    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [March 9, 2006]
    [Pages 421-428]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the White House National Conference on Faith-Based and
    Community Initiatives
    March 9, 2006

        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.

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    [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. 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.
        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. 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. Welfare cases have dropped by more than half. Drug use
    amongst youth is down 19 percent since 2001. There are fewer abortions
    in America than at any point in the last three decades. The number of
    children born to teenage mothers has fallen for a dozen years in a row.
    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 place where there is hopelessness and despair.
    We've got people that are homeless. We've got addicts trapped into a,
    what

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    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 frontlines 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.
        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.
        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

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    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.
        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.
        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.
        If one of the issues--[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.
        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. And so now, when the
    government is making social service grants, money is rewarded to
    groups--awarded to groups that get the best results, regardless 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.
        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

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    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.
        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.

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        The other thing is, 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 decisionmakers 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 100 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.
        By the way, we just set up a new faith-based and community office in
    the Department of Homeland Security. 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. This is
    going to stay around for another 5 years. In other words, the bill
    extended the life of the charitable choice provision in the welfare
    reform law by another 5 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.
        You know, one of the things that really inspires me is when I get to
    meet folks who are on the frontline 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 the 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--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. 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.

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        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. 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? There he is. Where's
    Arthur? Pastor, stand up. [Applause] Yes,
    there you go. Get your Pastor, Matt. There he is. 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--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 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.
        Our job is--for the next 3 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
    decisionmaker. In other words, it makes a lot of sense to me to say to
    somebody who is trying to recover

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    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.''
        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 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.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:58 a.m. at the Washington Hilton Hotel.