[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 29 (Monday, July 21, 2003)]
[Pages 920-925]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Urban Leaders

July 16, 2003

    I thank you all for coming. I'm joined by some pretty distinguished 
company up here. I want to thank my friends the social entrepreneurs of 
America--[laughter]--for standing up here today. I want to talk about a 
couple of subjects.
    First, I want to introduce Condoleezza Rice, my National Security 
Adviser, who, as I understand it, is going to stay afterwards and answer 
some questions about our trip, that I appreciate you doing.
    Let's talk about the values that make our country unique and 
different. We love freedom here in America. We believe freedom is God's 
gift to every single individual, and we believe in the worth of each 
individual. We believe in human dignity, and we believe where we find 
hopelessness and suffering, we shall not turn our back. That's what we 
believe.
    And there are--in this land of plenty, there are people who hurt, 
people who wonder whether or not the American experience, what they call 
the American Dream, is meant for them. And I believe the American Dream 
is meant for everybody. And when we find there's doubt, we've got to 
bring light and hope, and so that's what we're here to talk about today. 
And the men up here represent a representative sample of what we call 
the faith community in America, people who first and foremost have been 
called because of a calling much higher than government.
    I say ``social entrepreneurs'' because, in many of our faith 
institutions, we find people who are willing to reach out in the 
neighborhood in which they exist to help those who hurt and those who 
are in need. They're willing to take a new tack, a tack based upon 
faith, to heal hearts and provide hope and provide inspiration, so that 
the American Dream is available in every corner in America. And where we 
find those programs which are effective, society ought to support those 
programs.

[[Page 921]]

    What I'm saying is, we ought not to fear faith. We ought not to 
discriminate against faith-based programs. We ought to welcome what I 
call neighborhood healers in the compassionate delivery of help so that 
people can experience the greatness of our country.
    Of course, that then leads to the question of public money, 
taxpayers' money. My attitude is, taxpayers' money should and must fund 
effective programs, effective faith-based programs, so long as those 
services go to anybody in need. We ought to focus on--we ought to ask 
the question in our society, ``Is the faith-based program working,'' not 
focus on the fact that it's a faith-based program.
    The Government, as it gives support, as it provides help to the 
faith-based program and in return asks for help for solving social 
problems, as it does that, it should never discriminate. It should never 
cause the faith-based program to lose its character or to compromise the 
mission. That's the basic principles of the Faith-Based Initiative which 
you've heard a lot about. Really what we're doing is, we're signing up 
the armies of compassion which already exist and saying, ``What can we 
do to help you fulfill your calling and your mission?'' That's really 
what we're doing.
    I signed an Executive order banning discrimination against faith-
based charities by Federal agencies. We waited for Congress to act. They 
couldn't act on the issue. So I just went ahead and signed an Executive 
order which will unleash--which says the Federal agencies will not 
discriminate against faith-based programs. They ought to welcome the 
armies of compassion as opposed to turning them away.
    I know you've heard from some of my key Cabinet Secretaries. Within 
their secretariat are offices designed to speak up for, defend, and 
empower faith-based groups, specially created within the bureaucracy.
    Look, I fully understand the issue, the frustration some face. And 
it's a frustration based upon a long practice here at the Federal level, 
and that is, there's no place for faith-based programs and trying to 
help people in need. And therefore, we'll discriminate, shove out of the 
way, not deal with, make it hard for, create barriers to entry. And my 
administration is absolutely committed to reducing those barriers to 
entry. And we've created these offices whose sole function it is to, 
one, recognize the power of faith and, two, recognize there are 
fantastic programs all throughout the country on a variety of subjects, 
all based upon faith, all changing lives, all making American life 
better, and therefore, folks would be enlisted in making sure the 
American Dream extends throughout our society.
    And let me give you some examples, particularly those who might be 
tuning in to this moment. People--``What do you mean by faith-based 
discrimination?'' Well, in Seattle, there was an earthquake, and the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency gave disaster relief funds to 
schools but denied them to the Seattle Hebrew Academy. In other words, 
schools--public schools got the funds from FEMA, but not a religious 
school. And so, we've changed that rule. That's the kind of 
discrimination that I--that may make some sense to people who are not 
exactly sure what I'm talking about.
    Another interesting example is, in Boston, the Old North Church, the 
famous historic landmark, needed preservation funds; yet it was denied 
Federal help because it was a church. And that's not right. That's not 
right. It makes no sense, and therefore, we're changing those kinds of 
rules.
    And we're also making sure that Federal monies are available. It's 
one thing to talk about a Faith-Based Initiative, but there needs to be 
money in the system available for the faith-based programs in order 
for--to make it work. And that's money that's coming out of these 
agencies already. I mean, there's--we spend a lot of money here in 
Washington, and that--monies ought to be accessible to effective faith-
based programs which heal people from all walks of life. It's--money is 
not going to proselytize; money is going to save lives.
    And let me give you some examples of what is working today, maybe 
examples that you already have heard about, particularly when you go to 
the White House conferences as we try to describe how to access the 
system.
    In Columbus, Ohio, St. Stephen's Community House--faith-based 
program--is

[[Page 922]]

using a--nearly $1 million from the Department of Education to expand 
its after-school program. There's kind of an interesting use of 
education dollars that will help faith-based programs fulfill their 
mission.
    The Frederick Douglass Community Development Corporation, started by 
the Memorial AME Zion Church in Rochester, New York, has received more 
than $5 million from HUD to build low-income houses for seniors. The AME 
Church decided to do something about the housing issue, as far as the 
seniors go in their congregation, and accessed Federal money and put 
together a housing project. Now a lot of people don't--when they think 
about the AME Church or any church for that matter, they don't think 
housing. Except I know some social entrepreneurs from my State--right, 
Evans?--[laughter]--who have used their facilities, their skills to go 
ahead and to build homes.
    The Operation New Hope and City Center Ministries in Jacksonville, 
Florida, and the Exodus Transitional Community in East Harlem went to 
the Department of Labor, and they received labor funds for job training 
programs for ex-offenders. A person gets out of prison, checks in at the 
church, and the church says, ``Wait, we want to help you get back into 
society; not only will there be some lessons to be learned, but also, 
here's some training money. Here's a training course.'' So it's a 
practical application of taxpayers' money to meet societal needs. And 
one of the greatest societal needs is we have is to make sure our--you 
know, a guy who's spent time in the pen not only receives spiritual 
guidance and love, but spiritual guidance and love can only go so far. 
And it's also helpful to have him be trained in a job which exists. In 
other words, there's practical application of taxpayers' money that we 
want to get into the hands of our faith-based organizations all 
throughout our society.
    People say, ``Well, we're already doing that.'' Now, what's 
happening is that the same programs are being funded over and over and 
over again. In other words, there's kind of a rut. And that doesn't 
encourage the entrepreneurial spirit that we're interested in.
    So one of the things we've done here in the White House to deal with 
this issue is we've started--and Jim Towey is--we've got an office 
dedicated, by the way, to the Faith-Based Initiative. And we've started 
White House conferences to explain to people how the process works. And 
Towey handed me this book when I came in. These are the different pots 
of money, if you will, that are accessible to the faith community so 
that you can help fund the programs.
    Now, look, we've got to do a better job of making sure that we 
explain what we mean by the Faith-Based Initiative. I understand that. 
It requires education. People can read everything they want into it. 
When they hear ``Faith-Based Initiative,'' they--that all of a sudden 
opens everybody's imagination in the world to vast possibilities, some 
which exist and some which don't. [Laughter]
    And so therefore we're reaching out to explain to people the 
practical applications. The Compassion--Capital Compassion Fund, which 
Congress has funded--I've asked for $100 million; they gave it 30 
million and 35 million over the last 2 years--but that money goes to 
help smaller charities learn how to fill out grants, learn what it means 
to access Federal monies.
    It's one thing for people, however, to learn how to fill out a 
grant. It's another thing to have the grant fall on deaf ears. So we're 
also changing habits here in Washington, DC. And that's what the office 
of the--within these departments are all designed to do, to facilitate, 
to make it easier for people to access, to make sure that we really do 
tap the heart and soul of our country.
    Evans--Tony Evans first kind of woke me up to this. We were in 
Greenville, Texas, together, and he said, ``The best welfare programs 
already exist on the street corners of inner-city Dallas,'' in this 
case. ``They're open 24 hours a day. They've got a fantastic 
guidebook''--[laughter]--``been around a long time.'' [Laughter] ``The 
motto of the work force is clear: Love your neighbor.'' And it dawned on 
me how true he is. There's no need to reinvent. We've got it in place. 
And so therefore, when I lay out an initiative that talks about saving 
the lives of drug offenders, really what I'm saying is, is that I 
understand that when you change a person's heart, you can change their 
habits. So let's enlist it, the

[[Page 923]]

faith community, on the goal of saving people's lives who happen to be 
hooked on drugs.
    Six hundred million dollars over 3 years--I would hope that the 
faith community gets very much involved when Congress funds this. And by 
the way, part of this mission is for me to remind Congress they need to 
fund it. But once funded, it's very important for the faith community to 
be involved. The 10-step program is a faith initiative, when you really 
think about the--how it works. And I know many of you who run churches 
and synagogues and mosques in America are worried about addiction in 
your neighborhoods. And we want to help because we believe--we know--
that some of the most effective programs are those that work when a 
heart is changed.
    I've also laid out a mentoring initiative. I would love to have 
every child who has a mother or dad in prison to have a mentor. The most 
vulnerable of our population are those who may have a mom or a dad 
incarcerated. And they need love. They need a lot of love. And the best 
way to provide love is to find somebody who's willing to love them 
through a mentoring program.
    I went to the Amachi program in Philadelphia--perhaps you all know 
about it--out of the Bright Hope Baptist Church, saw the program that 
works. There's a lot of initiatives around from the faith-based program 
that track the child who needs to be mentored. And the best place to 
find mentors, of course, is you can find them every Sunday. But we need 
help to make sure the program works. And so Congress I've asked to get 
this program moving.
    My point is, we've got some Federal initiatives, job training, 
education, addiction. We've got a housing initiative here, by the way, 
that I'm deeply concerned about, what they call a minority gap in 
America. Too many--relative to the Anglo community, too many minorities 
don't own their own homes. I believe in an ownership society. I know 
when somebody owns their home, they've got such a fantastic stake in the 
future.
    The faith community can help in homeownership. The Federal 
Government's got to help a lot here. We've got to make sure there is 
more affordable homes. We've got to provide tax incentives for people to 
build homes in inner cities. We've got to have downpayment help. And 
we've got to make sure that the contracts--I can understand somebody, a 
first-time homebuyer, getting a little nervous when they pull up the 
contract and the print's about that big, and nobody understands what's 
in the print. And a lot of people don't want to sign something they're 
not sure what it's about. And so we've got education programs through 
our housing institutions to teach people what it means to buy a home and 
how to help them access the downpayment help and also to make sure the 
contracts are clear and understandable.
    This is a mission at home, is to help people. And you know, 
Government can help. I like to say, Government can pass out money, but 
it cannot put hope in people's hearts or purpose in people's lives. And 
that's why it's vital for our country to count on those who can put hope 
in people's hearts and a sense of purpose in people's lives, and that's 
our faith community.
    You know, we will accomplish a lot here at home if we use all the 
resources available to our communities. And I will tell--continue to 
tell the American people, one of the great untapped resources for 
Government is to work side by side with the faith community. And I want 
to thank you all for your--hearing the call.
    Now, look, before I end, I do want to also remind you that we will 
not turn our back on people who suffer in the world as well. I have just 
come from Africa, and I'd like to share some thoughts, if you don't 
mind.
    First--and Condi was traveling with me, of course. I don't dare go 
overseas without her. [Laughter] At Goree Island, we stood at the Point 
of No Return, and it was a moving moment for our entire delegation. I 
went to Auschwitz earlier, and then I went to here, and it reminded me 
of the capacity for mankind to be cruel.
    But the interesting thing that I've come to realize, that I spoke at 
Goree Island, was, those who were sent to America as slaves and their 
ancestors who lived in a segregated society stood strong, never gave up 
faith, and in fact, helped America find her soul and her conscience.

[[Page 924]]

    It's an interesting historical twist, when you think about it. Those 
who were chained, sent in those ships, separated from their families, 
those who were really beaten down, never lost their spirit, never lost 
their desire for freedom and hope, stood strong in the face of the 
oppressor, finally made the oppressor feel guilty, and in fact made us 
realize what it meant, ``liberty and justice for all.''
    South Africa and Botswana and Uganda and Nigeria--and by the way, it 
took a long time to fly from Senegal to South Africa. [Laughter] It took 
longer to fly from Senegal to South Africa than it took from America to 
Senegal, which means we're covering a lot of country. [Laughter]
    It's a continent of vast potential, is the way I'd like to describe 
it, a continent of possibility. And it's in our national interest that 
Africa do well. Africa has got to deal with a lot of issues. And first 
of all, the policy of this Government is to understand Africans are 
plenty capable of dealing with issues themselves; they just need help.
    So for example, when it comes to helping deal with regional 
conflicts, one of the things we've got to do is help train their 
militaries so that they've got the capacity to move in and separate 
warring factions. One of the problems Africa faces, of course, is there 
is--every time there's a civil war, there's a lot of hurt, death, 
displacement. It makes it awfully hard for a society to function that is 
at war with itself, as you know.
    In those countries, I was struck by its potential and struck by the 
issues that are faced, one--education issues and health issues of 
course--no bigger issue in my judgment, however, than the pandemic of 
HIV/AIDS. And we live in an amazing world, and yet in the midst of our 
world, there's a lot of folks who are dying and will die. And it's time 
for the United States of America to act and act in a big way, which is 
what we're going to do.
    Reverend Rivers went over just to make sure that I fulfilled my 
promise. He was watching my every move. [Laughter] I asked for 15 
billion. Now let me just give you a quick update; then Condi will be 
glad to answer any other questions you have about the trip.
    Some countries are prepared for our aid. As a matter of fact, a lot 
of countries are. And that was a very important question to ask. If in 
fact we fund--and we will fund, and I want to thank you for your help in 
convincing Congress that they've got to fund the initiative. As you 
know, we have authorized it. Now they've got to write the check. And we 
will--we will. But it was very important for us to see whether or not 
the--for example, the capacity to distribute antiretrovirals was in 
place. Nothing worse than stockpiling medicines that never get 
distributed to the actual people. We're not interested in helping 
organizations. We're interested in helping organizations actually get 
the medicine to the people.
    And we saw a good infrastructure. The Catholic Church, for example, 
in Uganda is fully prepared to pave the way for distribution of 
antiretrovirals, at the same time help with education and prevention.
    The first step, by the way, is for leadership to stand up and admit 
there is an issue. You've got to admit there's a problem. And most of 
the societies that we saw admitted there's a significant problem, 
starting with the leaders. You know, President Museveni of Uganda and 
President Obasanjo of Nigeria are very strong and said, ``We've got an 
issue. Forget stigma. We've got a health issue that we must deal with as 
a society.''
    And so, in America, the first thing we do is look for willingness to 
participate, and we saw some strong leadership, which is really 
important. The attitudes are changing on the continent.
    Secondly, we're looking for infrastructure, people who understand 
what works. You, know, there's an interesting effect with the 
antiretroviral drugs. It's called the Lazarus effect. And if we can get 
those antiretrovirals out, and people begin to--out in the country and 
in the cities, of course--people begin to improve, and all of a sudden, 
somebody sees a neighbor improving: ``Well, maybe I've got hope.'' So 
hope begins to rise.
    And so, we've got to get these medicines out, and we've got to get a 
strategy out and a plan out. And what I'm telling you is, we saw some 
good strategies and some good plans proposed by strong leaders, which is 
a very heartening thing. Our taxpayers have

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got to know that when we spend that money, it's going to go to save 
lives.
    The other key component, interestingly enough, in Africa that's 
going to make a huge difference is the faith-based community. The faith-
based community from all religions, all walks of life, are interested in 
being a part of this--solving this pandemic.
    And the other issue is hunger. Our country puts a billion a year up 
to help feed the hungry. And we're by far the most generous nation in 
the world when it comes to that, and I'm proud to report that. This 
isn't a contest of who's the most generous. I'm just telling you as an 
aside. [Laughter] We're generous. We shouldn't be bragging about it. But 
we are. We're very generous.
    However, one of the things it seems like we've got to do is help 
Africa feed herself. There is no reason in the world why the great 
continent of Africa can't be self-sustaining in food, and not only self-
sustaining; how about being--the capacity to help others eat. And it's 
got a great potential.
    So that's the mission. The mission at home is to help those who hurt 
and make the vast potential of America available to every citizen. The 
mission abroad is to use our good heart and good conscience and not turn 
our back away when we see suffering.
    It has been a--it's a huge honor to represent our country overseas. 
It is a--I am a proud American. I'm proud of what we stand for. I'm 
proud of our heritage. I understand we've had tough times in our 
history. But the thing about it is, we never get stuck in history. We 
always move beyond. We're always trying to improve. And we base it, our 
history and our decisionmaking, our future, on solid values. The first 
value is, we're all God's children.
    May God bless you. Thank you for your time.

Note: The President spoke at 1:27 p.m. in Presidential Hall in the 
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he 
referred to Rev. Tony Evans, Oakcliff Baptist Church, Dallas, TX; Rev. 
Eugene F. Rivers III, Azusa Christian Community, Dorchester, MA; 
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda; and President Olusegun 
Obasanjo of Nigeria.