After months of dialog and speeches, the Bush White house is due to unveil their Faith-Based Community Initiative in Atlanta, Georgia on October 10th at the Atlanta Hilton. The event is free and registration can be accomplished via fax. Click Here for the form.

Preliminary recommendations from the new office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives have focused on presenting your ministry with a secular look and feel. For example, the White House recommendations suggest that if your program is called the St. Luke School; change the name to the Luke School.

There are also Faith-Based offices established within five executive departments; including:

Health and Human Services
Housing and Urban Development
Justice
Education
Labor

Many of the government dollars to be shared with ministries are in the hands of state and local authorities. Clearly the coordination between the White House and thousands of local authorities will pose organizational challenges.

The White House, though is clear in President Bush’s intent. The key mission statement by the administration is:

Starting now, the Federal Government is adopting a new attitude to honor and not restrict faith-based and community initiatives, to accept rather than dismiss such programs, and to empower rather than ignore them.

In welfare and social policy, the Federal Government will play a new role as supporter, enabler, catalyst and collaborator with faith-based and community organizations. We will build on past innovations, most notably bipartisan Charitable Choice legislation, but move forward to make Federal programs more friendly to faith-based and community solutions.

This initiative is not anti-government, but pro-results. It is designed to make sure that faith-based community-serving groups have a seat at the table. It will eliminate the federal government’s discrimination against faith-based organizations while also applauding and aiding secular nonprofit initiatives. It will reach out to grassroots groups without marginalizing established organizations.

Aristotle will have editors in Atlanta and distributing reports on the activities.

http://www.affinitycommerce.com/Aristotle/upload/issue_093002/article_0279.html

By Dr. Jp Leskie: The White House took their Faith Based community Initiative on the road to Atlanta Georgia and presented the sold out house with a practical approach to working with the government to provide services to Americans in need.
http://www.affinitycommerce.com/Aristotle/upload/issue_102302/article_0280.html

"Our cause is great because the needs are great. Today, as many as 15 million young people are at risk of not reaching productive adulthood - falling prey to crime, drugs, and other problems that make it difficult to obtain an education, successfully enter the workforce, or otherwise contribute to society. More than 2 million children have a father or mother in prison or jail. Homelessness and the plight of needy seniors are further reminders that a new spirit of generosity and compassion must be unleashed so that each American's life is cherished and respected. Faith-based organizations have long had this spirit. They run more than half of the food programs and about a quarter of the shelters and the drop-in centers for the homeless. Nearly one in five community hospital beds are religiously-affiliated. An America without faith-based organizations caring for people in need is an America without hope." President George W. Bush October 10, 2002