• Administration for Children and Families Federal grant
• Ohio Strengthening Families Initiative grant
• Clark County Department of Job and Family Services
• Greene County Department of Job and Family Services
• The Turner Foundation
• The Nehemiah Foundation
• Fellowship Christian Church
• Contributions from congregations, businesses, individuals

• High School Students. Participating in Relationship Smarts classes in most Clark, Greene and Champaign County school districts.
• Men Only. Participating in On My Shoulder classes to gain relationship skills for healthy relationships, especially with their children-whether their role is custodial or non-custodial.
• Women Only. Participating in Within My Reach classes to gain proactive, "deciding-not-sliding" strategies for healthy relationships and marriages.
• Couples: Participating in RINGS classes and in premarital, enrichment or restoration Marriage Mentoring to reinforce healthy relationship skills.
• Step-families: Participating in Smart Steps to gain relationship skills in the unique context of "his, hers and ours".
• Healthy Couples: Participating in Marriage Mentor Training to come alongside premarital, enrichment and restoration couples.
• Congregations: Participating by hosting classes, arranging special speakers, recommending potential mentor couples and referring parishoners to healthy marriage resources. CLICK for resources
• Businesses/Agencies: Participating by hosting Relational Wellness 101 for employees to improve workplace and family relationship health and referring to healthy marriage resources.
• Counselors/Therapists: Participating by referring clients to a variety of relationship and marriage programs concurrent with ongoing counseling. CLICK for referral form
• Marriage Investors: Participating by one time or ongoing financial investments through the Power of 2.
• Advertisers: Participating by creating discounts for those completing certain relationship and marriage education classes. CLICK for more info

• Integrity of relationships, services and resources
• Faith-based identity
• Commitment
• Respect for all people
• Diversity

Briefly, Marriage Resource Center of Miami Valley . . .

• was launched in 2004 to address the high marriage failure rate in Clark County
• is located in downtown Springfield, Ohio at 616 North Limestone, across from The Hickory Inn
• is operated by a team of 11 individuals
• receives funding from a variety of government, private and individual sources
• has developed initiatives that build value and skills for healthy relationships and marriages
• serves individuals and couples in Clark, Greene and Champaign counties and beyond
• provides programs for high school students, singles, married couples (preparation, enrichment, restoration), including step-families
• offers marriage education and mentoring to couples who want to create loving, lasting marriages
• partners with congregations and community organizations to inspire marriage success and relationship health
• has observed a 17% decrease in Clark County marriage failures since 2004 compared to the five year period preceding
• is about raising the value and standard of marriage by helping couples learn new, more effective ways of relating

Marriage mentoring is at the heart of our efforts to help couples create loving, lasting marriages. Most couples have never had postive relationships or conflict resolution modeled. Thus, they have no "template" or pattern from which to build their own healthy marriage.

Marriage mentoring can make a huge difference. (Statistics below taken from materials produced by Marriage Savers and other organizations involved with marriage mentoring)

• Consider premarital mentoring. Couples who take a premarital inventory such as FOCCUS or PREPARE and then meet with a mentor couple have a 80-90% success rate after 10 years. And 10% of couples opt not to get married, having the same inventory scores as those who later divorce.
• Consider restoration mentoring. Couples on the brink of divorce who enroll in marriage education with followup mentoring increase their chances of staying together to 80%.

We offer marriage mentoring of three types:

• Premarital: For couples who are planning to be married. Components include a premarital inventory where each partner independently answers a series of questions. A computerized profile is then generated for the couple and becomes the basis for discussing areas of agreement and disagreement with a mentor couple.
• Enrichment: For couples who want to strengthen a good marriage and possibly work through an issue or two where they have been "stuck". Components include attending the RINGS class and followup mentoring based upon the principles, skills and tools learned in the class. The mentor couple helps reinforce and implement healthy interaction patterns.
• Restoration: For couples who have experienced significant stress, wounding and distancing in their marriage. Components include attending the RINGS class and followup mentoring based upon the principles, skills and tools learned in the class. The mentor couple helps reinforce and implement healthy interaction patterns, often having experienced significant restoration themselves.

NOTE: Marriage mentoring may not be appropriate in cases of abuse, addictions, adultery or abnormal personality issues; professional counseling or therapy is usually needed in such cases.

All of our mentor couples are trained, supervised and given ongoing education by Barb Dotson, Director of Mentor Services and Shelley Lopez, a Licensed Professional Counselor.

Mentoring of any type may be requested by contacting Barb Dotson at 937.324.3604 or emailing her at barb@marriageresourcecenter.org.

Jobs & More, Marriage Resource Center of Miami Valley & OSU-Clark County Extension office are joining forces to resource individuals personally and professionally with the skills necessary to obtain and/or retain meaningful employment and relationships.

Learn how to build your value, identify your skills, strengths and resources!

This series of workshops will help you develop and sharpen workplace skills: interviewing, networking, decision making/conflict resolution, job-seeking and the application/resume!

 BUILD YOUR SELF CONFIDENCE!

Rise Above Committment Program combines the best of Jobs & More's standard Rise Above program with the nationally recognized Winning in the Workplace relationship program (taught by Marriage Resource Center Staff) and Being Money Wise (a financial management program taught by OSU extension staff).

What is Smart Steps?

• Navigate the unique dynamics of stepparent/stepchildren relationships
  
• Understand the myths about stepfamilies
  
• Set realistic expectations
  
• Parent more effectively
  
• Manage stress