By Rose O’Connor | Correspondent

This past fall, the Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, awarded El Centro, the Family Resource Center directed by Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton, the Communality-Centered Healthy Marriage Grant. 

El Centro is a multi-service, family-focused community resource center serving Mercer County with a special emphasis on meeting the needs of the Latino community in Trenton.  El Centro, located on South Broad St., Trenton, is the only program in New Jersey to receive this grant.

“A strong and stable family is the greatest advantage any child can have,” said George Sheldon, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families. “These grants support programs that promote responsible parenting, encourage healthy relationships and marriage, and help families move toward self-sufficiency and economic stability.”

These grants were awarded through a competitive process and aim to test promising strategies for supporting healthy relationships and marriages and for helping fathers meet their parenting and financial obligations to their children. Organizations receiving healthy marriage grants may provide a range of services including marriage education, divorce reduction, and marriage and relationship skills programs that may include parenting skills, financial management, conflict resolution, and job and career advancement. 

As El Centro director, Roberto Hernandez explained, “We were originally a recipient of a grant which was part of an initiative that [former] President Bush put into effect to develop programs to enhance relationships with the idea that children would benefit from a home life that was stable.”

El Centro was so successful in reaching and working with the
Latino community that the program became a model for future programs around the nation. 

Although the money for this federally funded grant does not include allocation for formal religious education, El Centro has partnered with the Department of Youth, Marriage and Family Life and several priests throughout the diocese to incorporate a sacrament preparation portion to the program.

“It is a wonderful partnership,” Hernandez said of the relationship El Centro has with the diocese and the local parishes. 

Linda Richardson, director of the diocesan Department of Youth, Marriage and Family Life,  said, “Our plans for collaborating with El Centro are to continue promoting a particular marriage preparation program (called PREP) for Hispanic couples, as we’ve done in the past.” 

Hernandez explained, “PREP, which is an acronym for Parent Retentive Enhancement Program, is a curriculum that has worked well with El Centro and the people it serves.”

 “It is a wonderful partnership,” Hernandez said of El Centro’s relationship with the Department of Youth, Marriage and Family Life and the pastors in the diocese. “We have been able to serve at least 400-500 couples in the diocese in the past with the PREP program. Our statistics show they [the couples] are happy and children are living in a happy relationship.”

The new grant will include a literacy component, “to help people speak better English, so that they can become better advocates for themselves and their children,” Hernandez offered.

El Centro currently provides weekly classes for marriage education.  With the additional funding from this newly awarded grant, El Centro will continue to provide assistance for more couples and families. 

“We work with the most vulnerable, we meet them at a very vulnerable time.  We really try to let them know God is here, the Catholic Church is here and we haven’t forgotten you,” said Hernandez.

Couples and families who are interested in participating in the programs provided by El Centro should contact Roberto Hernandez, (609) 394-2056.