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Remarks Delivered by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiative: Getting to Green
U.S. Department of Labor
Washington, D.C.
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Thank you, Jay [Hein]. Congratulations on your appointment to head this critical presidential initiative.
And a special congratulations to our Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for "getting to green." I look forward to presenting the Champions of Compassion Awards to the agencies and honorees who helped the Center "get to green."
The Center joins what has now become a tradition of management excellence at the Department of Labor. So let me thank the Director of the Center, Jedd Medefind, for his fine leadership. And let me recognize Brent Orrell, the first Director of our Faith-Based office. Together with Tevi Troy, who was a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at DOL and is now Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, he was instrumental in setting up and growing this office into what it is today. And I would also like to thank Scott Walter from the DPC for joining us today.
Since this is a "getting to green" celebration, let me begin by sharing a few highlights of what the Department has been able to achieve on behalf of the President's management agenda.
We're very proud of the fact that DOL is the first — and still only — federal agency to get to green on all five critical government-wide components of the President's Management Agenda.
And the Department received its ninth consecutive clean audit, demonstrating the highest levels of fiscal integrity in management and leadership.
In fact, the Department's Annual Performance and Accountability Report was ranked number one by George Mason University's Mercatus Center for the fourth year in a row. So a tough critic outside the government continues to recognize the management excellence inside this Department.
These are tremendous achievements that all of the DOL management team can take pride in.
For the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, "getting to green" represented a special challenge. It is the newest agency within the Department of Labor.
And OMB established strict criteria to ensure that faith-based and community groups were put on equal footing with traditional providers in applying for and receiving grants.
Our team has worked hard to level the playing field for faith-based and community organizations. Having been President and CEO of the United Way of America and Director of the Peace Corps, I have seen firsthand the value of faith-based and community organizations. So let me brag a little about some of the accomplishments of the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives office at DOL.
The faith-based office worked extensively with ETA to create manageable, direct, small federal grants, called "Grassroots Grants." This reform simplified the application process so that smaller organizations could successfully compete for these opportunities. An organization should not have to have a professional proposal-writing shop to be worthy of receiving federal grants! This year, 557 grassroots organizations applied for these grants, a record number of applications/applicants, and a record for any DOL grant programs.
Over 600,000 ex-offenders are released from prisons each year. Without appropriate counseling and work, they are likely to return to their previous ways. Since 2003, the Department's Ready4Work program has transformed lives by creating partnerships between faith-based and community organizations, law enforcement, corrections, and employers to employ ex-offenders and reduce recidivism. To date, Ready 4Work has reduced recidivism among those enrolled in its programs by 50 percent.
These accomplishments enhance the Department's agenda, which is the President's agenda, of demolishing barriers to accessing opportunity in mainstream America. Allowing faith-based and other community institutions to fully and fairly access government opportunities gives Americans more tools to aid the most vulnerable in our society.
As the President has noted so many times, faith-based institutions draw from a deep well of commitment, compassion, and creativity. It is essential to tap this pool of talent if we are serious about reaching out to those most in need in our society.
DOL grant applications from faith-based groups increased from less than two percent in the late 1990s to 21 percent this past year. From 2004 to 2005 alone, DOL saw an 85 percent increase in the number of grant applications received from all non-profit institutions.
Our country and our neighbors benefit from this kind of outreach in so many ways. We are helping to strengthen communities and organizations that are the heart and soul of America. And we are making a real and lasting difference in the lives of some of our country's most vulnerable citizens. For work provides more than income; it develops a sense of self-worth.
So congratulations again on getting to green! And let me commend Jedd, the staff of the faith-based office, and all the members of our leadership team at DOL for their commitment to implementing this key Presidential initiative!
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