Our story

Four decades of showing up

Founded by pastors and lay leaders in 1983, CCV has grown from a single community campaign into a Christian public-policy organization, advocating for families and training grassroots activists.


Religious freedom is more than the freedom to worship. It’s about being free to live out your faith.


Our history

The pastors who founded CCV had been meeting together since 1977. Four decades on, the same work runs in statehouses across the country.

Oct 1977Billy Graham’s crusades bring Cincinnati pastors together
1983Jerry Kirk founds Citizens Concerned for Community Values
June 19867-Eleven and other chains clear pornography from their shelves
Aug 1986Invited to Washington to shape a national strategy
1990Leads the public case over the Mapplethorpe exhibition
1991Renamed Citizens for Community Values; Phil Burress becomes director
Nov 1993Equal Rights Not Special Rights passes with 62% of the vote
1996The D.C. Group convenes, laying the ground for the federal DOMA
2001Named Ohio’s Family Policy Council by Focus on the Family
Nov 2004Issue 1 passes with over 60%, after 550,000 signatures
2005The first Voter Guide is published
June 2007The Community Defense Act becomes law
Nov 2016Phil Burress retires; Aaron Baer becomes president
June 2017Headquarters move to Columbus, blocks from the statehouse
Jan 2018The Ohio Christian Education Network launches
Feb 2018A press conference puts gender medicine on Ohio’s agenda
Nov 2018Issue 1, to legalize hard drug possession, is defeated
April 2019The Heartbeat Bill is signed into law
Dec 2020The Sixth Circuit rules for three Toledo Christian schools
Dec 2020The FORUM Act protects campus free speech
Feb 2021Renamed Center for Christian Virtue
June 2021Ohio creates the scholarship-granting tax credit
Aug 2022Westside Christian Academy, the first school in a church
July 2023The Backpack Bill makes EdChoice eligibility universal
July 2023The former Columbus Dispatch building becomes headquarters
Jan 2024A veto override enacts the SAFE Act and Save Women’s Sports
May 2024The Heritage Foundation awards its Innovation Prize
Sept 2024The Nationwide Not On Your Side campaign
Oct 2024The first Essential Summit draws more than 500 people
March 2025The Family Structure Index, with the Institute for Family Studies
April 2025The Christian Education Network takes the work national
July 2026Governor DeWine signs the Success Sequence bill

Laws passed

What four decades adds up to

More than 300 bills lobbied in the past decade, as counted by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

See the full record
2026

Success Sequence taught in schools

Read the bill
2025

Ending DEI at colleges and universities

Read the bill
2024

Parents’ Bill of Rights

Read the bill
2023

Save Women’s Sports

Read the bill
2023

Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act

Read the bill
2021

Universal School Choice enacted

Our top priority

Our faith compels us to act

The First Amendment ensures people of all faiths are free to exercise their beliefs in their day-to-day lives. For Christians that freedom is essential, because it is what lets us seek the good of our neighbors. Yet across the country laws restrict religious freedom and punish people of faith for what they believe, which is why protecting it is CCV’s top priority.

Our impact

  • In ministry and the marketplace

    Government should not punish people of faith for what they believe, at church or at work.

  • Conscience rights

    Professionals should not be forced to choose between their licence and their convictions.

  • Free speech

    Government should not restrict the speech of citizens who disagree with it.

Center for Christian Virtue advocates every day to ensure the doors of the church stay open, and the free exercise of religion is protected.

Your gift funds the testimony, research and grassroots pressure that move votes where laws are made.

Proclaiming Christ. Defending Virtue.
Protecting Families.
Donate

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