The “Strong Marriages Florida” campaign is a project of the Florida Family Policy Council in cooperation with numerous churches, denominations, pro-family organizations and community leaders throughout the state. The campaign was launched in February of 2009.
“Strong Marriages Florida” is a five year campaign to create a marriage movement in Florida, with the goal of strengthen marriages and reducing the divorce rate in Florida. The campaign was launched in response to the high number of divorces in Florida and the negative economic impact that the fragmentation of families has on Florida taxpayers and our communities.
Objectives and Goals:
1) Exponentially increase the number of couples receiving pre-marital preparation.
2) Strengthen existing marriages and provide help to restore crisis marriages.
3) Reduce the number of divorces in Florida by 10%.
4) Save taxpayers the costs of family fragmentation by over $100 million annually.
5) Create community awareness and a positive culture of marriage which celebrates and respects the institution of marriage for the benefit of children, families and the common good of society.
Methods to Achieve Goals:
1) Heavily promote the Smart Marriages Conference in July 2009.
2) Pass the “Marriage Preparation Act” in the Florida Legislature to fund Community Marriage Initiatives.
3) Launch a Statewide “Pledge to Prepare” clergy press conference in all 10 major Florida media markets.
4) Identify leadership for and help create new 12 fully functioning Community Marriage Initiatives (CMI).
5) Train 10,000 Mentor Couples throughout the state of Florida.
“Strong Marriages Florida” has both and a church/community component and a public policy component. The community component will include helping to form Community Marriage Initiatives in 12 major metro regions of the state and encouraging pastors to commit to requiring marriage preparation for all couples prior to performing a wedding.
In terms of policy, we will be studying and sharing current research about the status of marriage and divorce in Florida and the impact that the fragmentation of the family has on our society. The campaign will explore various public policy options like helping couples become better prepared before they get married.