Five-Year Healthy Marriage Initiative Kicks Off In Baltimore

Over the next five years, more than seven hundred couples in Baltimore will benefit from the Community Healthy Marriage Initiative, a government funded marriage education program established to strengthen the basic structure of the society. Dr. Cecil Conteen Gray, Pastor of the Northwood Appold United Methodist Church and Head of the Marriage Education and Servant-Leadership Development made these revelations last Saturday December 16, 2006 at an event to launch the city-wide program at the Church's Loch Raven premises.

"The purpose of this Marriage Education and Servant-Leadership Development (MESLD) program is to help build and sustain healthy marriages, and encourage safe, secure, loving relationships that are built on friendship, passion and commitment. That way, we establish partnerships based on respect, trust and willingness to communicate and resolve differences", explained Rev. Dr. Gray.

"It has been five years coming but now we have the funding so we can actually do the things we have been dreaming about all this time. We can get the resources and put the programs in place to actually help couples irrespective of background, or faith, or race. The thing is, there are numerous benefits of healthy marriages: they make children and youth more likely to be productive citizens; they give women a more fulfilling life; they give men a better quality of life and they provide a better standard of living for communities."

The first 'Growth Opportunity', the actual training session, starts January 6, 2007 and will continue until September", explains Gloria Billups, Assistant Program Manager for the project. "These sessions will give participants the tools needed for a better marriage. We all know that a healthy marriage is the beginning of everything. By the end of the first year, we hope we would have provided the skills and information to help people strengthen their marriages."