Ozarks Marriage Matters

The following is a brief history of how Ozarks Marriage Matters got its start.

September 2002

Ozarks Marriage Matters (OMM) began when a small group of people came together in September 2002 to begin discussing what they might do to promote a more marriage-friendly environment. Together, they decided to use their position as colleagues at Forest Institute of Professional Psychology to garner public attention. A decision was reached to host two focus groups in November, invite city and county representatives, and communicate the significance of healthy marriages to the entire community. Two additional similar focus groups followed in January 2003.

February 2003

 A survey of the 50 largest churches in and around Springfield was conducted to determine what healthy marriage resources the faith community currently provided.

April 2003

We hosted two more focus groups and issued special invitations to clergy to communicate the results of the February survey. Clergy requested that we invite church members to an additional focus group to be held in May 2003.

May 2003

After the May focus group, approximately 10 individuals indicated their willingness to serve on a board devoted to promoting healthy marriages. This group became known as Ozarks Marriage Matters. OMM filed for non-profit corporation status in Missouri and Jennifer Baker was identified as the founder and executive director.

Also during this period, Region 7 of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) became aware of our existence. They offered encouragement, support and information about grant opportunities.

July 2003

Jennifer Baker worked with a grant writer from Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) to produce a child welfare training grant that would support collaboration between the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Forest Institute and the School of Social Work at SMSU (now MSU). In late September, Dr. Baker was notified that Forest Institute had been awarded a five-year training grant to develop a curriculum for training child welfare workers in healthy marriage and family formation. The grant specified working closely with Ozarks Marriage Matters. 

October 2003

OMM and Forest Institute began work on the Healthy Marriage and Family Formation grant, and a project coordinator was hired. Region 7 of ACF provided assistance that enabled OMM to plan for its community-wide kickoff event in November. OMM was declared a non-profit corporation on October 27, 2003.

 November 2003

Julie Baumgardner, of First Things First in Chatanooga, Tennessee, served as guest speaker and workshop leader for the two-day kickoff event for OMM with a wide spectrum of community leaders participating. OMM board members and HMFF grant staff received additional training from Julie.

Between Then and Now...

OMM has continued to work in our community to strengthen and support healthy marriages and families. In addition to promoting relationship education, OMM again joined with Forest Institute to pursue a federal grant. In October 2006, OMM joined Forest Institute, ADsmith, and the Pregnancy Care Center in receiving a five-year grant to promote healthy marriages and relationships in 29 counties of Southwest Missouri. You can learn more over at Operation Us .