Agency Awards Nearly 13% of Competitive Funds to Faith-Based Groups

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, awarded nearly $81 million – or 13 percent of its overall competitive grant funds – to faith-based organizations in fiscal year 2005. That is two percentage points above the national federal average of nearly 11 percent, which President Bush announced last week at the White House Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. This is the second consecutive year that the Corporation has exceeded the federal average.

At the White House Conference, which gathered together the heads of the 10 Agency Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives along with other government, private, and nonprofit leaders, the President announced that awards to faith-based organizations from 130 programs at seven key Federal agencies – Health and Human Services, USAID, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Justice, Labor, and Education – topped $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2005, representing 10.9 percent of competitive grant funding. That is an increase of 7 percent over the previous year in terms of total funds, and an increase of 22 percent in terms of the total number of grant awards (from 2,258 in fiscal 2004 to 2,760 in fiscal 2005).

The Corporation for National and Community Service has always provided support to faith-based groups, and these efforts were ramped up as a result of Executive Orders in 2001 and 2005, which encouraged federal agencies to level the playing field for faith-based and other community organizations to compete for federal funds and to strengthen their capacity to better meet social needs in America's communities. Through its cross-programmatic Faith Based and Community Initiative, the Corporation has conducted outreach to faith-based and grassroots community organizations to help provide them the volunteer power they need to help America’s communities flourish.

"Faith-based organizations are the backbone of compassion in America’s communities," said Alison Fritz, Director of the Corporation’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative. "More Americans volunteer through religious organizations than through any other type, and we are committed to reaching out to more faith-based groups to educate them on the valuable assets that national service has to offer."

Programs that use Corporation volunteers to expand their capacity and reach more needy people are many and various. They include the Latino Pastoral Action Center, a national organization that provides counseling, crisis-intervention, and literacy and job training; Amachi, a nationwide group that recruits mentors for children of prisoners; the Jewish Youth Philanthropy Institute, a Maryland charity that advances the development of youth philanthropy and civic engagement; and Potter’s House, a Dallas charity focusing as ex-offender re-entry. A variety of material designed to give faith-based organizations a better understanding of how the Corporation can help them accomplish their goals, including the recent publication National Service: A Resource for Faith-Based and Community Groups, are available at www.nationalservice.gov/for_organizations/faith/index.asp.

In addition to funding programs, the Corporation provides extensive training and technical assistance to grassroots organizations around the country, offering forums, outreach, conferences and education on grant resources, program development opportunities, and best practices in such areas as family strengthening, prisoner re-entry, and mentoring children of prisoners. Current training and technical assistance providers to faith-based and community initiatives include Public/Private Ventures and the National Crime Prevention Council.

The Corporation for National and Community Service provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through three programs: AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America. Together with the USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation is working to build a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility in America. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.gov.

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