President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships A New Era of Partnerships: Report of Recommendations to the President Publication of this document was coordinated by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships with support from the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Special thanks to Joshua DuBois, Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and Mara Vanderslice, Deputy Director and Coordinator of the President’s Advisory Council. ii President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships - March 2010 Table of Contents Introduction from the Council Members . v List of Council Members . xi Economic Recovery and Domestic Poverty . 1 Fatherhood and Healthy Families . .27 Environment and Climate Change . .53 Inter-Religious Cooperation . .69 Global Poverty and Development . .95 Reform of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships . 117 Bios of the Council Members . 153 Photography Credits . 163 A New Era of Partnerships: Report of Recommendations to the President - March 2010 iii iv President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships - March 2010 INTRODUCTION It is difficult to overstate the generosity of the American spirit. From the rubble of Haitian neighborhoods to underserved communities across our own country, Americans are working to address the needs of the most vulnerable among us. The Government is often a partner in this critical work, collaborating with local groups to serve those in need. Although partnerships between the Government and community-serving organizations have existed for centuries, until recently the United States Government had never formed a body comprised of grassroots leaders and other experts to assess and strengthen those partnerships. On February 5, 2009, President Barack Obama created the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to do this work. In an executive order, the President noted: The Council shall bring together leaders and experts in fields related to the work of faith-based and neighborhood organizations in order to: identify best practices and successful modes of delivering social services; evaluate the need for improvements in the implementation and coordination of public policies relating to faith-based and other neighborhood organizations; and make recommendations to the President, through the Executive Director [of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships], for changes in policies, programs, and practices that affect the delivery of services by such organizations and the needs of low-income and other underserved persons in communities at home and around the world. Within this report, the Advisory Council proposes a number of such recommendations, and it urges President Obama and his Administration to adopt them. As members of this Council, we are encouraged by the fact that the President and his Administration have made sustained dialogue with a diverse set of leaders a key part of this process, and we thank them for inviting the recommendations we present here. President Obama asked the Council to focus its attention on making recommendations in the following priority areas: • Economic Recovery and Domestic Poverty • Environment and Climate Change • Fatherhood and Healthy Families • Global Poverty and Development • Interreligious Cooperation • Reform of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Each chapter of this report includes a number of recommendations in a specific issue area. No introduction could do justice to all of the recommendations, and this one certainly does not. We urge individuals to read the full report. A New Era of Partnerships: Report of Recommendations to the President - March 2010 v The recommendations often strike similar themes. We call for new “principles of partnerships” between the Government and community-serving organizations, ones recognizing that these organizations not only provide essential services but also deserve a seat at the table when reforms in policies affecting those partnerships are considered, designed, and implemented. To cite just a few examples, we urge the Federal Government to engage the nonprofit sector in its reviews of strategies for addressing global and domestic poverty and international adaptation to climate change. The term “partnership” should be expanded in other ways. Too often, this term is understood as being limited to government grants for private voluntary organizations. It should be understood much more broadly. The Federal Government often forms nonfinancial partnerships with faith-based and neighborhood organizations. These partnerships are as valuable to government as financial partnerships, and they are preferred by many kinds of civil society organizations. The Government should highlight and develop these partnerships as much as partnerships involving financial collaboration. And while partnerships in this area are now commonly understood to encompass joint efforts with secular and single-faith bodies, they should also be understood as involving relationships with multireligious or interfaith entities, both domestically and abroad. Multireligious or interfaith entities include religiously affiliated individuals or groups from more than one distinct denomination, tradition, religion, or spiritual movement, and they also may include individuals and groups identifying as secular. By partnering with organizations like these and others working across faith lines, the Government can build respect for religious pluralism and freedom of religion or belief. As President Obama has noted in several speeches, including his historic Cairo address, interfaith service initiatives are a particularly good way to build understanding between different communities and contribute to the common good. This report calls for the scaling and strengthening of such initiatives. In recognition of America’s growing pluralism and diversity, the Federal Government also should take specific steps to reach out to religious and cultural groups that traditionally have not been involved in partnerships with government. Government officials should invite representatives from these groups to be among the participants in, for example, workshops, training sessions, and networking opportunities. Steps like these will help to make good on our commitment to a government that truly represents all citizens. Reverberating through this report is a call for the concerns of people who are poor and vulnerable to be prioritized. “In our partnerships with government,” the report notes, “we will always seek to make sure that the question of the impact on the poor is being asked.” Successful and innovative programs run by community-serving organizations that provide integrated job training and support services to disadvantaged job seekers should be expanded. Likewise, Federal agencies should ensure that low-income communities and workers with barriers to employment are targeted when creating green job training programs. They can often do so most effectively in collaboration with nonprofit groups. In order to better serve those who are struggling, the Government should support the creation of more single-site multiple-benefit access programs, including those administered by religious and secular grassroots organizations. Far too many eligible families and individuals do not receive the benefits to which they are entitled. This discrepancy deepens the negative impacts of poverty on families and reduces the potential economic benefits vi President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships - March 2010 for low-income communities. The limited government funding that is available to support benefits outreach and access is typically focused on single benefits and single agencies. The Council recommends that the Government pool these funds and revise relevant program rules to allow single sites to offer multiple benefits. In that way, families can access benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit; SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Progam (food stamps); medical benefits (including children’s health insurance); and veterans’ benefits in one place. Similarly, Federal programs should eliminate restrictive rules prohibiting the integration of funds or erecting significant barriers to effective coordination in programs affecting our economic recovery. The Administration’s development of comprehensive and cross-cutting programs for communities like Promise Neighborhoods and Choice Neighborhoods is a step in the right direction. Cooperating across departments and levels of government is another essential step to bringing about better service. The Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and the Federal agency centers should continue to improve their communications with State, county, and city officials, who award up to 90 percent of Federal social service funds. Government agencies should create interdepartmental working groups to assess and address policies affecting fathers’ involvement in the lives of children, for example, taking the “father factor” into account in the work they do. Interagency and intra-agency working groups that will equip agencies engaged in international affairs for engagement with interfaith as well as secular and single-faith groups are needed. The Federal Government also should make strides toward ensuring that it provides