A take on President Bush's Faith Based and Community Initiatives

Last week the White House hosted a Conference on Faith Based and Community Initiatives. Sandra Miniutti, Director of External Relations for Charity Navigator attended. Her thoughts are posted at Trent Stamp's Take. Like many, she seems to have mixed feelings about where this will lead.

President Bush's "Faith Based and Community Initiative" has been a topic of discussion among food banks since the beginning of this administration. What does that phrase mean?

I have been working with the South Plains Food Bank in 1991. At that time, it was a matter of policy and pride that we did not accept food or funds from government sources. It's not that way today. Starting in the mid-nineties, theTexas Food Bank Network (formerly the Texas Association of Second Harvest Food Banks) began a discussion with the Texas Department of Human Services about distributing USDA commodities throughout Texas.

It was a logical partnership. Texas Food Banks and our network of agencies serve every county in the state. We offer a natural distribution system that is grass roots and efficient. From our perspective the commodities provided by USDA offered predictable choice of desirable, nutritious food we could offer our agencies to feed the hungry throughout the state. To make this work, the state gave up some control of the system. At the same time food banks developed a new trust and respect of the folks in Special Nutrition Programs at TDHS (now the Texas Health and Human Services Commission). They share our commitment to eliminating hunger. We have a lot better chance of succeeding by working together rather than ignoring one another. The result is the Texas Commodity Assistance Program (TEXCAP) a model partnership that other states have emulated.

A majority of the agencies we partner with are faith based organizations. It is a great partnership and they accept the rules and regulations that come with the territory. I will also say that when we began to distribute commodities some of our faith based agencies stopped working with us because of separation of church and state issues. I respect their integrity. It is a two edged sword.

Are outcomes all that matter? Will faith based groups lose their voice if they accept government funding? Or does government turn a blind eye and allow its resources to be used to advance a particular belief?