July 26th - Basic Training for Couples - Warner Robins Conference Center - Cost $40
August 23 - 8 Habits of a Successful Marriage - Lake Joy Primary School Teachers - Houston County - Cost $80
Sept 12th & 13th - 8 Habits of a Successful Marriage (Physicians Only)-Lake Blackshear - Cordele,GA - Cost $395
Nov 24th-28th - National Family Week
Jan 17th - Marriage Bowl - Macon, GA (Location TBA)
For more info please e-mail: tmoore@mghfcmacon.org
Research on family structure suggests a variety of mechanisms, or processes, through which marriage may reduce the need for costly social programs. Research has provided a costly assumption that all of the taxpayer costs of divorce and unmarried childbearing stem from the effects that family fragmentation has on poverty.
High rates of family fragmentation nation wide cost taxpayers at least $112 billion per year or $ 1 trillion each decade. Finding new ways to strengthen marriage and reduce unnecessary divorce and unmarried childbearing is a legitimate and pressing public concern.
Because of the very large taxpayer costs associated with high rates of divorce and unmarried childbearing, and the modest price tags associated with most marriage strengthening initiatives, state and federal marriage-strengthening programs with even very modest success rates will be cost effective for taxpayers. (The Taxpayer Cost of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing-Research provided by Benjamin Scafidi.)
The Middle Georgia Healthy Family Collation (M.G.H.F.C.) emerged from a vision by God to Ricky and Tonya Moore. We are advocates of the family and marriage. We value marriage and seek to enlighten the community of the potential harm to children of divorce or illegitimacy. Mountains of research tell us that children reared outside of intact marriages are much more likely than other kids to slip into poverty, become victims of child abuse, fail at school and drop out, use illegal drugs, launch into premature sexual activity, become unwed mothers, divorce, commit suicide and experience other signs of mental illness, and commit crimes and go to jail. Divorce weakens the bonds between parents and children over the long run. Children lead healthier, longer lives if parents get and stay married.
We want to provide an avenue for this community to pursue a healthy marriage. As couples press toward this goal they will find themselves less depressed, less anxious, and less psychologically distressed. By increasing confidence that this partnership will last, marriage allows men and women to emphasize that each are both responsible for and responsible to another human being. And both halves of that dynamic lead the marriage to live more responsible, fruitful, and satisfying lives. Marriage is a transformative act, changing the way two people look at each other, at the future, and at their roles in society.
Just as good marriages go bad, bad marriages go good. And they have a better chance of doing so in a community that recognizes the value of marriage than one that sings the statistical joys of divorce. God has called M.G.H.F.C. to address this opportunity to energize and strengthen the community which will ultimately produce long-term benefits for the entire Middle Georgia area.