For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 1, 2004

Fact Sheet: America's Compassion in Action

Presidential Action

• President Bush on June 1, 2004, addressed the first White House National Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, in Washington, D.C. In his remarks, he recognized faith-based and community organizations for their compassionate efforts to help Americans most in need. Twelve regional conferences have been held at locations across the country leading up to this national conference.
• The President signed an Executive Order today creating additional Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in three Federal agencies -- the Department of Commerce, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Small Business Administration. These three new Centers will have the same responsibilities as the other seven Centers the President has created -- in the Departments of Education, Labor (DOL), Justice, Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Agriculture, and in the Agency for International Development (USAID) -- which all assist grassroots organizations in navigating the Federal funding process.
• The President also highlighted new regulatory reforms that continue to deliver on his promise to end discrimination against faith-based and community charities and enable them to compete on a level playing field for Federal social service funds. The reforms will occur within the Department of Education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, HUD, and USAID, and will positively affect social service providers and Native American programs.

Highlights of the President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative

The Federal government does not fund religion -- instead, the President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative enables some of America's most effective social service providers to compete fairly for Federal funding to make a difference in the lives of our most vulnerable citizens without diluting the providers' religious identity. Through food banks, health centers, job training programs, drug treatment centers, and other efforts, these charities are meeting immediate and long-term needs.

• Expanding Opportunities -- The Initiative has successfully tapped into the capacity of faith-based and community organizations to deliver social service programs. For example, from FY 2002 to FY 2003, HUD and HHS saw an increase of $144 million in competitive, non-formula grants to faith-based organizations (to over $1 billion total from those two agencies). During that same period, funds to first-time, faith-based grant recipients doubled at HUD to $113 million.
• Building Bipartisan Support -- The President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative has received the support of a bipartisan group of governors, mayors, and Members of Congress. In the first three years of the Initiative, the President proposed new programs to harness the resources and experience of faith-based and community organizations, and Congress responded with funding for each one of them: Compassion Capital Fund (3 years of funding, totaling $112 million); the Access to Recovery drug treatment initiative ($100 million in its first year); the Mentoring Children of Prisoners initiative (2 years of funding, totaling $60 million). In his 2005 Budget, the President has proposed a four-year, $300 million Prisoner Re-entry Initiative to reduce recidivism and the societal costs of re-incarceration. The House and Senate both passed versions of the Charity Aid, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act with overwhelming bipartisan margins; the President continues to urge Congress to take final action on the CARE Act, which would create tax incentives for individual and corporate charitable giving. Finally, at the State and local levels, 20 governors (10 Democrats and 10 Republicans) and over 100 mayors now have offices or liaisons for faith-based and community organizations.
• Ending Discrimination Against Faith-Based Organizations -- As a result of the President's leadership, "equal treatment" principles have been enacted to end discrimination against faith-based organizations in the Federal grants process. Discriminatory Federal regulations were reformed, and regulations protecting the religious integrity of faith-based organizations and the religious freedom of beneficiaries have been put into place. Other policy changes have removed barriers to faith-based organizations. For example, when President Bush took office, programs at FEMA and at the Department of the Interior excluded certain faith-based applicants, but with the Administration's changes, the Seattle Hebrew Academy received disaster assistance, and Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and Tuoro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, received historic preservation funds under the Save America's Treasures program.

Compassion in Action

Faith-based and community groups assist people in need, transforming lives with their compassion. Unfortunately, the Federal government has often been a hindrance to the work of these faith-based and community organizations. As a result of the President's leadership, significant progress has been made towards bringing more faith-based and community organizations into the Federal grants process, and the results are being seen in communities across America, including: