The #1 remedy for child poverty

Besides Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Church, marriage and family are among the greatest gifts God has given humanity to help us thrive in the world He created. In fact, from Adam and Eve in Genesis to Christ’s wedding feast in Revelation, marriage is a central metaphor in Scripture for God’s covenant faithfulness. 

But when we reject His gifts, hurt and harm inevitably follow.

If we look around our communities, it's evident we are witnessing nothing short of the decay of America from the inside out:

• Kids are underperforming in school.

• Violence and drugs flood our streets.

• Abortion is on the rise while fertility rates are plummeting.

For too long, efforts have treated symptoms rather than the root cause, the breakdown of the family. While exceptions exist, the data is clear that communities with struggling families face the greatest challenges. 

The strongest predictor of a child’s success?

Being raised by a married mom and dad.

It’s time to shift the conversation and address the real issue in Ohio:

Children raised by single parents are more likely to be living below the poverty level than children living with their married moms and dads. 

In Youngstown, 68% of children are born into marriage-less households, and 50% of children are in poverty.

Meanwhile, in New Albany, 8% of children are born into marriage-less households, and only 4% of children are in poverty.

In other words, the more marriage decreases in parenthood, the more child poverty increases across Ohio, regardless of demographics.

Additionally, while 21% of all Ohio children live in families that receive food stamps,

• only 6% of children living with their married parents receive food stamps, but

• 41% of children living with single parents or step-families receive food stamps.

With 17 percent of Ohio children living in poverty, we are in the top third of states for child poverty, ranking 15th in child poverty across the nation. That's not a stat to be proud of.

Finally, with a whopping 42% of Ohio children born to unmarried parents, we must take action now if we want to see our future generations rise above poverty.

Hope and a Future, CCV's groundbreaking report in partnership with Brad Wilcox and the Institute for Family Studies, not only presents these key statistics on the challenges families face but also offers a strategic, holistic plan to rebuild strong and stable families in Ohio.

While CCV is providing this critical report and strategic plan for free on CCV.org/Hope, it was not free to produce. Would you consider supporting our efforts to combat child poverty with a donation today?

We're sending print copies of Hope and a Future as a thank-you for any donation of $50 or more!

To see the change our state and nation desperately need, we have to focus on rebuilding. 

Our prayer is that Hope and a Future will expose the true crisis facing our country and force our state and national leaders to confront it.

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.