Introduction

The guiding principle behind President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiative is that faith-based charities should be able to compete on an equal footing for public dollars to provide public services. President Bush believes that the Federal government, within the framework of Constitutional church-state guidelines, should encourage faith-based charities to reach out with compassion to help even more people in need.

Too many Americans are homeless, hungry, or hurting. Some struggle to get off of welfare or drugs or both. Others are seniors who can't make it on their own, or children with parents in prison. In every corner of America, there are people of all ages in need of help.

Faith-based and community groups are the unsung heroes in helping Americans in need. Their compassionate care and neighborly love turn lives around and provide hope where it has been missing. These groups do not provide care because they have to, but because they want to.

Every year, the Federal government spends billions of dollars for health and human service programs. When it comes to faith-based or small charities, however, the government has made it difficult - and sometimes impossible - for these groups to provide Federally-funded services. Bureaucratic and administrative obstacles abound. Program officers are often unfamiliar with the work that faith-based and community groups do. In August 2001, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives released a report, Unlevel Playing Field, that identified many of the barriers that faith-based and community organizations face in accessing Federal funds.

The President's proposal builds upon our Nation's finest traditions. Today, there are thousands of faith-based and community organizations across the country that receive Federal funds. Some of these organizations receive money directly from the Federal government. Others get it through a State, city, or local government that itself receives Federal funds. Still others receive money through large, non-profit organizations that the Federal government funds.

Faith-based organizations use funds like these to serve our communities in very important ways. For instance, more than two-thirds of federally-supported residences for the elderly are operated by faith-based organizations. And about one in every six child-care centers is housed in a religious facility. In fact, the Nation's largest "chains" of child-care services are not commercially owned, but rather operated by the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention. The number of centers in religious facilities is growing faster than the total number of centers. In addition, religiously affiliated hospitals received more than $45 billion in 1998 from Medicare, Medicaid, and other government funding programs. These statistics show that the use of government money by faith-based organizations is not new.

Despite this long-standing tradition, there are still a lot of questions surrounding faith-based organizations and their funding by government money. Some wonder, "If we run a soup kitchen that gets some of its money from the Federal government, can we say a prayer before we serve a meal?" Others ask, "Will I have to remove all religious content from my program?" There are many faith-based groups that want to hire people of the same faith. Can they do that and still receive Federal funds? These are just some of the questions that this brochure will try to address.

"One of my most important initiatives is the Faith-Based and Community Initiative, because I recognize that government can hand out money, but what it cannot do is put hope in people's hearts or a sense of purpose in people's lives. What I want to do is unleash the great compassion of America, by changing America one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time."

~ President George W. Bush

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