[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 25 (Monday, June 30, 2008)]
[Pages 916-920]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives' National 
Conference

June 26, 2008

    Thank you very much. Please be seated. Now how beautiful was that; 
from being a homeless mother of two to introducing the President of the 
United States. There has to be a higher power. I love being with members 
of the armies of compassion, foot soldiers in helping make America a 
more hopeful place. Every day, you mend broken hearts with love. You 
mend broken lives with hope, and you mend broken communities with 
countless acts of extraordinary kindness.
    Groups like yours have harnessed the power that no government 
bureaucracy can match. So when I came to Washington, my goal was to 
ensure that government made you a full partner in our efforts to serve 
those in need. And the results have been uplifting, and that's what 
we're here to talk about today. It's an opportunity to celebrate your 
achievements, to thank you for your life-changing work, and to look 
ahead to ways that you will extend your record of compassion in the 
years to come.
    I really want to thank Jay Hein and those who worked hard to put on 
this conference. It looks like it's a successful one from here. I'm 
honored that members of the administration have come--the Attorney 
General, Judge Michael Mukasey. Mr. General, thanks for coming. 
Secretary Ed Schafer, Department of Agriculture; Secretary Carlos 
Gutierrez, Department of Commerce; Director John Walters, Office of 
National Drug Control Policy--thank you all for taking time to be here.
    Ambassador Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator--Mark, thanks 
for coming; appreciate you being here. I'm going to talk about PEPFAR in 
a minute. But when I talk about PEPFAR, think about his extraordinary 
leadership, as I do.
    I want to thank the Ambassador from the Republic of Rwanda. Mr. 
Ambassador, I'm proud you're here. And I want to thank all of those 
who've come around the country who work in our Faith-Based and Community 
Initiative for your leadership and your compassion and your decency.
    You know, when I ran for President, like a lot of others around our 
country, I was troubled to see so many of our citizens' greatest needs 
going unmet. Too many addicts walked the rough road of recovery alone. 
Too many prisoners had the desire for reform, but no one showed them a 
way. Across the country, the hungry and the homeless, the sick and the 
suffering begged for deliverance, and too many heard only silence.
    And the tragedy that was--a lot of good folks in America--a lot of 
good men and women who had the desire to help, but didn't have the 
resources--they had the heart, but not the resources. And because many 
of them worked with small charities, they were overlooked by Washington 
as potential partners in service. And because many of them belonged to 
faith-based organizations, they were often barred from receiving support 
from the Federal Government.
    So I set about to change that, at least from the Federal 
perspective, with an approach called compassionate conservatism. This 
approach was compassionate because it was rooted in a timeless truth: 
That we ought to love our neighbors as we'd like to be loved ourselves. 
And it was conservative because it recognized the limits of government. 
Bureaucracies can put money in people's hands, but they cannot put hope 
in a person's heart.
    Putting hope in people's hearts is the mission of our Nation's 
faith-based and community groups. And today we're going to herald some 
of the results of the collective work of compassionate Americans. To me, 
it does not matter if there's a crescent on your group's wall, a rabbi 
on your group's board, or Christ in your group's name. If your 
organization puts medicine in the people's hands, food in people's 
mouths, or a roof over people's heads, then you're succeeding. And for 
the sake of our country, the Government ought to support your work.
    I was reviewing my first major policy speech as a candidate for 
President. It seems like a long time ago--July 22, 1999. Here's what I 
said. I said: ``In every instance where my administration sees a 
responsibility to

[[Page 917]]

help people, we will look first to faith-based organizations, charities, 
and community groups that have shown their ability to save and change 
lives. We will make a determined attack on need by promoting the 
compassionate acts of others.''
    As my--President, my first Executive order was to establish the 
Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the White House. And 
my next one led to the creation of faith-based and community offices at 
11 Federal Agencies. These offices were tasked with the--this new 
mission: to lower the legal and institutional barriers that prevented 
government and faith-based groups from working as partners and to ensure 
that the armies of compassion played a central role in our campaign to 
make America more promising and more just.
    We've carried out this mission in two ways. First, we have helped 
level the playing field for faith-based groups and other charities, 
especially small organizations that have struggled to compete for funds 
in the past. We've educated religious groups about their civil rights. 
We've made the Federal grant application process more accessible and 
transparent. We've trained thousands of Federal employees to ensure that 
government does not discriminate against faith-based organizations. 
We've ensured that these groups do not have to give up their religious 
character to receive taxpayer money.
    With these steps, we followed a principle rooted both in our 
Constitution and the best traditions of our Nation. Government should 
never fund the teaching of faith, but it should support the good works 
of the faithful.
    Second, my administration has advanced policies that yield greater 
support for faith-based and community groups. In other words, it's one 
thing to talk it; it's another thing to act. So we worked with Congress, 
and we've had a lot of help in the Congress.
    By the way, this wasn't an easy idea for some to swallow in the 
Congress, and yet we did have good help. We amended the Tax Code to 
provide greater incentives for charitable donations, and we established 
what's called the Compassion Capital Fund to help faith-based and 
community groups operate more efficiently and secure additional funding 
from the private sector. This year, we launched what's called the Pro 
Bono Challenge, a 3-year campaign to encourage corporate professionals 
like accountants and lawyers to share their time and expertise with 
groups such as yours.
    In all these ways, the administration has upheld its promise to 
treat community and faith-based organizations as trusted partners. We've 
held your organizations to high standard and insisted on clear results. 
And your organizations have delivered on those results. You've helped 
revolutionize the way government addresses the greatest challenges 
facing our society. I truly believe the faith-based initiative is one of 
the most important initiatives of this administration.
    I would like to share with you some of your record. Faith-based and 
community groups have revolutionized the way our government shelters the 
homeless. Together we've worked to reduce the number of Americans who go 
to sleep each night vulnerable and exposed, unsure of where they'll 
sleep tomorrow. For example, the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development has partnered with faith-based and community groups to find 
homeless Americans safe places to stay. And according to the most recent 
data, this program has helped reduce the number of chronically ill 
homeless by nearly 12 percent, getting more than 20,000 Americans off 
the street.
    Faith-based and community groups have revolutionized the way we help 
Americans break the chains of addiction. Through our Access to Recovery 
program, we provide addicts with vouchers that they can redeem at 
treatment centers of their choice. So far, Access to Recovery has helped 
approximately 200,000 addicts along the path to clean lives. And many 
have been inspired to call upon a higher power to help them break the 
chains of addiction.
    One person who's turned her life around through this program is 
Ramie Siler. You don't know Ramie yet, but you're about to. Ramie was 
once lost to substance abuse and depression. Even when she tried to get 
clean for her daughter's high school graduation, Ramie could not break 
free from her addiction. And then she found a faith-based group, a group 
of decent citizens reaching out to people like Ramie. It was called the 
Next Door.

[[Page 918]]

    At the Next Door, Ramie met people who stood by her during the 
difficult times of recovery. They gave Ramie a second chance to become a 
productive citizen and a good mother. Today, she's reunited with her 
daughter, Dawn. She helps other women as a Next Door case manager. And 
I'd like to tell you what she said, she used the words of Saint Paul: 
``Old things have passed away; behold, all things are becoming new.''
    Ramie is with us today with a Vanderbilt sophomore, her daughter, 
Dawn. Ramie, where are you? Oh, there they are. [Applause] So you 
applaud for Ramie, but you're also applauding for those compassionate 
souls at the Next Door. Faith-based community is--[applause]--our faith 
community is doing a fantastic job of saving lives.
    Faith-based and community groups have revolutionized the way our 
government helps the children of prisoners. It's hard to imagine what 
it's like for a child to have to enter a prison gate just to get a hug 
from a mom or a dad. Government can't hug these kids, but it can support 
caring mentors who do. Through our Mentoring Children of Prisoners 
program, we've joined with faith-based and community groups to match 
nearly 90,000 children of prisoners with adults who offer love and 
guidance and a positive example.
    Faith and community groups have revolutionized the way our 
government gives prisoners across America a second chance. In the past, 
government frequently ignored groups like yours in its efforts to help 
former prisoners become productive citizens. Like, it just didn't enter 
people's minds that the faith-based and community groups could actually 
help change lives. Yet through the prisoner reentry initiative that we 
created in 2004, we've enlisted faith-based and community groups to help 
provide services like job placement and mentoring programs for thousands 
of former inmates. Really, what we did is help them find love.
    And the work has made a huge difference. Nationwide, 44 percent of 
prisoners are rearrested within a year of their release. Yet among 
prisoners that have been helped by people, like people in this room, the 
number is three times lower, just 15 percent.
    Faith-based and community groups have helped a lot in America, and 
they've helped revolutionize the way our government alleviates suffering 
and disease around the world. I'm about to describe some of our 
programs. But oftentimes I'm asked, why? Why do you care what happens 
outside of America? I believe to whom much is given, much is required. 
And I believe we got plenty of capacity to help people at home and 
abroad. And I believe it is in the moral interests of the United States 
to help when it comes to defeating malaria, for example.
    Malaria is a disease which kills one African child every 30 seconds. 
And it is something we can do something about. The U.S. Government 
launched a 5-year, $1.2 billion initiative in 2005 to cut the number of 
malaria-related deaths in 15 African nations by half. With strong 
support from groups like yours, our malaria initiative is producing 
results, tangible results. In just over 2 years, it's reached more than 
25 million people.
    The island of Zanzibar, which is affiliated with Tanzania, the 
infection rate has gone from 20 percent of babies born to less than 1 
percent of babies born in 16 months.
    The organizations about which I'm talking today are vital to the 
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR. We got to give 
everything initials in Washington. [Laughter] We launched this program 
in 2003--this is a program that Ambassador Dybul runs so effectively. We 
launched this program in 2003. When we launched it there was about 
50,000 people in sub-Sahara Africa that were receiving antiretroviral 
treatment for HIV/AIDS. As a result of a focused campaign, I'm pleased 
to announced that today we support treatment for nearly 1.7 million 
people. Think about that.
    And one of the beautiful things about this initiative is that we're 
saving babies. To date, PEPFAR has allowed nearly 200,000 African babies 
to be born HIV-free.
    These new numbers show the program is a huge success. And it would 
not have been a--nearly the success it's been without the partners who 
carry out the work, without the faith-based community that is on the 
frontline of saving lives, not only here at home but in places like 
Africa.

[[Page 919]]

    You know, it's been amazing to watch this experience. People who 
report back to Mark and myself talk about what's called the Lazarus 
effect, where communities were once given up for dead have now found new 
life and new hope.
    I traveled to--you know, we had a fantastic trip to Africa; Laura 
and I went. And the outpouring of love for the American citizens is 
great. I mean, this--it is such an honor to represent our country and to 
see the hard work of the American citizens and the generosity of the 
American citizens paying off in the smiling faces that line the road.
    When we were in Tanzania, we went to visit a clinic where a 9-year-
old girl was HIV-positive, and she'd lost both her parents to AIDS. And 
for the last year, Catholic Relief Services had been helping the girl. 
And her grandmother said this: ``As a Muslim, I never imagined that a 
Catholic group would help me like that.'' And she went on to say, ``I'm 
so grateful to the American people.''
    The United States Senate must follow the lead of the United States 
House and reauthorize this vital program.
    I really am grateful for those who are here and those around the 
country who serve in the armies of compassion. It didn't require a 
government law to get you to sign up. You chose to do so out of the 
goodness of your heart. We've made great strides in fulfilling the goal, 
and I am confident that the progress that you have made over the last 8 
years will continue.
    I'm confident because the movement is bigger than politics or any 
political party. This is not a political convention. This is a 
compassion convention. This is, ``we don't care about politic'' 
convention. We care about saving lives.
    You realize that 35 Governors have faith-based offices, 19 of them 
Democrats, 16 of them Republicans. Seventy mayors of both parties have 
similar programs at the municipal level.
    I'm confident that this initiative has built a powerful grassroots 
network. We've trained over 100,000 social entrepreneurs. Isn't that 
amazing? In this brief period of time, 100,000 people have been trained. 
Last year, we provided more than 19,000 competitive grants to community 
and faith-based organizations. Why? Because we want to change America 
for the better. We want people to be able to be empowered to do their 
work of love and compassion and bringing dignity to every human life. 
We've laid the foundation for an effort that will continue transforming 
lives long after I've been back to Texas.
    I am confident about the power of this program because the 
initiative has tapped into the compassionate spirit of America. Over the 
past 7 years, more of our fellow citizens have discovered that the 
pursuit of happiness leads by following the path of service. It's 
amazing what happens when you love somebody like you like to be loved 
yourself; your own soul is enriched. More citizens are understanding 
that by serving, you serve yourself. Americans have volunteered in 
record numbers. Sixty million people have volunteered in America this 
year, nearly a third of them through faith-based groups. It's an amazing 
statistic, isn't it? It really speaks to the great beauty of our 
country.
    I'm confident because I know how easily the compassionate spirit can 
spread. There's an interesting story that I want to share with you about 
Ugandan women who help--have been helped by PEPFAR. These were good 
souls who worked in a mine. They crushed rocks into gravel by hand. And 
it is tough work, really hard work. Then they heard about Katrina, and 
somehow they scraped together $1,000, and they gave it to the U.S. 
Embassy for the storm's victim. And one women said with pride: ``We are 
now donors.''
    And I'm confident above all because I know the character of the men 
and women gathered in this hall. In your countless quiet acts of grace, 
you serve the highest ideals of our Nation. These are the ideals that 
preserve America as the beacon of hope, the great light of freedom.
    A few years ago, I met a young guy named Elijah Anyieth. Elijah was 
a little boy, and his village was bombed during Sudan's civil war. He 
lost both his parents, and he spent years wandering from one refugee 
camp to another. Eventually, he resettled in Virginia, thanks to a 
partnership between a faith-based group and the State Department.
    Once Elijah arrived, a local Catholic charity found him a place to 
call home. He came

[[Page 920]]

 to a foreign soil after wandering in refugee camps and he found some 
love. He enrolled in high school. Just last month, he graduated from 
college. He's landed his dream job. The boy who grew up without 
electricity or running water is now a mechanical engineer. Elijah, where 
are you? There he is, right there. [Applause] You applaud for a good man 
named Elijah, but also for those kind souls who share in the great story 
of this good man.
    It's only in a place like America--think about it; think about our 
country for a second--could a life nearly extinguished by hate be 
restored by love and compassion.
    So I've been proud to stand by you as you have worked these miracles 
across our country. You probably don't even realize some of the acts of 
kindness are miracles. I'm telling you, they are. And you can find it in 
the hopeful expressions on the people you've helped. And so I thank you 
for your efforts. I thank you for your life-changing work. And I thank 
you for your record of compassion that I'm confident you will build on 
in the years to come.
    May God bless you, and may God continue to bless our country. Thank 
you all.

Note: The President spoke at 12:59 p.m. at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. In 
his remarks, he referred to Edith Espinoza, administrative assistant, 
Chicano Federation of San Diego County, Inc., who introduced the 
President; Jay F. Hein, director, Office of Faith-Based and Community 
Initiatives; and Rwanda's Ambassador to the U.S. James Kimonyo.