"We must ensure that the compassion that animates the lives of so many Americans is not inordinately restrained from advancing the public good through faith-based and community programs"
- Donald Evans
Secretary of Commerce
The Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Commerce will work to improve the ability of faith-based and community organizations to fully participate in federal programs, while upholding the department's mission of creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity by promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and stewardship in the social service sector.
The mission of the Center is to empower faith-based and other community organizations to apply for Federal social service grants. The Center supplies information and training, but it does not make the decisions about which groups will be funded. Those decisions are made through procedures established by each grant program, generally involving a competitive process. No grant funding is set aside for faith-based organizations. Instead, the Faith-Based and Community Initiative creates a level-playing field for faith-based as well as other community organizations so that they can work with the government to meet the needs of America's communities.
The Department of Commerce has a long history of providing grants to faith-based and community organizations that give assistance to distressed communities and minority business.
For example, in 2002, the Economic Development Administration (E.D.A) awarded $50,000 to the African American Ministries in Pennsylvania, to develop ways to increase the volume and effectiveness of job training, new building initiatives, business incubation, the use of credit unions, investment clubs, and commercial ventures. In that same year, E.D.A also awarded $900,000 to the Carver Community Center in Cumberland Maryland to support a micro-enterprise business incubator and training program facility.
 |
||||||||||
|  |
 |
||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
 | | |||||||||
