to be married. We are not interested in coercing anyone, only in helping those who want to be married or re-married and those who are already married to do so successfully.

VISION

We wish to build strong families by:

• Advocating for healthy lasting marriages.
• Educating the community to the choices, which are associated with achieving healthy lasting marriages.
• Developing partnerships and/or building coalitions with member who wish to:
  • Assist single individuals in exploring marriage as a positive goal.
  • Help those contemplating marriage to choose mates wisely.
  • Educate single individuals in the skills necessary to create a healthy marriage.
  • Prepare engaged couples for marriage
  • Guide and prepare couples for re-marriage.
  • Offer enrichment and support to married couples.
  • Help hurting married couples to reconcile.

BOARD MEMBERS

CONSULTANTS

Vera House
Janice McKenna, President Warne/McKenna Advertising
Syracuse University College of Human Services and Health Professionals
Syracuse University College of Law

We invite all organizations, agencies, faith groups, businesses and citizens to join us in building a community where healthy lasting marriages are valued, nourished and supported.

For More information
Call 1-315-472-6754
Or
Go to www.smartmarriages.com for information on marriage and the national healthy marriage initiative.

To find out more about what we do or to join us in supporting marriage, please click here.