Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

The Center for Faith-based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI) at the Department of Homeland Security was established on March 27, 2006. The CFBCI will coordinate Department’s efforts to eliminate regulatory, contracting and other programmatic obstacles to the participation of faith-based and community organizations in the Department’s social and community service programs.

The responsibilities of the CFBCI will include:

• Conducting a Department-wide audit to identify existing barriers to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations’ participation in the Department’s programs and activities;
• Proposing ways to remove these barriers;
• Developing and coordinating Departmental outreach efforts to disseminate information more effectively to faith-based and other community organizations with respect to programming changes, contracting opportunities, and other agency initiatives.

Partnerships in Emergency Preparedness Training Workshops

The workshop will focus on equipping Department of Homeland Security and FEMA partners in emergency preparedness with the resources, knowledge, training, and skills necessary to respond to, and recover from all threats, hazards, and adverse incidents, as well as engage stakeholders in a strategic partnership to develop a national culture of preparedness.

More information about the Partnerships in Emergency Preparedness workshops, including workshop locations and dates, as well as the workshop agenda, can be found on the workshop page.

Faith-based and Community Initiatives Regional Conferences

The White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives is hosting regional conferences on President Bush's Initiative in cities across the country. The conferences are free but pre-registration is required. Interested representatives from faith-based and community organizations are encouraged to attend.

More information on The White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives regional conference can be found on their Web site.

Sign-up for Information Updates

The DHS CFBCI is building a database of contacts to inform faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) of DHS sponsored programs and initiatives of interest to FBCOs.  If you are interested in joining the database, please send an email to Infofbci@dhs.gov, specifying "Sign Up" in the Subject line and providing in the email text your name, the name of your organization, your email address and your organization's regular street address and phone number.

Donate to Disaster Vicitms

Donate to Disaster Vicitms through Aidmatrix Network. FEMA, the Aidmatrix Foundation and the private sector have partnered to launch a virtual portal to allow individuals, corporations or faith-based and community organizations to offer their support on-line to leading disaster relief organizations. This portal is designed to make it as easy to offer financial support, product donations, or to donate your skills and time to nonprofit organizations active in disaster relief.