For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 3, 2004
Fact Sheet: Compassion in Action: Helping America's Charities Serve Those Most in Need
Today's Presidential Action
President Bush today addressed the White House Conference on
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in Los Angeles, where he hailed
the great progress being made in helping Americans most in need.
The President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative does not fund
religion -- but it does allow some of America's most effective social
service providers to compete for Federal funding to serve the needy
while retaining their religious identity. Through soup kitchens,
homeless shelters, drug treatment centers, job training programs, and
other efforts, these charities are making a real difference in the
lives of our most vulnerable citizens.
The President's initiative is producing real results, and data from a
review of 140 programs at the Departments of Heath and Human Services,
Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, and Education showed:
- From FY 2002 to FY 2003, grants to faith-based organizations increased
substantially in the two departments that have comparison data
available. Within the programs reviewed, the number of Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) grants awarded to faith-based
organizations increased 41% (from 483 to 680), representing a 19%
increase in total funding (from $477 million to $568 million). Within
the programs reviewed, at the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD), the number of grants to faith-based charities
increased 16% (from 659 to 765), representing an increase of 11% in
total funding.
- During that same period, there was a surge in the number of grants
going to first-time grantees that are faith-based groups. For
example, HHS had a 50% increase in grant awards (from 86 to 129) and
HUD had a 100% increase in grant funding to first-time grantees (from
$56 million to $113 million). This shows that faith-based groups, when
permitted, can compete successfully with other social service
organizations.
As a result of the President's leadership, faith-based organizations
are now eligible to receive Federal funds through the President's
Access to Recovery initiative to expand drug treatment options. The
Department of Health and Human Services is making $100 million
available to up to 15 states to extend drug treatment to 50,000 more
Americans and, for the first time, individuals seeking drug treatment
can choose programs like Teen Challenge or other faith-based and
community programs.
State and local governments are following the President's lead and
working to partner with faith-based charities. Nationwide, 19
governors (10 Democrats and 9 Republicans) have faith-based offices, as
do 180 mayors in cities including Denver, Miami, Philadelphia, and Los
Angeles.
President Bush also highlighted new regulatory reforms at four Federal
agencies that, when finalized later this year, will implement his Equal
Treatment Executive Order signed in December 2002 ensuring equal
treatment for faith-based and community organizations.
Background: Compassion in Action
For years, faith-based and community groups have been assisting
people in need. They have transformed lives with their compassion --
helping to address many of our country's most challenging social
problems, one act of kindness at a time. Unfortunately, the Federal
government has often not been a willing partner with these faith-based
and community groups. Instead, it has put in place complicated rules
and regulations that hinder these groups from competing for Federal
funds on equal footing with other organizations.
The President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative helps
charitable organizations compete on a level playing field for Federal
social service funds. These programs help millions of Americans in
need each year to conquer addiction, provide for themselves and their
children, and address other basic needs.
President Bush believes that to best serve Americans in need,
charitable groups of all kinds should not be discriminated against in
competing for Federal social service funds as long as they obey all
legal requirements. As a result of the President's leadership,
significant progress is being made, and the results are being seen in
communities across America.
Examples include:
- The Fishing School (Washington, DC) -- This after-school program was
selected as a Supplemental Service Provider under the No Child Left
Behind Act in 2003 to help educate students who attend public schools
in need of improvement.
- Greater Exodus Baptist Church and Bright Hope Baptist Church/Amachi
(Philadelphia, PA) -- These churches are part of a 15-city pilot
program that mentors the children of prisoners, in cooperation with the
Corporation for National Community Service and the Department of Health
and Human Services. This grant was part of the $9 million awarded to
52 faith-based and community organizations to mentor 6,000 children of
prisoners in FY 2003, and this year $50 million will be available to
help 30,000 of these children.
- Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ Social Services
(Milwaukee, WI) -- In 2003, the church received an HHS Compassion
Capital Fund Grant of $626,598 to provide welfare-to-work training and
technical assistance to other faith-based and community groups around
the Milwaukee metro area.
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