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7/1/2008
National Conference portrays faith-based success
By Camille Q. Solberg.
The White House, Washington, D.C. "Innovations in Effective Compassion" was the theme of last Thursday’s White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) National Conference held at the Omni Hotel in Washington, D.C. More than 1,000 public and private sector leaders attended including President George W. Bush and several members of his cabinet. This office traces back to the President's first executive order which established the Office. The second executive order established the Faith-Based and Community offices within major Federal agencies.
The mission was focused on lowering the legal and institutional barriers preventing government and faith-based groups from working as partners and ensuring that the armies of compassion played a central role in the campaign to make America more promising and more just. The two day, OFBCI conference explored and expanded on transforming government’s approach to human need. As President Bush stated, "We have helped level the playing field for faith-based groups and other charities – especially small organizations that had struggled to compete for funds in the past. We have educated religious groups about their civil rights. We have made the federal grant-application process more accessible and transparent. We have trained thousands of federal employees to ensure that the government does not discriminate against faith-based organizations. And we have ensured that these groups do not have to give up their religious character to receive taxpayer money.”
During his remarks at the conference, the President applauded the “armies of compassion,” which have leveraged Federal training and innovative Federal partnerships created under this landmark initiative to positively impact millions of lives. They have enabled 200,000 Americans to move from addiction toward recovery, matched nearly 90,000 children of prisoners with caring mentors, helped reduce chronic homelessness across the U.S. by nearly 12 percent in one year and delivered compassionate care to 6.3 million impacted by HIV/AIDS worldwide. 35 Governors and more than 70 mayors have instituted their own faith-based and community initiatives to complement the offices at 11 Federal agencies.
In June 2006, Gov. Jim Doyle established the first Faith Based and Communities Initiative office by Executive Order. The Office has an extensive website offering information on state and federal resources. In 2006, 1.53 million Wisconsin volunteers dedicated 171 million hours of service according to the Corporation for National and Community Service Volunteering in America 2007 report. "Governor Jim Doyle has been a good partner to the initiative," stated Director Hein. In 2007 the state of Wisconsin was awarded federal grants to Wisconsin faith-based and community organizations of $51 million through 310 federal grant awards. $143,425,740 was given to secular nonprofits and $8,108,774 to faith-based organizations.
The Conference spotlighted Wisconsin's data as well as the rest of the nation’s. The total Federal competitive award funding to faith-based and secular nonprofit organizations increased from $14.7 billion in FY 2006 to $15.3 billion in FY 2007, a 3.9 percent increase. This included more than 19,400 competitive awards, totaling more than $13.1 billion to secular nonprofits and more than $2.2 billion to faith-based nonprofits. Since beginning the data collection in 2002, the OFBCI has demonstrated awards of more than $10.6 billion to faith-based nonprofits. Per their reports, Americans are giving and volunteering in record numbers. Of the 60 million people who give their time to others, more than one-third do so through faith-based groups.
According to Jay Hein, Deputy Assistant to The President and Director of The White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, the Conference celebrated progress but also set markers for the future. People from all 50 states were represented as well as foreign countries.
President Bush and his Administration have helped advance policies providing greater support of faith-based and community groups. In the past, discrimination against faith-based organizations made it impossible to collaborate and partner with the federal government. Today the Administration has trained 100,000 social entrepreneurs to help them expand services and their ability to help those they want to help. The tax code was amended to provide greater incentives for charitable activities and a compassion capital fund was established to help grassroots nonprofits that serve the needy, increase their efficiency. Lastly a Pro Bono Challenge was developed to encourage corporate professionals to share their time and expertise with the nonprofit community.
Solberg -Quiros is a nationally published columnist, Hispanic activist and former federal drug free communities commissioner. She resides in New London, Wisconsin.
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