At Families Northwest, we know that in order to turn the tide on family breakdown, entire communities must unite and work together to prepare couples for marriage and give families the resources they need to build strong, healthy relationships. The city of Nampa, located in the Snake River plain in Southwest Idaho, is working towards becoming just this kind of community.

The city of Nampa – Idaho’s second largest city with a population of more than 50,000 people – has a long history of working together to support the youth and families of the community. For the last ten years, churches and other community groups in the area have partnered in an effort
called “Healthy Nampa, Healthy Youth” – an organization aimed at developing assets in children and teens. But just over two years ago a group of pastors and community leaders began to discuss their shared concern that something else had to be done to give the youth of Nampa a better shot at a positive future.

It was agreed that what was paramount to the health and happiness of Nampa’s children was the health and happiness of Nampa’s families. This meant taking a serious look at how underlying issues such as Nampa’s high rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births were negatively affecting kids.

At the same time this coalition of leaders was forming and beginning to discuss how family breakdown in Nampa could be effectively addressed, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was working on plans to launch pilot programs in select cities across the country aimed at strengthening marriages and families. When the federal government learned of what was happening in Nampa, the coalition was asked to apply.

The city of Nampa teamed up with churches, the local school district, Idaho’s department of health and welfare, and even the governor’s office to draft an application to HHS to become one of the sites for the Administration’s pilot programs. In May of 2003, after a long application and screening process, a $544,000 grant was awarded to the coalition and “Healthy Families - Nampa” was born.

Since that time Healthy Families - Nampa has become a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is comprised of leadership from the faith community, various government agencies, private counselors, schools and other community organizations that are involved with families. The organization works to connect couples and families in the community with existing faith-based and secular services – relationship counseling, marriage education, pre-marital counseling and parenting classes – as well as create new programs to meet currently unmet needs and reach more isolated segments of the population.

“The key to this effort is the diverse community partnership we’ve created,” said Terry Smith, Executive Director of Healthy Families - Nampa. “The faith community, the government and a variety of family-support organizations are all working together to make this project a success.”

Families Northwest, which was contracted by HHS to serve as a consultant to the coalition in its early stages of development, has seen up close just how unique of an effort the Nampa project is.

“Healthy Families - Nampa is a national model of how a community can work together to foster healthy marriages and strong families,” said Jason Krafsky, Community Strategies Director for Families Northwest.

“Incredible things are happening in Nampa. The faith community is providing marriage counseling and parenting education to clients referred by the state; a community counseling center created by the local university is providing free counseling services to families in crisis; the coalition is partnering with the local hospital to counsel and educate unwed parents; efforts are even underway to begin mentoring for inmates and their families at the local prison.

“These things just don’t happen without the kind of community partnership that is being facilitated by Healthy Families - Nampa.”