Marriage: The Solution to Ohio’s Family and Faith Decline
The collapse of the family is a spiritual crisis for our nation, and its effects are clearly evident in Ohio.
Right now, over half of Ohio’s children (53%) are growing up without their father in the home. This is a generational emergency that’s fueling cycles of poverty, crime, educational failure, and emotional instability.
Look at the numbers:
In Youngstown, where only 32% of mothers are married, the child poverty rate is 50%.
In Cleveland, where 33% of mothers are married, child poverty is 46%.
Compare that to Mason and New Albany, communities where married households are at 90% and child poverty rates are only 5% and 4%, respectively.
These gaps are the result of broken relationships and a culture that has forgotten God’s design for the family.
But there is hope.
Husbandhood Must Be the Focus
We honor every single mother doing her absolute best, but we also know that every child deserves a home with a loving, committed mother and father. The data is undeniable as children with involved fathers are:
39% more likely to earn A’s,
60% less likely to be suspended or expelled,
75% less likely to become teen parents,
And 80% less likely to be incarcerated.
Jeremiah 29 tells us that God has a plan to give us a hopeful and prosperous future.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.’”
God’s plan to take us from merely surviving to thriving hasn’t changed: get married, have a family, be a responsible citizen, and prayerfully serve others.
But in a culture that’s blurred these lines, the Church must rise up and rebuild the foundations: call men to be husbands first, then fathers.
While some of us might think this is common sense, it is not. Our goal at CCV is to restore a critical missing step in the process of family formation. We must teach our boys to become men, our men to become HUSBANDS, and then our husbands to become fathers. If you think this to be redundant, log onto the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood’s website and do a word search for the terms “marriage” or “husband.” You will not find a single mention of either.
To be clear: we are in total support of the $20 million appropriated for Fatherhood programming, but we must address these two common false assumptions:
The Body of Christ cannot assume that simply because state funding exists, we can sit back and expect state agencies to carry the full weight of this work.
We cannot assume that when we talk about “fatherhood,” everyone understands that we are ultimately encouraging married fathers. If we want lasting change in society, we must be intentional about promoting the vital step before fatherhood—marriage and husbandhood.
Our society has been systematically working to decouple fatherhood from marriage for decades, and that mindset has even begun to bleed into the Church. As any pastor will tell you, you only get what you preach, and in this day and age, we need to be very intentional about encouraging HUSBANDHOOD, not just fatherhood, in our congregations.
CCV has Found a Path Forward
One way the CCV policy team will help move the needle in this area of family formation and poverty avoidance is to ensure that Ohio students are taught the Success Sequence in school.
A 30-year longitudinal study of thousands of millennials found that among students who graduated from high school, worked full-time jobs in their 20s, and married before having children, 97% avoided poverty.
Furthermore, 95% of minorities and children from disadvantaged homes avoided poverty if they followed all three steps of the Success Sequence, and 85% made it into the middle and upper classes!
Every child deserves the hope of knowing that while they may not have had any choice in how their lives began, they have it well within their power to choose a blessed and prosperous future.
We’re thrilled about our strategic partnership with Communio, a national leader in building marriage-based ministries that strengthen relationships and revitalize churches. Because CCV is investing this effort, Communio is accessible to every church in Ohio.
Communio equips local churches with the tools, training, and data to:
Launch impactful marriage and family ministries
Support struggling couples
Reach men and encourage responsible husbandhood
Help teens and young adults prepare for healthy relationships and families
We Can’t Do It Alone
Your support today helps us:
Bring Communio’s marriage and family programs to more Ohio churches
Equip pastors to preach God’s plan for family and community
Build long-term strategies to reduce poverty and restore marriage and family
Give the next generation hope—and a higher calling
Join Us in This Critical Work!
Your gift today will help us in our work to rebuild the family in Ohio.
Will you partner with us?
Donate now and be part of restoring faith, family, and freedom across Ohio.
For more information, contact CCV at 513-733-5775 or contact@ccv.org. For media inquiries, email media@ccv.org.
As Ohio's largest Christian public policy organization, Center for Christian Virtue seeks the good of our neighbors by advocating for public policy that reflects the truth of the Gospel.
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