Partnerships Blog
Upcoming Advisory Council Meetings
Posted by on February 9, 2010 at 2:35 PM ESTFriends,
The following notice was submitted to the Federal Register. The posting may be delayed because the Federal Government is closed due to weather.
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4154-07DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
President's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood PartnershipsIn accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), the President's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships announces the following
meetings:Name: President's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Council Meetings
Times and Dates: Thursday, February 25th, 4-6pm EST and Friday, February 26th from 2-4pm ESTPlace: Meetings will be held via conference call. The dial-in number for both calls is: 800-857-8628, Passcode 9789555. Please contact Mara Vanderslice to RSVP for the call: mvanderslice@who.eop.gov.
Status: Open to the public, limited only by lines available.
Purpose: The Council brings together leaders and experts in fields related to the work of faith-based and neighborhood organizations in order to: Identify best practices and successful modes of delivering social services; evaluate the need for improvements in the implementation and coordination of public policies relating to faith- based and other neighborhood organizations; and make recommendations for changes in policies, programs, and practices.
Contact Person for Additional Information: Please contact Mara Vanderslice for any additional information about the Advisory Council conference call at mvanderslice@who.eop.gov.
Agenda: Topics to be discussed include deliberations on reports from the Council’s six Taskforces: Economic Recovery and Domestic Poverty, Reform of the Office, Environment and Climate Change, Inter-Religious Cooperation, Fatherhood and Healthy Families and Global Poverty and Development. For copies of these reports, please contact Mara Vanderslice at mvanderslice@who.eop.gov.
Public Comment: There will be an opportunity for public comment at the end of the conference call.
Exceptional Circumstances Justifying Late Notice: This notice may be published in the Federal Register less than 15 calendar days prior, due to exceptional circumstances. The Federal Government was closed due to inclement weather and therefore publication of this notice could be delayed.
Dated: Feb. 8th, 2010
Mara L. Vanderslice,
Special AssistantBILLING CODE 4154-07
Final Vote Tallies on Non-Consensus Reform Report Issues
Posted by on February 8, 2010 at 4:26 PM ESTFriends, please find below an update from the chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Melissa Rogers:
Final Vote Tallies on Non-Consensus Reform Report Issues
We would like to announce the final tallies of the Advisory Council votes on the non-consensus Reform Report issues. Those tallies are listed below, with the votes favoring each option listed under the relevant answer.
Please note that subsequent to the post on February 4, Council member Diane Baillargeon changed her votes from abstentions on both questions to the answers reflected below.
Please contact us if you have any questions about these issues. Thank you for your interest in the work of the Advisory Council.
1. Should the government allow nongovernmental providers of federally funded social services to provide those services in rooms that contain religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols?
a. No. Amend existing regulations, guidance, and an executive order to permit nongovernmental organizations to offer federally funded programming only in areas devoid of religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols.
2 votes – Fred Davie and Nancy Ratzan
b.Amend existing regulations, guidance, and an executive order to allow federally funded programming in areas with these religious items only when there is no available space in the organizations’ offices without these items and when removing or covering such displays would be infeasible (e.g., where it would take great effort to remove or cover a religious icon mounted high on a wall or remove or cover a large statute). If these measures are not feasible and beneficiaries object to the presence of such symbols, beneficiaries must have access to an alternative provider to which they do not object. (See Reform Report Recommendation 10: Assure the Religious Liberty Rights of the Clients and Beneficiaries of Federally Funded Programs by Strengthening Appropriate Protections, pages 27-29.)
7 votes – Anju Bhargava, Peg Chemberlin, Harry Knox, Eboo Patel, David Saperstein, Bill Shaw, and Sharon Watkins
c. Yes. Neither require nor encourage the removal of religious symbols where services subsidized by federal grant or contact funds are provided, but instead encourage all providers to be sensitive to, and to accommodate where feasible, those beneficiaries who may object to the presence of religious symbols. If these voluntary measures do not meet the objections of the beneficiaries, those beneficiaries must have access to an alternative provider to which they do not object. (See Reform Report Recommendation 10: Assure the Religious Liberty Rights of the Clients and Beneficiaries of Federally Funded Programs by Strengthening Appropriate Protections, pages 27-29 of the Reform Report.)
16 votes – Diane Baillargeon, Charles Blake, Noel Castellanos, Arturo Chavez, Nathan Diament, Joel Hunter, Vashti McKenzie, Dalia Mogahed, Otis Moss, Frank Page, Anthony Picarello, Melissa Rogers, Richard Stearns, Larry Snyder, Judy Vredenburgh, and Jim Wallis
2. Should the government require houses of worship to form separate corporations to receive direct federal social service funds?
a. Yes, the government should require houses of worship that wish to receive direct federal social service funds to establish separate corporations as a necessary means for achieving church-state separation and protecting religious autonomy, while also urging states to reduce any unnecessary administrative costs and burdens associated with attaining this status.
13 votes -- Diane Baillargeon, Anju Bhargava, Charles Blake, Fred Davie, Harry Knox, Vashti McKenzie, Otis Moss, Nancy Ratzan, Melissa Rogers, David Saperstein, Bill Shaw, Jim Wallis, and Sharon Watkins
b. No, the government should not require separate incorporation, because it is not always the best means to achieve these goals, and because it may be prohibitively costly and onerous, particularly for smaller organizations, resulting in the disruption and deterrence of effective and constitutionally permissible relationships.
12 votes – Noel Castellanos, Arturo Chavez, Peg Chemberlin, Nathan Diament, Joel Hunter, Dalia Mogahed, Frank Page, Eboo Patel, Anthony Picarello, Larry Snyder, Richard Stearns, and Judy Vredenburgh
Melissa Rogers is the chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Votes on the Non-Consensus Reform Report Issues
Posted by on February 4, 2010 at 4:06 PM ESTDear Colleagues,
I hope you are doing well. We want to provide you with the current tallies of our votes on the non-consensus Reform Report issues, while simultaneously making that information public, consistent with transparency requirements. We still await one Council member’s vote – he is out of the country this week. But all of the other votes are in, and they are listed below. The votes in favor of each answer are listed below the answer. This information is being simultaneously posted on the White House Partnerships Blog.
Please let me know if you have any questions about these issues. We will give you and the public the final vote tallies once we have them. Thanks again for your work.
Best regards,
Melissa
1. Should the government allow nongovernmental providers of federally funded social services to provide those services in rooms that contain religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols?
a. No. Amend existing regulations, guidance, and an executive order to permit nongovernmental organizations to offer federally funded programming only in areas devoid of religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols.
2 votes – Fred Davie and Nancy Ratzan
b.Amend existing regulations, guidance, and an executive order to allow federally funded programming in areas with these religious items only when there is no available space in the organizations’ offices without these items and when removing or covering such displays would be infeasible (e.g., where it would take great effort to remove or cover a religious icon mounted high on a wall or remove or cover a large statute). If these measures are not feasible and beneficiaries object to the presence of such symbols, beneficiaries must have access to an alternative provider to which they do not object. (See Reform Report Recommendation 10: Assure the Religious Liberty Rights of the Clients and Beneficiaries of Federally Funded Programs by Strengthening Appropriate Protections, pages 27-29.)
7 votes – Anju Bhargava, Peg Chemberlin, Harry Knox, Eboo Patel, David Saperstein, Bill Shaw, and Sharon Watkins
c. Yes. Neither require nor encourage the removal of religious symbols where services subsidized by federal grant or contact funds are provided, but instead encourage all providers to be sensitive to, and to accommodate where feasible, those beneficiaries who may object to the presence of religious symbols. If these voluntary measures do not meet the objections of the beneficiaries, those beneficiaries must have access to an alternative provider to which they do not object. (See Reform Report Recommendation 10: Assure the Religious Liberty Rights of the Clients and Beneficiaries of Federally Funded Programs by Strengthening Appropriate Protections, pages 27-29 of the Reform Report.)
14 votes – Charles Blake, Noel Castellanos, Arturo Chavez, Nathan Diament, Joel Hunter, Vashti McKenzie, Dalia Mogahed, Frank Page, Anthony Picarello, Melissa Rogers, Richard Stearns, Larry Snyder, Judy Vredenburgh, and Jim Wallis
1 abstention – Diane Baillargeon
2. Should the government require houses of worship to form separate corporations to receive direct federal social service funds?
a. Yes, the government should require houses of worship that wish to receive direct federal social service funds to establish separate corporations as a necessary means for achieving church-state separation and protecting religious autonomy, while also urging states to reduce any unnecessary administrative costs and burdens associated with attaining this status.
11 votes -- Anju Bhargava, Charles Blake, Fred Davie, Harry Knox, Vashti McKenzie, Nancy Ratzan, Melissa Rogers, David Saperstein, Bill Shaw, Jim Wallis, and Sharon Watkins
b. No, the government should not require separate incorporation, because it is not always the best means to achieve these goals, and because it may be prohibitively costly and onerous, particularly for smaller organizations, resulting in the disruption and deterrence of effective and constitutionally permissible relationships.
12 votes – Noel Castellanos, Arturo Chavez, Peg Chemberlin, Nathan Diament, Joel Hunter, Dalia Mogahed, Frank Page, Eboo Patel, Anthony Picarello, Larry Snyder, Richard Stearns, and Judy Vredenburgh
1 abstention – Diane Baillargeon
Melissa Rogers is the chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
As We Approach the One-Year Anniversary of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships -- An Update
Posted by on February 3, 2010 at 6:14 PM ESTOn February 5, 2009, President Obama launched the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He charged this Office with a specific and critical mission: shifting the focus of the previous initiative from funding to programmatic impact, and helping the federal government partner with faith-based and other nonprofit organizations to better serve all Americans. And over the last year, this Office has done just that. Here's a just brief snapshot of the Office’s work:
- The Office has coordinated President Obama's national fatherhood agenda, implementing strategies to address the challenge of father absence in communities across the country.
- It has built partnerships between federal agencies and local nonprofits on a range of key issues, from making sure that faith-based organizations can respond to the H1N1 crisis to ensuring that these groups are a part of the government's disaster response efforts.
- It has brought people together across religious lines, working with groups on over 4,000 interfaith service projects this summer, organizing a new President's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships of some of the top faith and community leaders in the country, and helping to lead the Administration's efforts on interfaith cooperation abroad.
- It has worked to help local organizations to respond to the economic crisis, from implementing foreclosure prevention programs to strengthening nonprofit capacity building.
Each of these and the many other priorities of the faith-based office are central to President Obama’s vision for our country. The President realizes that government programs alone cannot solve all of our problems, and that only by connecting with individuals, families, and community- and faith-based organizations across the country will we address our most pressing challenges. The White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships is working to form those partnerships every day, on behalf individuals, families and communities.
To following the ongoing work of the faith-based office, just visit www.whitehouse.gov/partnerships.
Joshua DuBois is the Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Voting on Important Issues
Posted by on February 3, 2010 at 9:54 AM ESTFriends,
The President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships is nearing the end of its first year of work. On January 28th, the chair of the Council, Melissa Rogers, informed the Council of procedures for voting on a few of the issues related to the Council’s work.
You can find Melissa’s email below. Her follow-up emails to individual Council members as well as responses from those members are made available to the public as well. For more information, write whpartnerships@who.eop.gov.
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you for your hard work on the Council report. We are exceedingly close to the finish line, and I’m looking forward to seeing you in Washington in February.
This note is to let you know that I’ll be sending you an email soon to ask for your views on two issues about which the Reform of the Office Taskforce members disagree. Those questions and possible answers (as drawn from the text of the Reform Report – see attached for latest draft) are:
1. Should the government allow nongovernmental providers of federally funded social services to provide those services in rooms that contain religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols?
a. No. Amend existing regulations, guidance, and an executive order to permit nongovernmental organizations to offer federally funded programming only in areas devoid of religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols.
b. Amend existing regulations, guidance, and an executive order to allow federally funded programming in areas with these religious items only when there is no available space in the organizations’ offices without these items and when removing or covering such displays would be infeasible (e.g., where it would take great effort to remove or cover a religious icon mounted high on a wall or remove or cover a large statute). If these measures are not feasible and beneficiaries object to the presence of such symbols, beneficiaries must have access to an alternative provider to which they do not object. (See Reform Report Recommendation 10: Assure the Religious Liberty Rights of the Clients and Beneficiaries of Federally Funded Programs by Strengthening Appropriate Protections, pages 27-29.)
c. Yes. Neither require nor encourage the removal of religious symbols where services subsidized by federal grant or contact funds are provided, but instead encourage all providers to be sensitive to, and to accommodate where feasible, those beneficiaries who may object to the presence of religious symbols. If these voluntary measures do not meet the objections of the beneficiaries, those beneficiaries must have access to an alternative provider to which they do not object. (See Reform Report Recommendation 10: Assure the Religious Liberty Rights of the Clients and Beneficiaries of Federally Funded Programs by Strengthening Appropriate Protections, pages 27-29 of the Reform Report.)
2. Should the government require houses of worship to form separate corporations to receive direct federal social service funds?
a. Yes, the government should require houses of worship that wish to receive direct federal social service funds to establish separate corporations as a necessary means for achieving church-state separation and protecting religious autonomy, while also urging states to reduce any unnecessary administrative costs and burdens associated with attaining this status.b. No, the government should not require separate incorporation, because it is not always the best means to achieve these goals, and because it may be prohibitively costly and onerous, particularly for smaller organizations, resulting in the disruption and deterrence of effective and constitutionally permissible relationships.
In my email, I will ask you to give me your answers to these questions, telling me which option you choose for each question. In addition to choosing one of these possible answers, you may abstain from answering one or both of these questions if you wish.
The purpose of my email communication with you will be to get your views on these issues, not to lobby you in any way. Because I will not want to risk seeming to emphasize one side of the arguments over others, I’ll be reluctant to discuss these issues with you at that time. With that in mind, let me invite you to participate in the final meeting of the Reform of the Office Taskforce at 9:30am (ET) on Friday, January 29. I’d also urge you to read the most recent version of the Reform report (see attached). The arguments on both (or all) sides of these issues are set forth there. (See Reform Report Recommendation 6: Equally Emphasize Separation Requirements and Protections for Religious Identity, pages 16-19, and Reform Report Recommendation 12: Promote Other Means of Protecting Religious Liberty in the Delivery of Government-Funded Social Services, pages 31-38.) Also, feel free to contact one or more members of the Reform Taskforce for their views and for an explanation of the issues in preparation for our email exchange. The list of the members of that taskforce and their telephone numbers appears below.Once I’ve spoken with all Council members on these issues, I’ll determine which view is the majority position on these issues and which view(s) are the minority positions, and we’ll describe the views accordingly in our report. Both majority and minority views will be described in the text of the report.
We won’t list Council members’ names and the specific positions each of us takes on these issues in the body of the report, but that information will be included in the footnotes or an appendix to the report. You should also know that the email you send back to me will go into a file that can be requested by members of the public.
I expect to send you the email requesting your answers to these two questions on Friday, January 29. Please respond to my email as soon as you can and certainly not later than close of business on Monday, February 1. As you know, we plan to vote on the report during our Council call on Tuesday, February 2. We’ll need to have a sense of the majority and minority views by Monday at the latest so that we can make the necessary revisions to the Reform report before that call.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. Thank you for the honor and pleasure of working with you.
Best regards,Melissa
Learn more about Additional IssuesFaith Communities and HHS Participate in National Influenza Vaccination Week
Posted by on January 26, 2010 at 6:18 PM ESTDepartment of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius helped to launch National Influenza Vaccination Week on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by speaking about vaccine safety at the historic 19th Street Baptist Church. Delivering her message from the podium, the Secretary encouraged the entire congregation and all Americans to stay healthy this flu season by getting vaccinated for both the seasonal and H1N1 flu.
Rev. Derrick Harkins, pastor of 19th Street Baptist Church, gets his H1N1 shot from HHS’ Dr. Garth Graham in Washington, DC on January 17, 2010.
Nineteenth Street Baptist is one of the oldest African-American churches in the District of Columbia (D.C.). Both HHS and the White House were proud to partner with its pastor Dr. Derrick Harkins and their health ministry to support National Influenza Vaccination Week. The campaign was established to help remind Americans of the continued importance of vaccination, and vaccine safety.
The very next Sunday, January 17, 2010 the congregants of 19th Street Baptist Church celebrated MLK Day by sponsoring an H1N1 vaccination clinic for the entire community. In partnership with the HHS Center for Faith-based & Neighborhood Partnerships (the ‘Partnership Center’), the clinic was administered by the D.C. Department of Health and by Dr. Garth Graham, HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health. Led by Reverend Harkins—who was one of the first individuals to be vaccinated—nearly 200 members of the congregation and surrounding community received their H1N1 vaccination.
The HHS Partnership Center also accompanied Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin to Detroit, Michigan, and helped coordinate meetings with local community and faith based leaders on H1N1 vaccine safety. On Wednesday, January 13, 2010, Dr. Benjamin and HHS Partnership staff visited 2nd Ebenezer Church—which was hosting its second H1N1 vaccine clinic—and spoke with faith-based and community leaders about vaccine safety. The Surgeon General commended 2nd Ebenezer and the community for its leadership.
It is not too late to get vaccinated so find flu vaccine near you or learn more about how faith-based and neighborhood organizations can help keep their communities healthy during flu season.
Ben O'Dell is Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
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