About FBCI

President Bush created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in eleven federal agencies to lead a determined attack on need by strengthening and expanding the role of faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) in providing social services. The federal government has worked to accomplish this mission through an array of regulatory and policy reforms, legislative efforts, and public outreach to FBCOs.

The Department of Commerce has a long history of providing grants to FBCOs that give assistance to distressed communities. The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is the principal Commerce agency that invests in social service organizations. FBCOs compete for EDA assistance on exactly the same basis as other applicants. As a result, EDA-supported faith-based and community investments produce the same economic development benefits–higher skilled, higher wage jobs and private sector investment–that characterize EDA projects in general.

Visit the Economic Development Administration website for more information on EDA. 

Visit the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives website for additional information.