African American Healthy Marriage Initiative (AAHMI)

2008 Healthy People, Healthy Families:
Connecting Marriage Research To Practice Conference

Check out the proceedings for the Connecting Marriage Research to Practice Conference: Building Strong and Healthy Families, held in June 17-19, 2008 in Chapel Hill, NC. The Conference was jointly sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Jordan Institute for Families at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work. It was a vibrant forum for researchers, scholars, practitioners, colleges, universities, faith- and community-based organizations, states, grantees, healthy marriage coalitions, youth and youth serving organizations to explore emerging research on the African American family experience, and to engage in discussion around sustaining and strengthening African American families, marriages and community.

2007 Healthy People, Healthy Families:
Connecting Marriage Research To Practice Conference

The Connecting Marriage Research to Practice Conference was held in June 2007 in Chapel Hill, NC. The Conference was jointly sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Jordan Institute for Families at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work. It was a vibrant forum for scholars, practitioners, faith- and community-based organizations, and healthy marriage coalitions to explore emerging research on the African American family experience, and to engage in discussion around sustaining and strengthening African American families and marriages.

The Connecting Marriage Research to Practice conference was held in Chapel Hill, NC in September 2006, with the co-sponsorship of the Administration for Children and Families, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work's Jordan Institute for Families. The conference brought together scholars, practitioners, faith- and community-based organizations, and healthy marriage coalitions to explore emerging research on the African American family experience, and to discuss the implications of the research for sustaining and strengthening African American families and marriages.

The Department of Health and Human Services, Adminsitration for Children and Families sponsored "Framing the Future: A Fatherhood and Healthy marriage Forum" during May 10-12, 2005, at the WinShape Retreat Center in Rome, Georgia. The forum examined the importatnt role of ment as fathers and husbands in the healthy development of children and explored the challenges and opportunitite for building strong Responsible Fatherhood-Healthy Marriage partnerships that would result in stronger children, families, and communities.

The AAHMI: What's Hip Hop Got To Do With It? Forum took place at USC, on Sept. 24 - 25, 2004 in Los Angeles. Representatives from national organizations including Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Opportunities Industrialization Centers, and the Centre for New Black Leadership joined in partnership with the DHHS and other national and local community organizations and proposed a strategy aimed at encouraging youth involved with the Hip Hop culture to mobilize and educate their peers about making healthy choices and establishing healthy relationships.

This forum encouraged positive social interactions between youth and adults, creative input and discussion of the Hip Hop culture as it relates to positive youth development. The forum was designed to educate and inform participants on the current research, best practices, funding, opportunities, and available resources, and how to effectively incorporate relationship and marriage education into the very valuable services that community and faith-based organizations provide to youth.

AAHMI hosted a national forum on “Why Marriage Matters: The Role of Faith and Community Organizations,” in Chicago, Illinois on May 14-15, 2004.

The forum included a mix of educational/informational workshops, theater, music, networking and opportunities for discussion in open sessions about issues facing African American families today.

AAHMI convened in Dallas, TX on January 22-23, 2004 for our national forum on “Why Marriage Matters: The Role of Business and Media.” The Dallas forum focused on topics such as ‘Role of Media in AAHMI,' and ‘Engaging Business in AAHMI.'

AAHMI hosted a national forum on November 7-8, 2003 in Atlanta, GA. The event targeted African American youth, college students and faith, civic and community leaders and focused on the importance of healthy marriage in the African American community. Some of the topics covered during the forum were ‘Healthy Relationships (youth)' and ‘Marriage Education (college and young adults).'