June 7, 2004

President Bush signed an Executive Order June 2 creating three new additional Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in three Federal agencies — the Department of Commerce, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Small Business Administration. These three new Centers will have the same responsibilities as the other seven Centers created by Bush which include the Departments of Education, Labor (DOL), Justice, Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Agriculture, and in the Agency for International Development (USAID). The purpose of these centers are to help grassroots community and faith-based organizations better navigate and understand the federal funding process, and to coordinate agency efforts to eliminate regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles which impede the participation of faith and community based organizations in the delivery of social services. Bush made the announcement during the White House Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives held in Washington (DC) on the same day.