The Heritage Foundation report linked to Project 2025 outlines a series of proposals aimed at encouraging earlier marriage and larger, two-parent heterosexual families. Key recommendations include 'marriage boot camps' with mentors and communal weddings, savings accounts with a $2,500 initial deposit for couples who marry before 30, and expanded tax credits for stay-at-home spouses. The report also cautions against IVF for unmarried people, discourages online dating, calls for a renewed role for religion and a uniform day of rest, and urges deregulation in housing and child care to improve affordability.
Heritage Report Proposes 'Marriage Boot Camps,' Mentors and Financial Incentives to Promote Earlier Marriage
Project 2025 creators propose ‘marriage boot camp,’ mentors for couples
The Heritage Foundation has published a policy report, linked to the Project 2025 agenda, proposing a package of measures the conservative think tank says would strengthen American families. The document emphasizes traditional two-parent, heterosexual households and recommends programs, financial incentives, cultural shifts, and regulatory changes designed to encourage earlier marriage and larger families.
Key Proposals
Marriage 'Boot Camps' and Mentoring: The report proposes establishing marriage camps to prepare unmarried couples for marriage. These programs would culminate in communal wedding ceremonies, pair couples with mentors to support them in married life, and provide a financial reward for program completion.
Targeted Financial Incentives: The authors recommend creating savings accounts modeled on so-called 'Trump Accounts' for newborns. Under the plan, couples who marry before age 30 would receive an initial deposit totaling $2,500 paid over three years. The report also calls for expanded tax credits for families where one spouse remains at home to care for children.
Family Structure and Social Policy: The document is oriented toward two-parent, heterosexual families. It urges discouraging online dating, eliminating what it describes as 'marriage penalties' in tax and benefit systems, and strengthening work requirements tied to social welfare programs.
Assisted Reproduction and Child-Rearing: While acknowledging legitimate medical uses of in vitro fertilization (IVF), the report warns against IVF use by unmarried individuals or couples. The authors also push back against cultural views that larger families necessarily reduce parents' ability to spend quality time with children, instead encouraging larger family sizes.
Religion, Rest, and Cultural Priorities: The report encourages renewed emphasis on religious life—arguing that religious communities tend to have larger families—and proposes a uniform day of rest that would limit commercial activity nationwide. It criticizes contemporary norms that prioritize extended education, career advancement, or financial stability over earlier family formation.
Regulatory Changes to Improve Affordability: To reduce the cost pressures that affect family formation, the Heritage authors recommend rolling back regulations in areas such as housing and child care and making other policy changes intended to improve affordability for families.
Controversy and Debate
The proposals are likely to be controversial. Supporters may argue they strengthen family formation and reduce economic barriers to parenting, while critics will likely view many recommendations as prescriptive, exclusionary toward nontraditional families, or as an attempt to steer personal choices through policy. The report raises broader questions about the appropriate role of government in shaping cultural and family norms.
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