THE OHIO STRENGTHENING FAMILIES INITIATIVE BACKGROUND In 2006, the Ohio Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives launched the Ohio Strengthening Families Initiative with an investment of 1% of the Ohio's TANF block grant per year. The funding for this effort of $11 million per year was approved for both State Fiscal Year 2006 and 2007 by the Ohio General Assembly and through an Executive Order signed by Governor Bob Taft. The goals of the Ohio Strengthening Families Initiative (OSFI) are to reduce childhood poverty and improve child well-being by reducing the rate of out-of-wedlock births and by strengthening and stabilizing two-parent families in accordance with federal TANF purposes 3 and 4. TARGET POPLULATIONS AND STRATEGY The Ohio Strengthening Families Initiatives seeks to engage a wide array of service providers, to include small faith and community-based organizations and volunteers through a number of competitively bid grant opportunities. The target service populations include ex-offenders and their families, vulnerable youth, and communities interested in implementing a healthy marriage initiative. OSFI has also targeted services to strengthen and support Ohio National Guard and Reserve families who have been called into Active Duty service abroad.
IMPLEMENTATION
The Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives released four Requests for Proposals (RFPs) in January and February 2006. More information about the RFPs is available at www.ohiofamilies.org. A total of 29 grants were made. Five focus on older vulnerable youth and four focus on ex-offenders and their families. Seven grants were awarded to organizations that serve adult ex-offenders and their families in an effort to reduce recidivism rates by strengthening and stabilizing families through the Children of Incarcerated Parents and Returning Home Grants. Seven projects funded under the Collaboration grant help launch community-wide healthy marriage initiatives: Enriching Lives through Lasting Marriages: This community-wide effort is lead by the North Terrace Church of Christ with a large number of government, private, faith and community-based partners in the Appalachian community and rural county of Muskingum. The Enriching Lives program seeks to strengthen marriages with pre-marital services to engaged couples, relationship and marriage skills building education for single adults and high school students, public marriage information campaigns for the general public and marriage strengthening services for Ohio National Guard and Reservists.
Marriage Matters: This faith-based and community marriage coalition is lead by the Abstinence Educator's Network providing a multi-faceted, culturally sensitive approach to marriage education and service delivery for low-income individuals and couples in Clark, Champaign and Green counties. Services directed toward youth include the use of the Baby Basics parenting series, 24/7 Dad fathering series and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens training for abstinence until marriage. Unmarried couples are served through pre-marital education with either the FOCCUS pre-marital curriculum or Smart Steps for successful step-family formation.
Building Strong Marriages & Families Coalition of Southwest Ohio: This collaborative effort is lead by the Beech Acres Parenting Center. It includes a variety of organizations providing programs and support services to low-income people in the greater Cincinnati area including married or cohabitating couples, to strengthen their relationships, thereby improving outcomes for their children. The coalition also provides specialized programs for Ohio National Guard and Reservists and their families.
A complete list of grantees is available at www.ohiofamilies.org.
SPECIAL OSFI PROJECTS In addition to competitively bid grants, OSFI is partnering with the Ohio National Guard to expand existing marriage strengthening programs for Guard and Reservists who have been called into Active Duty service by certifying more chaplains to provide marriage strengthening curricula. OSFI is also working with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections and the Ohio Department of Youth Services to provide culturally relevant healthy relationship and marriage training to youth and adults who are currently incarcerated. The Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is also launching a statewide African-American Healthy Marriage Initiative called 'Turning the Tide'. This project will engage the community of faith and others in five Ohio cities to reduce out-of-wedlock births, reduce the divorce rate and strengthen marriage in the African-American community. For more information about the Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, please visit www.fbciohio.gov or call (614) 466-3398.
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