[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 13 (Monday, April 4, 2005)]
[Pages 540-545]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Helping America's Youth Initiative

April 1, 2005

    The President. Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks. I thought 
you were going to say you couldn't give the speech because you were 
suffering from jetlag. [Laughter] Laura just got back from Afghanistan 
and reported that freedom is a beautiful thing, that society is changing 
because the people are free there.
    And it's quite a job I have when you get to be introduced by your 
wife. I want to thank you all for coming. I'm a lucky man that Laura 
said yes when I asked her to marry me. She is a great mom, fabulous 
wife. She's doing a wonderful job as our First Lady. She is a tireless 
advocate for children in our country. She is a teacher. And you learn a 
thing or two when you marry a teacher. [Laughter] You learn to behave 
yourself--[laughter]--most of the time. [Laughter]
    And you learn that a single soul can make a difference in a young 
person's life. That's

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what you learn. As a matter of fact, that's what we're here to talk 
about today, how to help Americans realize the great promise of a single 
person's compassion and its ability to help save a soul. America can 
change one heart, one soul at a time.
    And our job, frankly, all our jobs, is to find those who are willing 
to be a part of the solution and encourage them to help surround 
somebody who hurts with love. That's what we're here to talk about 
today.
    First, I want to thank Mike Leavitt for serving as the Secretary of 
the Department of Health and Human Services. One of the reasons he is 
here is this Department distributes a lot of Federal money, and I--
you'll hear me talk about public policy that hopefully will encourage 
faith- and community-based programs to do a more--a better job of 
helping to save lives in our country.
    Frank Wolf is with us. Frank, I'm honored you're here. Congressman 
Frank Wolf has been a leading advocate in the Congress for the faith-
based and community-based initiatives. I appreciate you coming, 
Congressman. Glad to see you brought your daughter, Rebecca, with you. 
Frank, by the way, has been very instrumental in working in the Sudan to 
help bring peace to that troubled part of the world. I want to thank you 
for your efforts.
    While I'm mentioning it, we met with youngsters who are being 
mentored, their mentors, and the directors of programs that have 
encouraged the mentoring to take place. Dan Johnson, the executive 
director of Kinship of Greater Minneapolis, is with us. Thanks for 
coming, Dan. Denise Williams, the vice president for programs, Big 
Brothers Big Sisters for the Capital Area, is with us. Mark Earley, the 
president of Prison Fellowship, is with us today. Appreciate you coming, 
Mark. Maureen Holla, the executive director of the Higher Achievement 
Program--Maureen, thank you very much.
    Barbara--Barbara's been introduced once; I'll introduce her again. 
Barbara is a big name in my family. [Laughter] Thank you for being the 
head of this great school. We're honored to be here. I want to thank all 
the teachers who are here. I want to thank all the mentors who are here. 
I want to thank all the people who care about the future of this country 
who are here.
    Laura and I are thrilled to be here. I'm impressed by the results of 
the Higher Achievement Program. I think it's important if you're in my 
line of work, for example, to ask people, ``What's happening? What are 
the results? Show me some progress.'' I don't have much time in this 
job, and so one of the things I try to do is to say, ``Here's the goal, 
and how are we progressing toward this goal?''
    And one of the interesting things about the Higher Achievement 
Program, they have got a good track record, good results. It shows what 
is possible when you focus on a goal-oriented, results-oriented approach 
to helping save lives. For 30 years--they've got a long history, by the 
way; this program has been in existence for 30 years--they've mentored 
middle school students. And that's an important group, by the way. If 
you're interested in trying to figure out something to do in America, 
find some middle school students who need some help. It is a very 
important age for loving adults to enter into a child's life. And this 
initiative--let me just say this, of the more than 300 youngsters who 
take place in this program per year, 95 percent go to college.
    If you're interested in finding out what works, look at this 
program, because the results are clear. And I want to congratulate the 
visionaries involved with the program and those who are on the 
frontlines of making it work.
    I also--we have the honor of meeting folks who mentor. I call them 
soldiers in the armies of compassion, people who are willing to take 
time out of their too-busy lives to help save a life. Such a person is 
Stacey French. For 2\1/2\ years, she has volunteered to tutor a seventh 
grader named Lexus Henderson, both of whom are here today. Stacey 
watched as Lexus turned from an inattentive student to one who is 
focused, to one who sets goals. I asked Lexus, I said, ``You going to 
college?'' Thirteen-year-old guy, by the way. He said, ``Absolutely.'' 
He's even picked one out. He has set a goal. And Stacey is there to help 
him realize that goal. He wasn't very good in math. She helped focus on 
math. Math is now his favorite subject.

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Here's a guy going to college as a result of the love of Stacey. Thank 
you all for coming. Please stand up.
    Laura and I also met with some extraordinary young men and women who 
have faced some incredibly significant and great challenges in their 
life. Each of them has had a mother or father in prison. Each has had a 
volunteer mentor as well. And the caring presence of this adult, the 
soul who said, ``I love you,'' has made a big difference in these 
children's lives. They have made a--the kids have made a tough decision 
to kind of resist peer pressure and focus on achieving results in 
schools and staying off drugs and making tough choices. And we're really 
proud of the accomplishments that you all have made and the example you 
have set.
    One of those is Michaela Huberty, is with us today from Benjamin 
Mays Magnet School, St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the youngest of three 
children, and she's being raised by her mom. Her dad has been in and out 
of prison for her entire life. Fortunately, there's the Lutheran 
mentoring program--I just introduced the head of it--in Minneapolis that 
matched Michaela with Jennifer Kalenborn. She is a special needs teacher 
in St. Paul. Think about that. She's already helping children, and she 
wanted to do more.
    She is--and they do crafts together, and they go to museums 
together, and they read together, and they talk on the phone together. 
She sets an example. Guess what Michaela wants to be when she grows up: 
a teacher. [Laughter] It's pretty interesting--not coincidental, of 
course. She's being loved by a teacher. She's being helped by a teacher. 
She herself wants to teach. One of the most important programs that we 
need to focus on is to--helping a child whose parent is or has been in 
prison. And I want to thank the Minneapolis program, and I want to thank 
Jennifer for being such a good soul. Welcome to you both. Thanks for 
coming. Let them stand up.
    Jillian Antonucci is with us. She joined the Prison Fellowship Angel 
Tree Program. That's a program all--that exists in order to help a child 
whose parent may be or has been in prison. It's a great program, by the 
way.
    She takes time out from attending Grove City College in Pennsylvania 
to mentor Brianna Morris, whose father and mother have both been in 
prison. I asked her, I said, ``Well, how did you get involved with the 
program?'' She said, ``The first thing is I prayed and asked for 
guidance from the Almighty.'' It's kind of an interesting way to become 
inspired, isn't it? Matter of fact, it is the basis of many faith-based 
programs; matter of fact, it's the basis of all faith-based programs.
    Brianna was suffering from depression. But Jillian, as a result of 
her love and desire to help, has watched this young lady become someone 
who is laughing and more open, somebody who has set goals. Interestingly 
enough, the goal--she either wants to be a basketball player or a 
computer technician. If your jump shot doesn't work, go computers. 
[Laughter] But we want to thank you both for being here. Thank you for 
coming. Please stand up and be recognized for your good work. [Applause]
    Finally, we met Vinnie Thomas. Some people become mentors because of 
what mentors have done for them in their lives. In other words, one of 
the interesting things about mentoring is it can create a chain of 
compassion over the course of people's lives. And Vinnie Thomas left 
home when he was 16, ended up in California struggling with drugs. And 
guess where he ended up? In prison. He was there for 3\1/2\ years. And 
while he was there, a mentor--I think he said two mentors, but one 
sticks out in my mind in particular is a mentor that was a 
businessperson, came and mentored Vinnie and gave him an airplane ticket 
to fly back home, said ``If you need a problem [help], * here's a house; 
here's a bed.'' In other words, it's probably more effective than a 
probation officer could be. Somebody said, ``I care for you, Vinnie.'' 
Vinnie said he didn't have a family; he was lonely. He said this mentor 
helped him make sure that he didn't land back in jail. Guess what? 
Vinnie today is a Big Brother to Parry Elliott, who is with us as well.
    * White House correction.
    Parry Elliott is a seventh grader, lives in a section of Washington 
known for gang violence. His dad is in prison right now. I asked Parry, 
I said, ``How about college?'' He said, ``Absolutely. You don't have to 
worry about

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me.'' He said, ``I've made my decision.'' He's accepted to the SEED 
School in Washington, DC, where 100 percent of the graduating students 
were accepted into college last year. Thanks to Big Brothers Big Sisters 
of the National Capital Area, their lives have been transformed.
    Let me tell you something about Vinnie. This week, he was ordained a 
deacon at the Galilee Baptist Church. I guess I shouldn't call him 
Vinnie; I should call him Deacon Thomas. [Laughter] As a matter of fact, 
I asked the deacon to offer a prayer after our gathering. I was hoping I 
would be the recipient of the first prayer that the newly ordained 
deacon would offer. I think I might have been.
    Vincent Thomas. You were.
    The President. Well, that's good. [Laughter] Let me just say you 
responded to the pressure quite well. [Laughter] It's an honor to 
welcome Deacon Thomas and Parry with us today. Thank you all for coming.
    I'm proud of these mentors; we're proud of you all who mentor as 
well. Anybody listening out there is interested in how to serve the 
country, one good way is to become a mentor. We talked to the program 
directors. I said, ``What are your bottlenecks? Where do you need 
help?'' They need help in matching lost souls with somebody who loves. 
And so spread the word. I'm trying to spread it right now through that 
camera. [Laughter] But if you want to serve America, become a mentor.
    And there are ways to do so. Plenty of access to the Internet--
usafreedomcorps.gov is one way to figure out a mentoring program close 
to you that is looking for help. The amazing thing is, is that all this 
happens without Government. There's success stories like the four we 
just heard all across America, because there are a lot of people who are 
saying, ``What can I do? How can I help? What do I need to do to make 
sure opportunity is available to all people?''
    Now, Government has got a role to play, in my judgment. I think 
there's a vital role for Government to play. But first we've got to 
understand the limitations of Government. Government can do a lot of 
things, but one of the things Government is not really good at is love. 
It can hand out money, but it can't put hope in a person's heart. It 
can't serve to inspire a person to set goals like going to college. But 
what Government can do is to empower people who have heard the call to 
love a neighbor, and that's what Government should do, in my judgment. 
Government should be an advocate of faith-based and community-based 
programs, not an impedent [impediment] * to faith-based programs. 
Government ought to be not a roadblock.
    * White House correction.
    So we're committed to making Government an effective partner for 
those bringing hope to harsh places. In the State of the Union this 
year, I announced the Helping America's Youth Initiative that's going to 
be led by Laura. She talked about it. She'll be focusing on three key 
areas vital to helping young people succeed, family, school, and 
community.
    This fall, she's--as she mentioned, she's going to be convening a 
White House conference that will bring researchers and policy experts 
and educators and parents and community leaders together. They will 
discuss ways and strategies to help children avoid drugs, alcohol, 
violence, early sexual activity, ways to help people build successful 
lives.
    As part of Helping America's Youth Initiative, we've proposed a new 
$150 million effort to discourage gangs, to encourage faith-based and 
community-based organizations to provide alternatives to gangs. I can't 
think of a better group of people to rally and inspire, to offset the 
lure of a gang, than somebody who has heard a universal call to love a 
neighbor just like they'd like to be loved themselves.
    I'm really excited about Laura's initiative. I urge Congress to 
support programs that will make this initiative viable, initiatives such 
as programs to help strengthen marriages, a responsible fatherhood 
initiative that would support community- and faith-based organizations 
to help fathers stay involved in their children's lives, a healthy 
marriage initiative to support research on the best ways to keep 
marriages strong. Those seem like reasonable programs if we're all 
aiming to try to make this society as strong a society as possible.

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    There are over 2 million children in America with at least one 
parent in prison. That is a problem that we must address, and the 
problem is, is that if your dad or mother is in prison, you're likely to 
end up there yourself without love and compassion in your life. That's a 
fact.
    And so one of the initiatives that I called upon Congress to fund 
was the initiative to help faith-based and community organizations to 
recruit enough mentors to save the lives of 100,000 children whose 
parent may be in prison. It's a vital initiative; it's an important 
initiative. Last year we gave out $55 million in grants that had been 
awarded to 221 organizations. There is still work to be done. We're just 
starting.
    I urge those of you involved in the Faith- and Community-Based 
Initiative to set up programs to mentor a child whose parent may be in 
prison. It is a vital contribution to our country that you can make. 
It's an important part of keeping this country a hopeful place for all. 
We'll have more money available in the budgets coming out, but what we 
can't do is we can't buy compassion and love. It's up to those at the 
community level to take advantage of the funding available. It's up to 
you to go out and help recruit. I can call people to service and will 
continue to do so. A patriotic way to serve America is to mentor a child 
whose parent may be in prison. But I encourage the social entrepreneurs 
in America to funnel resources and efforts and energy toward this vital 
program.
    The faith-based program is one that is going to be--remain a 
constant part of my administration. Obviously, there's some limitations 
on the faith program. You can't take Federal money to proselytize. You 
can't take Federal money and discriminate against somebody based upon 
religion. In other words, if you're an alcohol and drug rehabilitation 
program and you happen to be associated with the Methodist church, you 
can't say only Methodists who are drunk can come here. You got to say, 
``All drunks are able to come here.'' [Laughter] In other words, there 
is some limitations. There are limitations to how this Federal money can 
be used.
    But one of the limitations should not be based upon the fact that 
you're a faith-based program. In other words, we strongly believe at the 
Federal level that Federal money ought to be accessible on an equal 
playing field, level playing field to faith-based programs.
    Jim Towey runs an office in my--runs an office there at the White 
House. See, I ask Towey all the time, I say, ``How much money are we 
getting out the door?'' It's one thing to talk the Faith-Based and 
Community-Based Initiative; another thing is actually to make sure money 
is available. And he reported to me last year, $2 billion was accessed 
by the faith community. And that's good. That's a good start. We spend a 
lot more than 2 billion a year.
    The whole goal, see, is to focus on results, not on process. Those 
of us in Washington, we ought to say, ``Are we saving lives? Are we 
getting enough mentors in people's lives? Are we helping enough drunks 
get off alcohol? Are we helping enough addicts get off drugs?'' That's 
what we ought to be asking. And we ought to recognize that in programs 
that exist because they've heard a call to love a neighbor, you can find 
great results. And so this Faith-Based and Community-Based Initiative is 
a results-oriented approach that'll protect the church and--the 
separation of church and state but, at the same time, wisely uses 
taxpayers' money so that we can achieve important social objectives.
    For those of you involved in the faith and community programs, I 
want to say thank you for your efforts. You've got a friend and ally in 
the Federal Government now.
    Part of making sure you can do your job is to make sure regulations 
don't stand in the way of doing your job. Congress needs to make sure 
that faith-based groups are not forced to give up their right to hire 
people of their own faith as a price for competing for Federal money. 
I'm pleased that the House voted a month ago to protect the civil rights 
of faith-based groups. I urge the Senate to do the same when it 
considers welfare reform and job training legislation this year.
    We're beginning to change the culture here in Washington. There's a 
more accepting attitude toward the role that faith-based and community-
based programs can play in helping cure social ills and helping to shine 
a light into some of the dark places in our country.

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    In order to make sure that we continue to stay focused on this 
initiative and to be--and to succeed, I've set up 10 faith-based offices 
in 10 agencies, Federal agencies. In other words, there's got to be some 
accountability. I want there to be a presence in these Federal 
bureaucracies. I want somebody in there agitating for fairness, 
understanding the great hope of this initiative.
    In 2003, grants to faith-based programs had gone up by 20 percent, 
and what's important for you to understand is that all the grant money 
hasn't just gone to the established faith providers, like the Salvation 
Army, which has done a fantastic job, or Catholic Charities, which has 
done a fantastic job in America. But I want to make sure that social 
entrepreneurs, large and small, had access to Federal money. In other 
words, we want to make sure that the program reaches some of the most 
lonely corners in America, that we touch both large and small providers. 
And we're making progress. And I'm asking Towey all the time, ``Are we 
reaching new programs? Are we making a difference in other 
neighborhoods? Are we making sure that this has a broad reach throughout 
America?'' And I'm proud to report that thousands of small groups, tiny 
grassroots organizations, are being touched by this initiative, and 
that's important.
    Let me tell you why I feel so strongly about this initiative, 
because I understand the true strength of America lies in the hearts and 
souls of our citizens. Interestingly enough, I wasn't the first person 
to recognize this, nor will I be the last. De Tocqueville, fine fellow 
from France, came to the United States in the 1830s. And he studied what 
made America unique. And what he found was, the uniqueness of America 
then was their eagerness to come together to form associations to enable 
people to serve a cause greater than themselves. Many of those 
associations existed because of religion; a lot of them didn't. But 
there was this great desire for Americans to voluntarily associate in 
order to help realize an ambition deep within our soul, and that is to 
make our country a better place and, at the same time, make ourself a 
better person by working to help somebody who hurts. He recognized, de 
Tocqueville recognized that a strength--that that was our strength then. 
It's very important for those of us in public policy to recognize that 
it is our strength today.
    And so I want to thank you all for being a soldier in the army of 
compassion, some of you privates, some of you sergeants, some of you 
generals, all soldiers, bound together by the great desire to love a 
neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
    Over the next 4 years, I'll continue to work with our faith- and 
community-based programs to save America one heart, one soul, one 
conscience at a time.
    Thanks for coming today. God bless.

Note: The President spoke at approximately 10:55 a.m. at Paul Public 
Charter School. In his remarks, he referred to Barbara Nophlin, head of 
school, Paul Public Charter School. The transcript released by the 
Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of the First 
Lady.