Overview:

Founded in 1989, the Oklahoma Family Policy Council (OFPC) is a statewide nonpartisan, nonprofit research, education and communications organization working to strengthen Oklahoma families through informed, involved citizenship, community initiatives, and improved public policy.

Mission:

OFPC exists: to strengthen families, to educate Oklahomans on public policy as it impacts the family, to encourage responsible citizenship, to restore traditional, Judeo-Christian principles in American public policy, and to create a healthy, "family-friendly" culture in Oklahoma. This is OFPC's main mission.

To accomplish these important goals, OFPC sponsors media-focused civic initiatives, produces policy reports, educates citizens and legislators about the family impact of state and federal legislation, encourages responsible citizenship by Oklahoma's private sector, disseminates timely information, communicates with the state's print and broadcast media, and works to encourage cooperative efforts among existing conservative, nonprofit groups, Oklahoma's opinion-leaders, and citizens.

Associated Partners:

Since its inception in 1989, OFPC has been fully associated with Dr. James C. Dobson's Focus on the Family, an international family-strengthening ministry headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo.

OFPC is also associated with the Family Research Council, a pro-family, nonpartisan public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. OFPC works cooperatively with FRC President Tony Perkins, pictured below left, and in coalition with numerous other state and national public-policy groups.

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Issues:

OFPC advocates many different issues, among them:

• the sanctity of human life—viewing life as God's beautiful gift from conception to natural death
• traditional marriage–i.e., marriage only between one-man and one-woman
• the two-parent traditional family–i.e., persons related by blood, heterosexual marriage, or adoption
• fatherhood–helping men to become the best dads possible
• motherhood–helping women to lovingly nurture the next generation
• educational excellence, which emphasizes cognitive knowledge
• educational choice for parents
• local control of schools, consistent with the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• opposition to the federalization of education, national standards, state-mandated standards
• parental rights—the fundamental right of parents to direct the education and upbringing of children
• criminal justice reforms, which emphasize restorative justice
• juvenile justice and deliquency prevention reforms
• welfare reforms that encourage work and human dignity
• low taxation, tax reforms to spur economic growth, proportional instead of progressive taxation
• limited government, Constitutional government
• the rule of law
• opposition to judicial activism by federal and state judges, which disregards legislative intent
• character education for families, businesses, and government
• abstinence-until-marriage education for young people
• pornography awareness, Internet safety
• regulation of sexually oriented businesses, prosecution of obscenity & child pornography crimes
• consumer-focused, free-market health care reforms
• opposition to government-run health care bureaucracies, which ration patient care
• the sanctity of the private doctor-patient relationship, the right of doctors to treat their patients
• lawsuit reform, which balances the rights of plaintiffs and businesses
• economic liberty, entrepreneurship, free-enterprise, free markets, Capitalism
• religious liberty, consistent with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• nationalism, patriotism, U.S. sovereignty, opposition to globalism & world government
• opposition to state-sponsored gambling and tribal gaming—favoring personal saving, investing, and business creation, not get-rich-quick schemes
• Biblical worldview training
• U.S. support for Israel
• peace-through-strength, a strong U.S. military

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KEEP (Kids Eagerly Endorsing Purity):

KEEP, OFPC's directive, character-based abstinence-until-marriage education program, provides young people aged 12-19 with accurate medical information about the risks associated with sex and encourages sexual abstinence-until-marriage as the best option for a healthy, successful life.

In addition to reaching students, KEEP also seeks to include parents or guardians, trained volunteers, and numerous members of the broader community—including physicians and other health professionals—to reinforce the teaching in the classroom. The KEEP Program, which began in 1999, now operates in numerous public and private schools in Central Oklahoma and Tulsa County, and in other communities statewide.

KEEP, which is authorized by the U.S. Congress and the Oklahoma State Department of Health, is the state's largest abstinence education program. Over 60,000 Oklahoma teenagers have been positively impacted by the Kids Eagerly Endorsing Purity Program. For more information about KEEP, click here.

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OFPC Board of Directors:

OFPC is governed entirely by Oklahomans for Oklahomans. Unlike some nonprofit organizations—whose board members often come from a variety of backgrounds—OFPC's board members are selected primarily from within the state's business and professional communities.

Joined by their spouses, OFPC Board members generously volunteer their time, expertise, and resources to help provide strategic oversight for the Council in its committed efforts to better the futures for all Oklahoma families and to restore traditional, Judeo-Christian principles in our culture.

In 2008, OFPC Board members, and their spouses, include:

Chairman of the OFPC Board

Mr. & Mrs. Lloyd G. McAlister (Karla)
Senior Partners
McAlister, McAlister, McKinnis & Tuggle, P.C.
Attorneys and Counselors-at-Law
Edmond

OFPC Governing Board Members

Dr. & Mrs. Craig R. Evans (Kayla)
Westbrook Family Physicians
Edmond

Ms. Robin Jones
Oklahoma City

Mr. & Mrs. Alan Mauldin (Michelle)
Signature Realty, L.L.C.
Edmond

Mr. & Mrs. Stephen G. Prentice (Cynthia)
Prentice, Napier & Green, Inc.
Oklahoma City

Dr. & Mrs Ross Rumph (Mary)
Retired Physician
Enid

Col. & Mrs. Lloyd Smith, Jr. (U.S.A.F., Ret.) (Susan)
Business & Government Continuity Services
Oklahoma City

Mr. & Mrs. William J. Wolfe (Amy)
Wattie-Wolfe Co.
Oklahoma City

(Company information is provided for identification purposes only.)

OFPC Advisory Board Members

Ms. Emoly West
Edmond's Miss LibertyFest 2008
Contestant, Miss Oklahoma 2009
Edmond

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OFPC Leadership & Staff:

OFPC's day-to-day operations are managed by a full-time professional staff:

Mr. Michael L. Jestes, pictured left, and with his family, is Oklahoma Family Policy Council's executive director. Acting out of his strong personal concern for the health of Oklahoma's families, Mike left a successful business career of 20 years and joined the Oklahoma Family Policy Council full-time in November, 1998. Mike and his wife, Donna, are the parents of three grown children. Because of his deep concern for young people, Mr. Jestes, by gubernatorial appointment, served for eight years as the chairman—on a volunteer basis—of the State Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention. As a result of his experience, he presently serves on the Oklahoma County Juvenile Board. Mike also currently serves part-time on the pastoral staff of his church, where he directs a large number of young people who, among other activities, serve schoolchildren and teachers weekly in several of the inner-city public schools of Oklahoma City.

Mr. David C. Dunn, who has worked in public-policy and administrative areas with the Oklahoma Family Policy Council (formerly Resource Institute of Oklahoma) since 1990, serves as OFPC's research and project director. David brings nearly 35 years of Oklahoma political science and public-policy experience to OFPC. A native Oklahoman, Dunn is responsible for all public-policy research, writing, publication content, and policy analysis. Mr. Dunn is editor-in-chief of The Oklahoma Citizen magazine, the Family Minute radio commentary, BILL Watch legislative analysis, and OFPC's Family News Update. He also provides information for the OFPC Web-site and produces the Oklahoma Voters' Guide in even-numbered years. David and his wife, Denise, are the parents of seven children.

Mr. Clinton F. Williams, a graphic-design specialist, is responsible for the polished, professional appearance of several OFPC publications, including our flagship magazine, The Oklahoma Citizen.

Mrs. Gwendolyn Poteat administers the Central Oklahoma KEEP Program and coordinates volunteer efforts. Under Poteat's leadership, the numbers of students and schools served by KEEP have grown significantly. Gwendolyn, a pastor in her denomination, has a real heart for young men and women, especially for those who face difficult hardships that result from the breakdown of inner-city families (or, ususally, lack of family formation) and from emotional and/or physical abuse.

Ms. Rosemary Gee is working to establish a strong expansion of the KEEP Program into Tulsa County, and in the surrounding cities. Rosemary, who in 2007 earned her master's degree, works in Oklahoma Family Policy Council's metropolitan Tulsa office, where she serves as the Tulsa County KEEP Coordinator.

Mrs. Dian Larson, serves as a much-valued financial and grants administrator for OFPC, working in the metropolitan Oklahoma City office. Dian also assists her husband, Phil, in www.prayermetro.com, a Christian ministry outreach to men in the central Oklahoma area.

Mrs. Trish Carruth is an executive assistant for our OFPC staff, working in the metropolitan Oklahoma City office. Carruth, who worked in a similar executive capacity to help establish the Trinity Legal Clinic in Oklahoma City, also has taught English to fortunate students attending the Oklahoma Christian Schools in Edmond. Trish is currently pursuing her master's degree at Southern Nazarene University. She serves on the board of a Christian campus ministry, Student Mobilization, and also has a personal speaking ministry, Sonflower Ministries. Trish and her husband, Nate, have three children.

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