Faith Based and Community Initiatives
DHR welcomes and deeply appreciates the special people whose open hearts and giving spirits nurture and strengthen individuals and families through effective community based social service programs and countless hours of volunteer service to DHR and the population we serve.
Faith Based and Community Initiatives is a national and state effort to enhance humanitarian partnerships between government and faith-based and community organizations. On January 29, 2001, President George W. Bush created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to help the Federal Government coordinate a national effort to expand opportunities for faith-based and other community organizations.
On June 22, 2004 Alabama Governor Bob Riley created the Governor’s Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives (which absorbed the previous Office of National and Community Service) to foster the growth of faith-based and community initiatives by working with the network of programs that are available in the state agencies affected by the Charitable Choice provision of the federal welfare reform law. Refer to the Web site ServeAlabama.gov for more information about the Governor’s Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives and to the Web page about Executive Order 21 that formed this office.
The Department of Human Resources (DHR), Family Assistance Division (FAD), administers Alabama’s Welfare Reform Program. This program is funded by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) federal block grant to Alabama. The FAD adheres to Charitable Choice provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 applicable to the TANF Program. These provisions clarify State authority to use religious organizations to provide services that help families achieve self-sufficiency under the TANF funded program. In addition, there are many other statutes and programs that encourage faith-based opportunities to help DHR consumers. For more information about ways your organization can help DHR to help others, see the quick links below for other DHR programs that work with faith and community-based organizations with contact information for each program area listed.
One of the purposes of the DHR Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (FBCI) is to provide comprehensive information about the national and state level faith-based and community initiatives. The DHR FBCI Resource Center was developed to further these general goals and to provide more specific resources to assist faith based and community organizations to assess readiness and capacity to collaborate, design, implement, and administer government funded social services programs.