Grassroots Panel NEXT Wednesday (4/12)

Speaking Panel about the Barriers Grassroots Organizations Experience

Friends Helping Friends, a local nonprofit organization, was awarded the federal Compassion Capital Fund Targeted Capacity-Building Minigrant in 2005. Andrew Stankevich, FHF Director, will be hosting a panel of community-based/faith-based grassroots organizations at the Welles-Brown Room of the Rush Rhees Library at the University of Rochester on Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 at 7pm. The panel will be discussing the difficulties that the organizations have encountered from City, County, State and Federal programs and govt. funded agencies while working for change in the community and delivering services to those in need.

In addition to possibly others, the panel will feature Mr. Andrew Stankevich, Friends Helping Friends, anti-violence advocate, Apostle Joy Powell, God's Holy Outreach Ministries and grassroots emergency housing provider, Activist Charles Kellum, Poor People United.

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UNLEVEL PLAYING FIELD: Barriers to Participation by Faith-Based and Community Organizations in Federal Social Service Programs

"The paramount goal is compassionate results, and private and charitable groups... should have the fullest opportunity permitted by law to compete on a level playing field, so long as they achieve valid public purposes.... The delivery of social services must be results-oriented and should value the bedrock principles of pluralism, nondiscrimination, evenhandedness, and neutrality."
--President George W. Bush
January 29, 2001
Background
On January 29, 2001, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13198, creating Centers for Faith-Based & Community Initiatives in five cabinet departments-Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Education (ED), Labor (DOL), and Justice (DOJ).1 The Executive Order charged each Center to conduct:

a department-wide audit to identify all existing barriers to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the delivery of social services by the department, including but not limited to regulations, rules, orders, procurement, and other internal policies and practices, and outreach activities that either facially discriminate against or otherwise discourage or disadvantage the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in Federal programs.

This report summarizes the initial findings from the five cabinet Centers on barriers impeding religious and grassroots organizations that seek to serve the common good in collaboration with the Federal Government.

To view the findings of this report, visit the following website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/unlevelfield.html