A White House advisory council on today submitted 164 pages of recommendations on ways the federal government can better partner with faith-based groups in tackling a host of social problems, from poverty to improving interfaith relations.
Still, some of the thorniest issues surrounding public-private partnerships — especially legal questions of discrimination in hiring — remain unsolved after White House officials decided early on they would not be included in the panel’s portfolio.
Administration officials, however, promised that the 25-member panel’s suggestions will not suffer the fate of countless blue-ribbon commissions.
“It won’t just be a document on a shelf,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “I promise you this document will become an active action plan in the Department of Health and Human Services.”
Sebelius, one of several officials who met with the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said she hopes to work with churches and other community organizations on a range of issues, including how to continue free-lunch programs for needy students during school vacations.
The 25 members of the council, which included representatives of national faith-based and secular charities, finished their one-year term with a 164-page report that included more than 60 specific recommendations.
Melissa Rogers, chair of the council, said the diverse panelists were able to reach common ground beyond the “lowest common denominator,” and will remain available as the administration considers how, or if, to implement the recommendations.
“Whether it’s been through press statements, books or sermons, all of us have been trying to tell the government what to do for years,” she said, “but we’ve rarely received a White House invitation to make a list of recommendations.”
President Obama met with council-members in the White House after they concluded their final meeting. New members of the council, who also will have a one-year term, are expected to be named soon.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson told the council that she is open to their recommendations to create faith-based and community-based liaisons in regional EPA offices and to sponsor a public education campaign on the environment.
“We’re taking for granted the fact that people know in this day and age how important it is,” Jackson said. “We probably need to remind them that the abundance we’re fighting to save is their heritage. It is a heritage they got from God.”
The council was formed after President Obama announced in February 2009 that he would revamp, but keep open, the former White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Initiatives that he inherited from President George W. Bush.
Their recommendations came in six different areas, including reform of the renamed White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. They suggest increased guidance so religious organizations use federal funds while respecting the separation of church and state.
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