|
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
|
Welcome
"This is my hope. This is my prayer."
"The particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us," President Obama said this morning to a crowd of several thousand people gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton in the nation's capital. "Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times."
Working with faith
"Instead of driving us apart, our very beliefs can bring us together," President Obama said yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast.
|
|
|
What's New.....
Free Workshop
Don't Miss This Opportunity!!!
New Orleans Workshops, May 27-28, 2009: VA Faith-Based and Non-Profit Organizations Working Together to Serve Veterans.For more information please (doc) NewOrleansWorkshopFlyer1.pdf . To register: (doc) AgendaandWorkshops4.doc and e-mail your forms to VAFaithBasedCoordinator@va.gov. or call (202) 461-7689 or fax to (202) 273-7624. Please fill out the conference registration form (doc) ConferenceRegistrationForm.doc
HUD Announces $1.6 Billion in CoC Grant Awards: The grants annouced here are being awarded throught HUD's Continuum of Care programs and will approximately 6,300 local homeless assistance projects throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more summary of the grand funding announced today, click here.
HUD is awarding $24 million to create new pilot programs in 23 local communities to rapidly rehouse homeless families with children, which will be critical during these difficult economic times. These local pilot programs (view chart by clicking here) will become the basis of a significantly ex[anded $1.5 billion federal effort, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to offer quick housing assistance to homeless familities and to prevent homelessness among those facing a sudden economic crisis.
Mission Homeless Initiatives : The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking qualified entities for long-term ground lease redevelopment opportunities at five VA campuses nationwide. For additional information about redevelopment opportunitiesat these sites, please visit http://www.va.gov/ASSETMANAGEMENt/MissionHomeless/index.asp
White House
|
|
Background
Faith-based organizations have been a cornerstone of community assistance to those in need throughout America ’s history. Federal policies and regulations have kept them at arms length when it comes to sharing federal social service funds. Though some agency regulations specifically prohibit faith-based organizations from applying for federal funds, the general problem is more subtle - a perception by these groups that their participation is simply not welcome.
Executive Order 13342, (PDF format) signed by President Bush on June 1, 2004, directed that VA establish a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. As a direct result of that, we are working to remove administrative and regulatory barriers and to develop innovative programs and initiatives that foster partnerships between VA and faith-based and community organizations.
Regulatory Guidance (PDF format) - VA Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program final rule for religious organizations: This regulation revises provisions that apply to religious organizations that receive VA funds under VA’s Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program to ensure that VA activities under this program are open to all qualified organizations, regardless of their religious character, to clearly establish the proper uses to which funds may be put, and the conditions for the receipt of such funding. Consistent with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the rule removes the regulatory prohibition against religious organizations making employment decisions on a religious basis.
We hope this website helps faith-based and community organizations learn about the benefits, programs and resources VA offers to help them meet those needs. If you have any questions about VA’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, please contact us by email at VAFBCI@va.gov or by phone at (202) 461-7689.
Mission
The mission of the Center is to coordinate Department of Veterans Affairs efforts to eliminate regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the provision of social and community services to veterans. The Center empowers faith-based and other community organizations to apply for federal social service grants. The Center supplies information and training, but it does not make the decisions about which groups will be funded. Those decisions are made through procedures established by each grant program, generally involving a competitive process. No grant funding is set aside for faith-based organizations. Instead, the Faith-Based and Community Initiative creates a level-playing field for faith-based as well as other community organizations so that they can work with the government to meet the needs of America's communities.
Overview
The aim of the VA FBCI is to engage faith-based and other community-based organizations in VA's mission "To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan." We are committed to helping fulfill President Bush's vision of mobilizing the armies of compassion to strengthen America 's communities.
Faith-based and other grassroots groups are renewing America's communities every day. They provide publicly important services and offer invaluable help to those who need it most.
For this reason, VA seeks to work more closely with and engage faith-based and community organizations to help us serve veterans.
Therefore, the objective of the Center is to incorporate faith-based and other community organizations in VA programs and initiatives to the greatest extent possible.
From our Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program to our Voluntary Service, we have many different opportunities across the country to become involved in the VA and serve veterans. Our opportunities and partnerships to become involved in the VA delivery of veterans service can be accomplished through our 162 VA hospitals, more than 850+ community and facility-based clinics, 43 domiciliaries, 206 Vet Centers, 57 regional offices, and 120 national cemeteries and 33 other cemeterial installations.
For more information, please contact VA’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives:
810 Vermont Avenue, NW, Room 1140
Washington, DC 20420
Phone: (202) 461-7689
E-mail: vafbci@va.gov
White House FBCI Links:
|
