Tensegrities

First round of faith-based awards

There has been a lot of discussion over the past four years about Bush's faith-based organization initiative. I have been repeatedly critical of the potential to "hook" organizations on government funding, and have also repeatedly pointed out the extent to which many faith-based organizations could already receive funding under the pre-existing agreements. So I'm interested to learn some details of who actually received funding. MemoryHole has put up a list.

In Minnesota it looks like the bulk of the funding went to Lutheran Social Services and to Catholic Charities for work with people who are homeless, and for work with the elderly. I suspect these organizations had already been working with the government on such initiatives. In fact, looking at the lists of other states, I wonder if there are really any organizations on here that wouldn't have gotten money before? In which case, as the Revealer also asks, could this have been yet another "shallow attempt to grab political capital by laying claim to the mantle of piety while avoiding any extra layout of cash"? It certainly looks that way to me. But why should I be surprised?

Posted by hessma at January 8, 2005 12:29 PM