Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Recruitment Strategies, Data Snapshot: Reaching Potential Clients

The federal government has a long-standing commitment to supporting healthy relationships, stable families, and fathers’ involvement in the lives of their children and families. Since 2005, Congress has funded $150 million each year in healthy marriage (HM) and responsible fatherhood (RF) grants. The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has awarded and overseen three cohorts of these grants. Both HM and RF grantees strive to support the long-term success of families. HM grantees promote healthy marriage and relationships through eight legislatively authorized activities; RF grantees’ legislatively authorized activities promote responsible parenting, healthy marriage, and economic stability. OFA works with the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, also within ACF, to conduct research on how to best serve families through these grants. This snapshot describes client recruitment by the 2015 cohort of HM and RF grantees. To implement their programs, each grantee must find potential clients for whom its services would be appropriate, and encourage them to enroll.