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PRESS RELEASE
10th Annual Smart Marriages/Happy Families Conference
June 22-25, 2006 • Atlanta, Georgia

Contact: 202-362-3332
CMFCE@smartmarriages.com

The annual Smart Marriages Conference is the "Who's Who" and the "What's What"
of the marriage-strengthening, marriage education field features 200 of the nation's
top marriage experts. In addition to the leading clinicians, researchers and program
developers like Howard Markman, John Gray, Pat Love, Michele Weiner-Davis, Scott Stanley,
David Olson, John Covey, Steven Stosny, Harville Hendrix, Barry McCarthy, and Emerson Eggrichs
and presenters also include activists and policy makers like Wade Horn, David Popenoe,
Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Diann Dawson, Mike McManus
and Bill Doherty.  More than 2,000 marriage educators will attend. 

A New Optimistic View of Marriage
Until very recently, we've been so discouraged by decades of marital breakdown that we
accepted our 50% divorce rate as inevitable. That's changing. It turns out couples have been operating
with good intentions but terrible information. We are entering a new era -  a Marriage "Renaissance"
fueled by powerful new research and the realization that we can teach couples how to get smart
about marriage - equip them with the tools and information they need to make their marriages work.

The Renaissance
We have new information about WHAT distinguishes successful marriages from those that fail.
And, we can teach couples how to do more of what works and less of what doesn't.

We have new information about WHY marriage matters. No wonder we’ve divorced like lemmings!
For years we've all saod that marriage made no difference, that all family forms were equal -
that a family is a family. It turns out that children raised in intact first marriages with their own two
parents, are on average happier, healthier, wealthier and more successful
on all measures than those that aren't. So are the adults -- both the men and the women.

We have new information about what to expect in marriage. Equipped with accurate maps
 - the predictible peaks and valleys -  it's easier for couples to navigate.  It helps when EXPECTATIONS
match reality.

Marriage Education
Is the model that undergirds the administration's Healthy Marriage Initiative and upon which
the new $100 million a year in federal funding is based.  People at all levels - from neighborhoods to
Congress - are sick of family breakdown and aren't going to take it anymore. This new research-based
approach is packaged in a wide range of easy-to-teach courses. And, the courses can be taught just about
anywhere - in community centers; congregations; schools; colleges; childbirth clinics; welfare, refugee,
head start and fatherhood settings; on military bases; in court houses; and, prisons. And they
can be taught to all classes and races. Marriage Education is benefical for couples at any stage from dating to
cohabiting to engaged to empty-nesters and from starry-eyed newlyweds to deeply troubled couples on the
brink of divorce.  It's a grass roots, community-based, public-health-education approach to marriage
that is sweeping the country. 

To add to the optimism:
- Research shows that trained lay leaders can teach the skills as well as, or better than, profesional counselors or therapists.
- Leader training takes only 2 - 3 days.  Or, not at all.  Many programs are DVD-based, "teach-right-out-of-the-box".
- The great variety of programs and providers means there's something for everyone.
- The classroom format and the ease of training and implementation means the courses are extremely cost-effective
and can be made widely accessible to diverse communities across the country.

Some highlights:

Why are the feds spending money on strengthening marriage? The better question, is
what took them so long!?  In Marriage and Public Policy, Wade Horn, Secretary for the
Administration for Children and Families/HHS, lays out the rationale and 8-point plan and
will explain what to expect in your community. - Keynote, Thurs, June 22, 6:30pm

In The Magic of Connection, Hedy Schleifer will help us take advantage of
each other!  Just like in a marriage, it's our connection and our combined talents
that give us power and that float the boat.  We've been meeting like this for 10 years
and have created a community that plans to keep rowing this boat to shore.  $100 million
might sound like a lot, but it's a drop in a very large ocean of divorce and family breakdown. 
We need to continue to row together.  - Keynote, Thurs, June 22, 6:30pm

Marriage Education is really all about message - about translating the research and
busting the myths and misinforamtion that get us in so much trouble. It's
about equipping our sons and daughters with accurate information so that
when they "know better they can do better".  In Message to Our Daughers and
Message to Our Sons, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead (Dan Qyale Was Right, Atlantic Monthly)
and Rozario Slack, will spell out what they need to know to succeed at relationships and
marriage and to be the first generation to reverse the trend of divorce and family breakdown.
- Keynotes, Fri, June 23, 8am

Continuing that theme, Pat Love and her daughter Kathleen McFadden, will explore how
we can change the messaes and change legacy.  Children with divorced parents have, themselves,
a much higher divorce rate. Pat is a three-time divorcee.  Kathleen is in a first marriage.  In
Breaking the Cycle of Divorce they will share their hard-earned wisdom for helping the many children
of divorce break the cycle. 

They share the plenary with John Van Epp whose wildly successful program, How to Avoid
Marrying A Jerk, provides blueprints for a courtship process that can help anyone improve the
odds of marital success and happiness.  The Army likes the program so much that it's being taught
Army-wide. 

"$100 million a year for five years of marriage-strengthening money. How can we help the feds get
the biggest bang for the new marriage bucks?" We'll explore the programs likely to have the greatest
reach. In fact, we'll train hundreds of instructors to teach the basic marriage skills programs like PREP,
PAIRS, Couple Communication, Relationship Enhancement, Imago Connects, Active Relationships,
8 Habits for Highly Successful Marriages.

Some think that's all MarriageEducation courses are about - simply teaching communication and
problem management skills to couples. Not that that's not a miracle in its own right -
to be able to affordably and effectively increase marital skills and marital succes.  But, Marriage
Education goes deeper.  There are programs that tackle the most confounding and serious challenges
 - the seemingly intracticalbe issues like substance abuse, domestic violence, emotional abuse, and porn
and internet sex addiction. 

We'll also explore the latest wisdom and research on the heart-and-soul
issues like Commitment, Money, Monogamy, Matchmaking, New Babies, Laughter,
Wedding Planning, and Play - even, Diet.

John Gray will present the new Mars/Venus Makeover: Get Your Mojo Working! - a plan
that tweaks our male/female brains to better 'synch-up'. - Keynote, Sun, June 25

Pat Love offers strategies for making Monogamy -- Hot!- and the power of
Passion as divorce prevention.  - Keynote, Sat, June 25.

Frank Pittman offers provocative notions to outflank the #1 conflict issue
in "Love and Money" in a Sat keynote followed with a 90-minute workshop on
"Affairproofing Marriage"......money and sex, he goes where angels fear to
tread.

Scott Stanley will decode the mystery about why men "do" Commitment so
differently than women.  This could also be described as a guide for single
women: "Gaining Power through Finally Understanding Men and Commitment."  He
also applies this knowledge in a two-day intensive for Low Income
Individuals -- teaches single mothers on welfare how to create solid,
stable, safe relationships (or end them) with the men in their lives.

We'll explore programs designed to get men involved including
"Secrets of Happily Married Men", "Power Love", Mars/Venus: Get
Your Mojo Working", "Divorce Busting"...and targeted, highly-rated
program for reaching men: "The #1 Key to Incredible Sex" that talks
turkey about masturbation and porn, internet sex and affairs, and gets the
highest approval ratings from males.

We'll look at programs for stepfamilies, singles, African Americans,
soldiers, Latinos, substance abusers, "Lazy Husbands", domestic violence,
alternative couples, in-laws, mixed matches, mentors, internet sex, the
unforgiven, children of divorce, humility, legislators, money 'habitudes',
empty nesters and marriage at the movies.....

Marriage Rally, Next Steps - The challenge is how to best get this vital information to the people.
We'll explore marriage and family strengthening initiatives from the courthouse to the
state house, across denominations, ideologies and party lines, on military bases, in high schools, prisons,
childbirth and community centers.  And, we'll  create action plans for the next stage.

Smart Steps for Stepfamilies - The failure rate for remarriage is even higher than for first marriages, and worse, yet,
if there are stepchildren.  You don't improve your marital happiness by changing partners.  Instead, you need to change
how you understand and "do"  marriage.  And, you need special knowledge and a special set of skills to make a stepfamily - the most
difficult kind of marriage - work.

LoveU2  - For too long we've emphasized plumbing and horror stories about disease and
unwanted pregnancies.  It's time to talk about relationships and joy - give kids a North Star and get them focused on their goals.
Dozens of programs focused on teaching marriage skills to kids in high school and college.

The Black Marriage Curriculum - How African Americans can take back their
marriages and give their children true equality - secure marriage and families to relax into.

Rekindling Desire, Marital Sex As It Ought To Be - As we all know, sex is only 5% of
a relationship - when it's working, but takes on huge dimensions - when it's not.  How
to help couples get their mojo working.

Ready or Not? - We'll stand some of our most cherished principles on their heads -  like "know yourself
before you dare to try to fall in love" -  and strip them naked. The better to examine them, my dear.

Marriage and the Movies  -  One more time, with feeling and through the movies, we'll
explore marriage, expectations, gender roles and  their usefulness.

200 experts will cover the challenges: Money, Love, Public Policy, Infidelity, Stepfamilies, Children of Divorce,
Family Structure, Marriage Myths, Domestic Violence, Hot Monogamy, Strengthening
Black Marriages, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Marriages, IMAGO, Gay/Lesbian and Alternative
Relationship Education, Premarital Inventories, Marriage Saver Congregations, Learning Sobriety
Together, Divorce Reform.

We'll have plenty of opportunities for training.  Attendees leave the conference certified to teach
dozens of different marriage and family strengthening courses.

And, there will be plenty of opportunities for the public to sample the programs.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE:
• 2000+ people are expected to attend.  There are registrants from all 50 states and from more than a dozen countries.

• Sponsored by the Washington, DC-based Coalition for Marriage, Couples and Family Education (CMFCE). The conference
is co-hosted by 20 national and international organizations, foundations and university programs.

• CMFCE is a non-partisan, non-sectarian, independent organization focused on strengthening marriage
and reducing family breakdown. More information is available on the website, www.smartmarriages.com.

• The conference features 150 different workshops and training sessions presented by more than 200
leading marriage and family experts.

• Speakers include Frank Pittman, author of Grow Up, and Man Enough; John Gray, author of Men
are From Mars, Women are From Venus,Pat Love author of Hot Monogamy,Steven Stosny
author of  Compassion Power, Howard Markman & Scott Stanley authors of 12 Hours to a Great Marriage,
Bill Doherty author of Take Back Your Marriage,and Michele Weiner-Davis, author of  Divorce  Remedy.

While the conference is primarily attended by mental health professionals, clergy, lay leaders, government employees
and policy makers, the entire conference, including the pre and post  conference training institutes, is open to the public.
The Seminars on Sunday, from 3-5pm are specifically designed with the public in mind - a chance to sample the
program in 2 hour sessions for only $15 per person. There are also three FREE sessions for the public: two full-day
overviews of marriage education programs for schools and youth groups, Thursday, June 22 and Monday June 26,
8am-5pm.

Accredited journalists are admitted to all sessions.

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