Empowering Families is a healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) program for couples with low incomes who were raising children together that successfully integrated economic stability services with its relationship education content. According to a new impact study that used a rigorous random assignment research design, the program improved couples’ relationship quality and reduced families’ experience of economic hardships. At the one-year follow-up, the program successfully achieved its central goal of strengthening couples’ relationships. It improved all five dimensions of relationship quality the study examined, including the level of support and affection partners felt toward each other, their use of constructive conflict behaviors, their avoidance of destructive conflict behaviors, and the level of commitment and happiness they felt toward their relationship. In addition, Empowering Families reduced the number of economic hardships families experienced. Those in the Empowering Families group reported 12 percent fewer material hardships during the one-year follow-up period than control group families reported.
Administered by Dallas Ft. Worth-based social service provider The Parenting Center, Empowering Families included an eight-session workshop that integrated HMRE content with information on financial literacy and job and career advancement. The program supplemented workshops with one-on-one services, including case management, financial coaching, and employment counseling. Findings from the impact study also show that Empowering Families:
- Improved the quality of couples’ co-parenting relationships
- Increased marriage among initially unmarried couples; and
- Improved participants’ ability to manage their money, particularly for women.
Funded by the Office of Family Assistance and overseen by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration for Children and Families, this study was conducted as part of the Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services (STREAMS) evaluation. Learn more by visiting OPRE’s related project webpage.