A recent White House report spotlights success of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, but some are still skeptical.
The White House released a 175-page report Monday highlighting the accomplishments of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiative.
The report received little attention in the mainstream media, but the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy reported that the reactions varied from support to dismissal.
Outspoken critic of the office, former deputy director David Kuo told the Roundtable, "If they had fulfilled the President's promises, there wouldn't be any need for a glossy PR document that only proves the Initiative's great failures."
The report spotlights the office's training of more than 100,000 religious and grassroots organizations, and it has encouraged faith-based efforts in 35 states and more than 100 cities.
Supporters have lauded the program by saying that it helped level the playing field for religious organizations to compete for grants. However, lower funds made it more difficult for anyone to compete.
"While faith-based organizations were getting a bigger piece of the pie, the pie was shrinking," David Wright, project director for the Roundtable said in the article.
The office's Director Jay Hein told the Roundtable that the Initiative should not be judged by a tally of spending.
"This is not an Initiative about money," Hein said. "This is an Initiative about problem-solving. Problems don't get solved by spending more money."
Previous CT coverage includes a recent interview with former director John Dilulio.
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey on February 28, 2008 12:39AM
Comments
Thank you! More money does not magically make problems disappear. Just ask the California education system.
Posted by: Daniel Briggs at February 28, 2008
It is about BUYING VOTES WITH TAXPAYER MONEY. Every day I get a list of all of the available GRANTS. But I cannot get a list of every organization/school/church that is getting this BIG MONEY and I have spent many hours calling various government agencies, including the White House.
If a CHURCH needs hundreds of thousands of dollars and even millions to teach ABSTINENCE - it should hang it's head in shame because they have rooms, teachers, etc. and they should not take money that would be better used helping the poor.
Posted by: Jenny Hurley at February 28, 2008
Have people seen this? It seems like the league bans games on Sunday, since that is the Christian day of rest, but will force a Jewish team to forfeit because it won't play on Saturday for religious reasons:
http://www5.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/27/lawmakers-want-jewish-team-get-shot-hoop-dream/
Or is there more to the story? Does anyone know?
Posted by: Mike at February 28, 2008
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