For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 29, 2001
Remarks by the President in Announcement of the Faith-Based Initiative
Indian Treaty Room Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
10:55 A.M. EST
THE
PRESIDENT: Good morning. Thank you all for
coming. I take great joy in making this
announcement. It's going to be one of the most important
initiatives that my administration not only discusses, but implements.
First, it's
good to have so many groups represented here -- religious and
non-religious; Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, and Muslim; foundations
and other non-profits. I want to thank you all for coming.
This is a
collection of some of the finest America has got to offer -- people who
lead with their hearts, and in turn, have changed the communities in
which they live for the better. This meeting is a picture of
the strength and diversity and compassion of our country.
This is a
diverse group, but we share things in common. They provide
more than practical help to people in need. They touch and
change hearts. And for this, America is deeply
appreciative.
Everyone in
this room knows firsthand that there are still deep needs and real
suffering in the shadow of America's affluence. Problems
like addiction and abandonment and gang violence, domestic violence,
mental illness and homelessness. We are called by conscience
to respond.
As I said
in my inaugural address, compassion is the work of a nation, not just a
government. It is more than the calling of politicians; it
is the calling of citizens. It is citizens who turn mean
streets into good neighborhoods. It is citizens who turn
cold cities into real communities.
It is one
of the great goals of my administration to invigorate the spirit of
involvement and citizenship. We will encourage faith-based
and community programs without changing their mission. We
will help all in their work to change hearts while keeping a commitment
to pluralism.
I approach
this goal with some basic principles: Government has
important responsibilities for public health or public order and civil
rights. Yet government -- and government will never be
replaced by charities and community groups. Yet when we see
social needs in America, my administration will look first to
faith-based programs and community groups, which have proven their
power to save and change lives. We will not fund the
religious activities of any group, but when people of faith provide
social services, we will not discriminate against them.
As long as
there are secular alternatives, faith-based charities should be able to
compete for funding on an equal basis, and in a manner that does not
cause them to sacrifice their mission. And we will make sure
that help goes to large organizations and to small ones as
well. We value large organizations with generations of
experience. We also value neighborhood healers, who have
only the scars and testimony of their own experience.
Tomorrow I
will begin turning these principles into a legislative
agenda. I will send to Congress a series of ideas and
proposals. Today, I want to raise the priority and profile
of these issues within my own administration. I want to
ensure that faith-based and community groups will always have a place
at the table in our deliberations.
In a few
moments, I will sign two executive orders. The first
executive order will create a new office, called the White House Office
of Faith-based and Community Initiatives. The head of this
office will report directly to me and be charged with important
responsibilities. He will oversee our initiatives on this
issue. He will make sure our government, where it works with
private groups, is fair and supportive. And he will
highlight groups as national models so others can learn from them.
The second
executive order will clear away the bureaucratic barriers in several
important agencies that make private groups hesitate to work with
government. It will establish centers in five agencies --
Justice, HUD, HHS, Labor and Education -- to ensure greater cooperation
between the government and the independent sector. These
centers will report back on regulatory barriers to working with
non-profit groups, and make recommendations on how those barriers can
be removed.
I have put
this broad effort into the hands of two exceptional people -- first,
Steve Goldsmith, known as one of the most innovative mayors in America,
who pioneered ways to promote community efforts. He will
continue to advise me on these issues. And I have asked
Steve to serve on the board of the Corporation for National Service.
This
organization has done some good work in mobilizing volunteers of all
ages. I've asked Steve to report to me on how we can make
the corporation do better, and to get help where it's most needed.
And
secondly, Professor John Dilulio will head the new office I am
announcing today. He is one of the most influential social
entrepreneurs in America. I can't tell you how honored I am
for him to leave his post in academia to join us. He is the
author of a respected textbook on American government. He
has a servant's heart on the issues that we will
confront. He's worked with disadvantaged
children. He has been a major force in mobilizing the city
of Philadelphia to support faith-based and community groups.
It's a
fantastic team. I'm honored to have them on my
team. I look forward to hearing from them, as well as I look
forward to working with the people in this room and the social
entrepreneurs all across America who have heard the universal call to
love a neighbor like they'd like to be loved themselves; to exist and
work hard, not out of the love of money, but out of the love of their
fellow human beings. I'm absolutely convinced the great
fabric of the nation exists in neighborhoods, amongst unsung heroes who
do heroic acts on a daily and hourly basis. It's the fabric
of the country that makes America unique. It is -- the power
of promise that makes the future so promising is the power of the
missions that stand behind me.
This is an
effort that will be an effort from, now the second week of my
administration to the last week of my administration, because I am
confident that this initiative, when fully implemented, will help us
realize the dream that America, its hopes, its promise, its greatness,
will extend its reach throughout every single neighborhood, all across
the land.
And now it
is my honor to sign the two executive orders. (Applause.)
END
11:03 EST
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