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Ärende: Press Release (0603095) for Thu, 2006 Mar 9
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President Highlights Faith-Based Results at National Conference
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 9, 2006

President Highlights Faith-Based Results at National Conference
Washington Hilton Hotel
Washington, D.C.

President's Remarks
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˙˙˙˙˙Fact Sheet: Compassion in Action: Producing Real Results for Americans
Most in Need
˙˙˙˙˙Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

11:58 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Appreciate you being here. Thanks for the
warm welcome. This is the second White House National Conference on
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and I appreciate your attendance. I
take this conference very seriously, and I'm glad you do, as well.

The last conference was in June of 2004. Some of you were probably
wondering whether I'd be back for this conference. (Laughter.) For those of
you who did think I was going to be back, it was just as matter of faith.
(Laughter.) I appreciate you being here. It's good to see some old faces,
on some young people, and some new faces.

I want to thank my Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, for introducing
me. I appreciate Secretary Elaine Chao, the Department of Labor; Secretary
Jim Nicholson. It's a good sign when Cabinet members come. It shows a
commitment beyond just the President.

I appreciate my friend Jim Towey. I don't know if you know Towey.
(Applause.) There he is. His job has been to make sure that the Faith-Based
and Community-Based Initiative becomes an integral part of the government,
and that the White House effectively reaches out to people to assure them
that if they participate in the faith-based initiative they won't have to
lose their faith. It's hard to be a faith-based program if you can't
practice your faith, no matter what your faith may be. And I'm proud of the
work that Towey has done. (Applause.)

Every time I talk about Towey, I always bring up the same old, tired line
about him, but I might as well try it one more time. So he was Mother
Teresa's lawyer. And I always wonder about a society where Mother Teresa
actually needed a lawyer, you know? (Laughter.) But she -- they picked a
good one, in Towey.

I want to thank Acting Administrator Fred Schieck of the USAID. He's here
because USAID must continue to reach out to faith-based programs in order
to make sure that we fulfill missions around the world in a compassionate
way. (Applause.) Stephen Goldsmith, who is the Chairman of the Corporation
for National and Community Service, is with us. Steve, thanks for being
here.

Congressman Tom Osborne -- where is the Congressman? He's somewhere here.
Anyway, I appreciate you coming, Congressman. Dr. Jim Billington, who is
the head of the Library of Congress. Dr. Billington, thank you for coming.
Leaders in the armies of compassion -- those would be your sergeants, your
lieutenants, and a few generals -- thank you all for joining. And I
appreciate members of the corporate community who have joined us, and
foundation America, that has joined us, as well. This is an important
conference.

We meet at a time of great hope for the country. In my State of the Union
-- I stated this, and I believe it firmly -- that America is witnessing a
quiet transformation, a revolution of conscience, in which a rising
generation is finding that a life of personal responsibility is a life of
fulfillment. Part of being personally responsible in America is to love a
neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. And for those of you who are
finding those who have heard the call to help interface with those in need,
I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You represent the true strength of
the United States of America.

Statistics matter, and you'll hear me talk about some of the results of the
faith-based initiative. It's hard to be a results-oriented society unless
you actually focus on results. I'd like to share some results with you to
boost my belief that there is a quiet transformation taking place. Violent
crime rates have fallen to their lowest level since the 1970s. (Applause.)
Welfare cases have dropped by more than half. Drug use amongst youth is
down 19 percent since 2001. (Applause.) There are fewer abortions in
America than at any point in the last three decades. (Applause.) The number
of children born to teenage mothers has fallen for a dozen years in a row.
(Applause.) I attribute the success of these statistics to the fact that
there are millions of our fellow citizens all working to help people who
hurt, working toward a better tomorrow.

There's a lot of work to be done, obviously. We still have pockets of
poverty where people wonder whether or not the American experience belongs
to them. We have places where there is hopelessness and despair. We've got
people that are homeless. We've got addicts trapped into a, what appears to
them, I'm certain, kind of a never-ending cycle of despondency.

In answering the challenges, staying focused on helping change America one
person at a time is a vital part of government, corporate America,
philanthropic America, and the faith and community-based programs. It's got
to be our continued focus. Even though statistics are improving, so long as
we find anybody who hurts, we all should recognize that we hurt. It's the
collective conscience of America that really helps define the nature of our
country, and it gives me great optimism for the future of our country.

You know, it's interesting, as I -- one of my jobs is to constantly herald
our strengths. I think when people recognize if you deal with problems from
your position of strength, it's more likely you'll be able to solve
problems. And what's interesting about the conscience of our country is
that it was first recognized by de Tocqueville. I often speak about Alexis
de Tocqueville and his observations about what made America unique and
different in the 1830s. He talked about voluntary associations, of people
all coming together to achieve a common good.

That's what you've done. You're representing voluntary associations of
people all aiming to achieve the common good. And the common good is
achieved in America when we help people who hurt, when we provide mentors
for people who need love, when we provide food for those who are hungry,
and we provide shelter for those who need shelter.

Our job is to make sure that the spirit that de Tocqueville saw is not only
relevant today, but stays alive and well throughout the 21st century.
There's forever going to be a need of compassionate help in our society.
And for those of you who are on the front lines of social entrepreneurship,
thank you for setting such a good example.

Part of this conference is to make sure that you receive encouragement. The
other part is to make sure you've got the tools necessary to succeed. Part
of the tools necessary to succeed is to help philanthropic America
understand it's okay to support faith-based institutions. (Applause.)

We've got fantastic corporate foundations in America who recognize that we
all ought to focus on results, not process; that the question government
and private philanthropy ought to ask is, does the program get the results
that we all want, as opposed to, what is the nature of the people trying to
get results? When you focus on results, all of a sudden it becomes crystal
clear how best to spend resource dollars to achieve certain objectives.

And today, I met with some folks earlier that talked about their
foundations and how their foundations recognize the importance of achieving
results -- funding results-oriented programs, regardless of whether or not
they're faith-based or not. A

And for those of you who have set the example, I want to thank you very
much, but the truth of the matter is, that a recent survey of our Office of
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, headed by Towey, of 20 large
corporate foundations, found that only about 6 percent of their grants went
to faith-based groups. I believe the results are better than that. I am
confident that the faith community is achieving unbelievable successes in
-- throughout our country.

And therefore, I would urge our corporate foundations to reach beyond the
norm, to look for those social entrepreneurs who have been -- haven't been
recognized heretofore, to continue to find people that are running programs
that are making a significant difference in people's lives.

When we studied 50 large foundations, we found that one in five prohibited
faith organizations from receiving funding for social service programs. In
other words, there's a prohibition against funding faith programs from
certain foundations in the country. I would hope they would revisit their
charters. I would hope they'd take a look at achieving social objectives --
make the priority the achievement of certain social objectives before they
would make the decision to exclude some who are achieving incredible
progress on behalf of our country. (Applause.)

I believe all of us, no matter what level of government we're in --
federal, state, and local -- and I believe all of us, no matter if we're
private or pubic, ought to allow religious organizations to compete for
funding on an equal basis, not for the sake of faith, but for the sake of
results. (Applause.)

The tax code can be -- can encourage contributions. We had an interesting
discussion from a person earlier that said that the level of giving in
America is substantial, but it can be more. We all can do our part,
individually, but the tax code can help, as well. I've got some interesting
ideas to help philanthropy here in America. One of them is to allow
corporate America to deduct -- take larger tax deductions for food
donations. (Applause.)

It's kind of a specialized request, I admit it. But if one of the issues is
to get food to the hungry, it makes sense to provide incentives for people
who have got the wherewithal to be able to provide the resources to get the
food headed toward the hungry in the first place. I think it will help
those of you who are worried about getting food to people to know that
providers of resources will be given an economic incentive to do that, that
hopefully will make it easier for you to get the product to distribute.

Secondly, seniors now have to pay taxes on a portion of their individual
retirement account savings, and so why not allow them to take part of that
money and send it to charitable organizations, as opposed to paying tax on
it. So let me give you some practical ways that the government --
(applause.) I hope the Senate and the House takes these initiatives
seriously, so that they recognize the tax code has got an important part of
helping make sure that there's more than just talk behind the Faith-Based
and Community-Based Initiative.

Government has got a role to play. As you know, this has been quite a
controversial subject here in the United States Congress. We believe in
separation of church and state -- the church shouldn't be the state and the
state shouldn't be the church. No question that's a vital part of the
country, and that's a vital part of our heritage and we intend to keep it
that way. But when it comes to social service funding, the use of
taxpayers' money, I think we're able to meet the admonition of separation
of church and state and, at the same time, recognize that faith programs
provide an important model of success. They help us achieve certain
objectives in our country. (Applause.)

It used to be that groups were prohibited from receiving any federal
funding whatsoever because they had a cross or a star or a crescent on the
wall. And that's changed, for the better. It's changed for the better for
those who hurt in our society. (Applause.) And so now, when the government
is making social service grants, money is rewarded to groups -- awarded to
groups that get the best results, regarded of whether they're a faith-based
program or not. That's all people want. They want access to grant money on
an equal basis, on a competitive basis, so there's no discrimination one
way or the other.

I repeat to you, and I'm going to say this about five times, I'm sure: Our
job in government is to set goals and to focus on results. If you're
addicted to alcohol, if a faith program is able to get you off alcohol, we
ought to say, hallelujah and thanks, at the federal level. (Applause.)

One of the things I asked old Jim Towey to do was to let me know if we're
making any progress. You know, a lot of people around the country say,
politicians are good at talking, but sometimes they don't really follow
through. It's kind of like, the check is in the mail. So I said, why don't
you give us a score card, and I want to share with you some of the results
that has taken place over the last year. The federal government awarded
more than $2.1 billion in competitive social service grants to faith-based
organizations last year. That's an increase of 7 percent over the previous
year, and that is 11 percent of all federal competitive social service
grants. We're making progress about creating a level playing field for
people to be comfortable in, one, applying for grants, and two, when
receiving a grant -- and then actually getting the money out the door to
social service organizations.

For example, $780 million in grants was distributed through the Department
of Health and Human Services. USAID gave $591 million worth of grants.
These are the faith-based organizations -- $521 million through HUD. And so
going from ground zero to today, we're making progress. I can tell you why,
it's because we're measuring.

A lot of people were nervous about applying for grants. I can understand
that, you know. They said, why in the world would I want to interface with
the federal government? (Laughter.) They may try to run my business. They
may want to try to tell me how to conduct -- how to run my program. We've
done a good job I think through these different faith-based offices and
throughout our government of assuring people in the government, don't --
look, don't tell people how to run their business, accept the way they are,
and focus on results. And part of the reason we had these conventions and
these outreaches, regional outreaches, is to assure people that the role of
the government is to fund, not to micromanage how you run your programs. I
repeat to you, you can't be a faith-based program if you don't practice
your faith. (Applause.)

We've launched some other initiatives which some of you are involved with
-- programs to help those who are addicted find treatment. We've talked
about mentors for children of prisoners. And for those of you involved in
the mentoring program for children of prisoners, I want to thank you on
behalf of a grateful nation. You are providing a fantastic service to help
make sure the future is bright.

Can you imagine what it would be like growing up with your mom or dad in
prison? Maybe some of you have. It's got to be a heartbreaking experience.
And a lot of these kids just cry for love. And to help find a loving soul
who is willing to embrace a child and to stay with that child is a
wonderful contribution to the country, and it makes sense for the federal
government to provide funding for such programs.

We are helping prisoners transition back into society. We want to help
small service organizations gain capabilities. One of the things that some
of you who have been involved with the faith-based community understand,
that, you know, the big guys get rolling and kind of get a nice head of
steam up, and there doesn't seem to be much focus on smaller organizations,
some of which are just getting started. Our job is to make sure that the
Compassion Fund helps startups. I don't want to sound like a business guy,
but there are some people just getting started; they need tutoring, they
need help. But they can provide a vital service.

One reason faith programs exist is because some good soul sees there's a
demand. And they may not be the well-established organization, and it seems
like to me it's a proper use of resource to help startups, new social
entrepreneurs, small social entrepreneurs get their feet on the ground to
provide compassionate help, alongside the big ones. (Applause.) There you
go.

There's other targeted programs, as well as social service competitive
grant money. And I'm sure you're being briefed on -- I hope you're being
briefed on all this during this conference. You ought to feel comfortable
about making sure that your program has a chance to participate in a myriad
of opportunities. We want you to do that. We welcome your participation. We
want involvement.

The other thing that we're trying to work hard is to change the culture
here in Washington. The faith-based program is relatively new, and it takes
a while for cultures to change, and we want people throughout the
bureaucracies to not fear the involvement of faith programs and
community-based programs in the compassionate delivery of help. And one of
the real challenges we have is at the state and local governmental level.
We've made good progress, by the way, here at the federal level, on
competitive grant money.

See, a lot of money that comes out of Washington is formula-driven. It just
kind of flows out. And so sometimes that money goes to the states, and the
states are the decision-makers as to whether or not a faith program can be
involved in the -- in receiving that money to help meet social objectives.
We are constantly working with governors and mayors to convince them that
having a faith-based office in their respective centers of responsibility
will really help improve their state, as well as the -- as well as their
cities.

And there's progress being made there. I think there's something like 30
governors have now got faith-based offices, and over a hundred mayors have
got faith-based offices. And to the extent that you can influence your
mayor or your governor, convince them to open up an office and make sure
that some of the federal money that flows to the states is open for
competitive bidding for faith-based programs. (Applause.)

By the way, we just set up a new faith-based and community office in the
Department of Homeland Security. (Applause.) Last month I signed a bill
extending what's called charitable choice; it's a mechanism by which these
programs can go forward. And it's -- one of the most important things about
the legislation I signed, it allows faith-based groups to receive federal
funding without changing their hiring practices. (Applause.) This is going
to stay around for another five years. In other words, the bill extended
the life of the charitable choice provision in the welfare reform law by
another five years.

I would hope Congress would recognize the importance of charitable choice
and extend it forever. I mean, if it makes sense today, it makes sense
forever. (Applause.)

You know, one of the things that really inspires me is when I get to meet
folks who are on the front line of changing America one soul at a time. And
today, I had the privilege of meeting a woman named Dana Ingram. She's with
us. She is a founder of a faith-based housing and financial service
organization in Hinesville, Georgia, called JC Vision. This is an
organization that provides financial counseling and assistance in receiving
credit and securing a home loan.

See, one of the things that I know is important for the future of the
country is to promote ownership. I really like the idea when somebody opens
the door of the place they're living, and says, welcome to my home. Welcome
to my piece of property. And this lady -- (applause) -- and Dana is
involved with counseling. Look, face it, when you look at a mortgage deal,
all that fine print makes some people nervous. It makes me nervous.
(Laughter.) Of course, I'm in temporary housing. (Laughter.)

When she first -- a few years ago, her program served 500 people on a
budget of less than $100,000. She applied for federal funding. She said,
yes, I'm a faith-based program, but I do believe that we can benefit from
competitive grant money. And so she applied and she was awarded a grant.
Her budget is now $400,000. Now she's serving 10,000 people. (Applause.)
The idea is to promote successful programs, to focus on whether or not
these programs are successful. And if they are, encourage them. One way to
encourage somebody is to have a little grant money available on a
competitive basis -- nothing more encouraging than to get some grant money.
And so Dana is encouraged, and she's expanding her program.

One of the really successful programs in America is a program called Teen
Challenge. I don't know if you're aware of Teen Challenge. (Applause.) So
Pastor Arthur Stafford is with us. Arthur works at Teen Challenge New
Haven. Notice I didn't say, "mister." I said, "Pastor." Teen Challenge is a
faith-based program.

And he is a -- his program is aimed, like many of the Teen Challenge
programs, at helping young folks overcome addiction to drugs, which
oftentimes lead to crime and other problems. Not long ago, funding
constraints limited how many people Teen Challenge in New Haven could host.
And they spent -- Arthur and his buddies spent a lot of time raising money
for the program. For those of you who are on limited budgets who have got
grand ambitions to save lives, you know how much time you can spend away
from the task at hand toward finding money to sustain your programs. And so
Arthur and Team Challenge competed for and earned a federal grant through
the Access to Recovery drug treatment program. For those of you involved in
drug treatment, the Access to Recovery drug treatment program provides a
good source of money for you. I recommend you applying for grants from that
program.

And so what Arthur has said is that -- when he got the money -- "It's been
a blessing to our ministry." I find that interesting, don't you -- "It's
been a blessing to our ministry. We're not worried about how to raise money
all the time, we can focus on transforming lives."

And so today, Matt Enriquez is with us. So Matt comes in to meet the
President. I said, "How you doing, Matt?" He didn't speak -- he looked a
little nervous. (Laughter.) Matt was addicted to drugs. He had spent time
because of robbery. He was lost -- and then he was found by people at Teen
Challenge. He is now going to college.

Where are you, Matt? (Applause.) There he is. Where's Arthur? Pastor, stand
up. Yes, there you go. Get your Pastor, Matt. There he is. (Applause.)
Thank you.

So Matt now goes to the Connecticut Culinary Institute. If you're looking
for a cook, he's your man. (Laughter.) Here's what he said: "The best thing
about" -- speaking about Teen Challenge -- "is the love that's in the
program. I had no idea what I wanted to do at all. This let me know what I
wanted to do for the rest of my life."

See, government can pass law and it can hand out money, but it cannot love.
And so I want to thank -- (applause.) I appreciate the examples -- your
letting me use you as examples. America can change one heart at a time.
Matt is living proof. America changes not only when a soul like Matt gets
saved, but the person who is involved with helping Matt also becomes a
stronger and better citizen, as well.

And now Matt goes on. See, Matt, himself, serves as a way to help change
lives. Maybe Matt -- maybe somebody is listening here. I don't know if this
deal is on C-SPAN, or not, but if it is, maybe somebody is out there like
Matt, who needs help, and he can find help at a Teen Challenge or another
program, all aimed at helping somebody save lives.

Matt, I know when you get your deal going and making a good living as a
cook, you, yourself, will turn and help find somebody else find help, too.
So I appreciate you. (Applause.)

Our job is -- for the next three years is to continue to work with Congress
to make sure that money is opened up to faith-based programs. Competitive
grant money should not be earmarked. It should be open for
competitive-based grants so that -- (applause.)

We'll continue to work with local and state officials to open up their
programs to faith and community-based programs. I'm going to continue to
work on individual choice programs. I like the idea of providing help for
individuals by empowering them to be the decision-maker. In other words, it
makes a lot of sense to me to say to somebody who is trying to recover from
a drug addiction, here's the money to help you; you go pick the program
that suits your needs so you can solve your problem. (Applause.)

And so we got a lot of work to do, to continue to encourage you to do the
work you're doing. I am inspired by the love and compassion that I find as
I travel the country. For those of you, by the way, who are involved with
helping the Katrina folks, I want to thank you from the bottom of our
nation's heart for welcoming those who I'm sure felt lost, and then felt
welcomed when a total stranger embraced them in a typically American
compassionate way. I assure you that as long as I'm the President, I will
always recognize where the strength of this country lies, the true strength
-- and that's in the hearts and souls of our fellow citizens.

My hope is that the vision that de Tocqueville saw in 1830 is a vision that
some observer will find still strong in America in the year 2030, and 2060
and beyond. Because so long as America is able to unleash the compassion of
our country will it be able to bring hope into the dark corners of our
country, places where there is no light, places where there's despair,
places where people can realize their potential if given a chance.

And so I want to -- for those of you who are a part of giving people a
chance, for those of you who have heard the universal call, I thank you for
your work and ask for God's blessings on your lives and on your work.

Thanks for coming, God bless. (Applause.)

END 12:31 P.M. EST

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