On February 17, 1999, then State Representative Peter Lawson Jones introduced legislation in the Ohio General Assembly to create the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood. Governor Bob Taft and Representative Jones joined together as bi-partisan Champions of Fatherhood to move this legislation through the General Assembly and it was signed into law on July 1, 1999.

Watch the video below to hear Ohio's Champions of Fatherhood: Former State Representative Peter Lawson Jones and former Governor Bob Taft reflect on the bipartisan formation of the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood in 1999. - clips courtesy of Marquette Williams, Fatherhood 101

On January 24, 2007 the Ohio Fatherhood Commission Transition Agency Review Committee delivered a report to Ohio Governor Ted Strickland outlining a series of recommendations, including the re-engagement of the Ohio Fatherhood Commission and a budget of $20 million per year in TANF dollars to fund fatherhood training and programming throughout the state.  The Committee was chaired by Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, the original architect of the Ohio Fatherhood Commission.  The full report is available here; please click here to download report. 

The executive summary is also available here; click here for summary.

The Commission was reinvigorated and has been operating within the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services since 2008.  Click here to learn more about it's activities.

The Agenda outlines public policy issues affecting the lives of fathers and families in Ohio in 5 general areas:  Child Support; Job Training and Employment; Welfare Reform/TANF; Fathers, Families and Professional Support; and Incarceration and Reentry.  An abridged version of the agenda was published in the Fall 2006 OPNFF newsletter. 

To download the full version of the Public Policy Agenda, click here.

We welcome comments on the issues outlined in the agenda.  This is a living document that will continue to evolve and change in response to the dynamic public policy environment in Ohio and Nationally.  Click here to comment.