Making Relationship Programs More Inclusive For LGBTQ+ Youth: Findings From the FRAMING Research Project The number of young people in the United States who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ+) has increased substantially in recent years. Although the topics addressed in healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs tend to be applicable to young people of any gender who are interested in both heterosexual and non-heterosexual relationships, few programs explicitly address these topics from the LGBTQ+ perspective. Supported by the Department of Health and Human Services, and in partnership with Public Strategies, Mathematica explored how to make HMRE programs more inclusive for LGBTQ+ youth. The project team reviewed literature on relationship education and related programming for LGBTQ+ youth, led focus groups and interviews with HMRE program directors and staff, and interviewed HMRE program participants who self-identified as LGBTQ+. Join us as we discuss common challenges HMRE…
Relationship Education
Centering Youth Voice Using Peer Facilitators in Relationship Education to Engage and Empower Youth Join Kelley Luckett and Daiya Thompson of the Louisville YMCA as they discuss lessons learned over the last two years of implementing Love Notes in Teen Vibe Camps using peer facilitators. Teen Vibe Camps, offer a transformative blend of summer camp nostalgia and comprehensive curriculum sessions. Through activities like podcasting, music, and social media graphics, these camps foster a sense of community and belonging. Statistical evidence showcases significant shifts in positive identity markers among attendees, particularly among LGBTQ+ youth, who form trusted adult connections and show higher program engagement. Complementing this approach is an innovative Peer Facilitator model, which introduces youth as Love Notes facilitators. Peer facilitators excel in building trust, fostering community, and encouraging participation outscoring adult facilitators in quality observation scores. Through a dual-track system involving collaboration with local high schools and self-selection from…
The Power of Relationship Education from a Policy Perspective Policymakers and policy analysts are increasingly turning to micro-level interventions to address large and widespread social issues. There is a growing recognition that what happens inside a home and family has broader social ramifications, which is turning policy conversations toward approaches that can strengthen couples and families. Relationship Education has proven to be effective for improving outcomes in a variety of settings related to families. Because many of the issues that public policy seeks to address are affected by family instability and parental conflict, Relationship Education can act as a preventative measure that diminishes risk factors that originate in the home. Also, addressing a problem after it has taken hold is often more expensive than stopping it from happening in the present. Join Dr. Jocelyn Wikle to learn how Relationship Education can be beneficial in diminishing serious and costly issues of…
Young People’s Experiences and Thoughts on Relationships Today: A conversation with Marline Pearson Many of us wonder about young people’s current lived experience and aspirations regarding their relationships. For instance: Do adolescents still date? Do they still hope for a long-term committed partner or spouse? How are young people thinking about their intimate relationships? How are they visualizing their current or future families? Join Love Notes author and noted thought leader, Marline Pearson, as she shares her experiences and reflections that come from teaching thousands of young people at Madison College, a two-year technical and community college as well as younger teens through STEM and Gateway programs. She will also share the different messages she gives young people from teens to late twenties about how best to approach relationships during those years. Note: This is a conversational format. Please come prepared with questions to ask Marline. Objectives: Participants will be…
The State of Youth Relationship Education Today Relationship education has moved from being an unfamiliar and unrecognized intervention to being an appreciated and effective intervention that can pull many levers in young people’s lives. We know from research that it can change sexual behaviors, reduce violence and the acceptance of violence. And, most recently, we see that relationship education can help build hope. Join Executive Director, Kay Reed, to learn about the current landscape for the field of relationship education. She will share new research outcomes, innovative funding streams and settings, along with challenges and opportunities for the field. Objectives: Participants will be able to: List outcomes that result from evidence-based relationship education. Target new state and federal funding to support relationship education programming. Share current challenges and opportunities for the field Presenter: Kay Reed, Executive Director Resources: January 2024 Webinar Slide Deck
What happens when you organize college undergraduates to provide healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) to their peers in a structured service-learning class? This presentation will describe a community engagement strategy and pedagogical approach to prepare emerging professionals and strengthen romantic relationships by utilizing undergraduate peer educators to facilitate HMRE to other undergraduate students in their campus community. Join Drs. McElwain and Finnegan as they discuss the process of training, planning, and implementing content from the evidence-based Love Notes curriculum that helped college peers see human development and family relations concepts “come to life,” open a “whole new world” of career opportunities, and develop key professional skills. Objectives: Participants will be able to: Understand the benefits of a peer education model for delivering HMRE through structured university service-learning courses. Identify peer impact and practical gains of facilitating relationship education through a service-learning experience Learn from peer educators’ reflections on their…
Strengthening Facilitation Skills: A Training Curriculum for Programs Working with Youth, is a free, three-module curriculum designed to help facilitators of youth-serving programs improve the quality of their facilitation skills. It was developed as part of a formative evaluation of Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education programs conducted by Mathematica and its partner Public Strategies in conjunction with two community-based organizations called STREAMS. Join Erin Welch and Scott Roby for this webinar where they will share details about the curriculum’s development, describe its resources, and explain how it can be used to foster facilitators’ development. Learn how you can maximize learning and engagement using best practices and participant-centered and trauma-informed facilitation Objectives: Participants will internalize the goals and development process of the Strengthening Facilitation Skills curriculum. Participants will explore the content and resources included in the curriculum. Participants will understand how to use the curriculum and hear tips from the field….
From underperforming schools to unsafe neighborhoods, from institutional racism to other structural barriers, hindrances often stand in the way of financial success for young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds. Given these challenges, many young adults lose hope, thinking they have no way of changing their life trajectories. However, there is a path that frequently leads to the “American Dream” and away from poverty. This path is called the “Success Sequence.” The sequence entails three steps: (1) getting at least a high-school degree, (2) working full-time, and (3) marrying before having children. Young adults who manage to follow the sequence – even in the face of challenges – are much more likely to forge a path to a better economic life. Join Brad Wilcox and Wendy Wang as they discuss how poverty is basically nonexistent among young adults who followed all three steps according to their new analysis of data from the…
50% to 65% of Americans believe that living together before marriage will improve their odds of relationship success, and 70% of newly married couples in the U.S. live together prior to marrying. But is what people believe true? In this webinar, researchers from the University of Denver will briefly highlight the association between premarital cohabitation and marital outcomes. Using the latest findings from a new, national survey on premarital cohabitation conducted in 2022, they will update prior work and findings with people who married for the first time between 2010 and 2019. Join Galena Rhoads and Scott Stanley as they discuss the mechanisms of risk in premarital cohabitation and the implications for working with youth and young adults. The discussion will be followed by an extensive question and answer session. Objectives: Participants will be able to: Describe the historical and latest findings on premarital cohabitation research Understand implications for youth…
In this webinar, Dr. Anita Barbee, will discuss the results from the original random control trial in Louisville testing the efficacy of Love Notes. She will focus on how Love Notes actually reduces the chance of pregnancy for youth by 46% over those in the control group 12 months after instruction. (These results were recently published in the peer reviewed journal, Family Relations.) You will learn about some of the mediators that led to that outcome, which were emphasized more in Love Notes than another comprehensive sex education program. She will cover how negative attitudes about teen pregnancy and endorsement of the success sequence may be key in preventing teen pregnancies. Dr. Barbee will also dive into why Love Notes worked so well with a Black youth population given the ecology in which those participants live. Implications for practice will be discussed. Objectives: Participants will learn: About contents of Love Notes that likely impacted results….
Young mothers in Delaware have the option of attending school with other expecting and parenting young ladies in one of three locations throughout the state. This alternative educational option is the 54-year-old organization called the Delaware Adolescent Program, Inc. (DAPI). DAPI combines programming for pregnant and parenting teens through academics, health, and outreach. DAPI’s model helps its “DAPI Daughters” soar to new heights both academically and personally. Join DAPI’s executive Director, Doris Griffin, as she discusses the DAPI model and how relationship education is an integral part of that work. Objectives: Participants will learn: Information about the Delaware Adolescent Program, Inc. (DAPI) What makes the DAPI model different from other alternative education How DAPI integrates relationship education in their work About DAPI’s goals for future programming Presenter: Doris L. P. Griffin, Ed.D., Executive Director of the Delaware Adolescent Program, Inc. Who should attend: Program managers working with expecting and parenting youth,…
Non-profits often struggle to stretch their limited funds and still provide effective programming for the young people they serve. In the wake of the pandemic, school-aged youth deserve access to social-emotional learning that is trauma-informed and yields results. Yet, many evidence-based programs are often out of reach for school budgets. Non-profit organizations may have grant funding but the ability to find qualified facilitators and deliver in-school programming may be beyond their reach. During this webinar, discover how your non-profit can build relationships with state education offices, schools, and teachers to partner with them in your grant activity. This synergistic approach can result in providing quality evidence-based programming in classrooms that cost-effectively reaches scores of students. Join Sarah Simister, the Director of Positive Youth Development Programs at Social Innovation Laboratory, as she discusses how to build a sustainable program offering healthy relationship programming in schools and how your grant dollars will…
The “Success Sequence” refers to the concept of milestones a young person should complete in their life that are associated with greater economic self-sufficiency and family stability. These steps are most commonly understood as 1) finishing high school, 2) having a full-time job, and 3) waiting for marriage to have children. Up until now, a key part of the Success Sequence has been the order in which a young person achieves these milestones. With funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mathematica conducted an economic analysis of the Success Sequence steps to assess their actual benefits for young people. Join us to discuss Mathematica’s findings about the Success Sequence including new thinking about the order of the milestones, what some alternative pathways may be for young people, and the significance of their order in creating economic self-sufficiency and family stability. Objectives: Participants will be able to explain:…
In this webinar the new PACES Connection CEO, Ingrid Cockhren, will explore the connection between advise childhood experiences, trauma, attachment styles and various types of abuse in dating and romantic relationships. She will examine the systemic nature of trauma and adversity and how early adversity is a root cause of poor relationship outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood. This webinar will also outline systemic solutions for populations that have experienced historical trauma and adversity. Objectives: Webinar Participants will understand: 1. The impact of early adversity on the brains and bodies of children and adolescents. 2. The impact of early adversity on developing secure attachment. 3. The link between attachment in infancy and early childhood and adolescent/young adult relationships. 4. The systemic barriers that impact the attachment bond and dating relationships in populations that have experienced historical trauma. Presenters: Ingrid Cockhren, M.Ed., CEO of PACEs Connection Resources: April 2022 Slide Deck
Americans today are increasingly waiting longer to marry, if they marry at all. Are today’s young people no longer interested in forming families? What types of relationships they are experiencing? Explore research on young people’s attitudes toward relationship formation, their dating and romantic relationships, and the quality of their relationships in this webinar. Program providers will better meet the needs of the youth they serve by placing their participants’ experiences within broader U.S. trends. In this webinar, Drs. Karen Benjamin Guzzo and Wendy D. Manning will discuss preliminary findings of new work from the Marriage Strengthening and Research Dissemination (MAST) Center on adolescents’ and young adults’ relationship expectations and experiences, drawing on a review of recent research as well as new analyses of the National Survey of Family Growth. Objectives: Webinar participants will understand: Teens’ and young adults’ expectations of cohabitation and marriage. Recent trends in dating and other romantic…
With the highest teen pregnancy rates in the United States, Arkansas has a great need for health education centering around pregnancy prevention and healthy relationships. After utilizing Love Notes 3.0 and Love Notes SRA for the last three years, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Outreach Specialists, Sarah Harlan and Charles Maxwell, have encountered barriers common to a rural, conservative environment. But despite those barriers, they have seen growth. Join them during this webinar to hear their experiences and lessons learned in bringing relationship education to teens across their state. Objectives: Webinar participants will be able to: Understand how Love Notes aligns with the mission of Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Understand Arkansas Children’s Love Notes implementation strategies. Gain insights into increasing community partnerships and reaching rural areas with health education. Presenters: Sarah Harlan and Charles Maxwell, Outreach Specialists, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Who should attend: Program managers, educators, practitioners, community workers, and anyone interested in working with youth. When: Wednesday,…
Highlights from the Marriage Strengthening Research and Dissemination Center Relationship education programs geared towards adolescents and young adults attempt to shape goals and behaviors in current and future relationships. To maximize the effectiveness of these programs, youth-focused relationship education programs need to be implemented in a way that considers the age and developmental stage of participants and draws on the strengths that youth bring to programming. Further, as marriage and family formation shifts toward older ages, more research is needed on how youth are thinking about and engaging in relationships. This webinar will highlight work conducted by the Marriage Strengthening Research and Dissemination Center that explores youth relationship attitudes, expectations, and experiences and how relationship education programs can tailor programming for youth, based on a positive youth development framework. A specific application of integrating positive youth development with youth relationship education programming will be discussed with a presentation from Desiree…
WEBINAR: Co-Regulation Strategies: Practical Tools for Program Staff to Foster Youth Self-Regulation
What is co-regulation? Why does it matter? How can I integrate co-regulation into my program or practice? Join interventionist and nurse-educator Aly Frei to explore co-regulation, its importance for youth development, and its potential to improve program outcomes. Co-regulation is a term that helps describe the important interactions between adults and young people that foster youth self-regulation. Self-Regulation is a central ingredient in lifelong success, predicting healthy relationships, economic self-sufficiency, and physical and emotional well-being. Because of rapid change in youths’ brains and bodies, adolescence is an important time for adults to promote self-regulation development. Through co-regulation, adults form relationships where youth feel cared for and known; co-create safe and nurturing environments; and give youth opportunities to practice self-regulation skills and reflect on how to apply them in their lives. Integrating co-regulation strategies into youth service delivery is a promising approach for improving program implementation and youth outcomes. Objectives: Webinar…
Despite your best efforts, you’ve just learned that your federal grant proposal was not funded or your grant non-continued. Bummer. We’ve been there too. After an appropriate amount of time to grieve, time to roll up your sleeves and get back to it! The youth you serve need relationship education. But how? Join Kay Reed and Aaron Larson in this webinar just for Dibble clients to explore alternative funding possibilities. Objectives: Webinar attendees will learn: What grants the feds have forecast for the remainder of 2020 and early 2021. Outcomes of relationship education that justify the intervention with a variety of funding streams. Alternative, ongoing local, state, and federal flow-through funding. Presenters: Kay Reed, Executive Director, The Dibble Institute Aaron Larson, Director of Programs, The Dibble Institute Duration: 60 minutes Cost: Free! Resources: Creative Sustainability Links Sustainability PowerPoint Slides Sustainability Tip Sheet Sustainability Worksheet Department of Justice Funding Opportunities
Does marriage still perform a valuable role in today’s society? Or, is it just another quaint tradition or something only a privileged few seek and attain? Join Kay Reed, Executive Director of The Dibble Institute, as she shares recent trends in family formation; explores the most recent data on marriage, cohabitation, and single parenting; and brings it back to what matters to children. Explore ways to integrate these skills and concepts about building healthy relationships into your programs, sometimes in unexpected ways. Objectives: Webinar participants will be able to: Describe current marriage trends and adolescents’ views of marriage. Identify current research questions in the field. Communicate why family form matters to adults, youth, and children. Presenters: Kay Reed, President and Executive Director, The Dibble Institute Who should attend: Healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood grantees, healthy relationship program staff, child abuse prevention advocates, mental health practitioners, family stabilization coaches, and employability specialists. When: Wednesday,…