Article on the Brevard County Faith-Based grant project funded by the US Deparatment of Labor. Note the warning that USDOL is unlikely to have as much competitive grant money available next year for Faith-Based and Community-based activities.

By John McCarthy
FLORIDA TODAY

The man in charge of faith-based and community initiatives for the U.S. Department of Labor saw some of those initiatives in action in Brevard County Thursday.

Of the $17.5 million in grants awarded by the Labor Department this year, the United Way of Brevard County received $500,000 to establish job search centers in local churches.

"This has been a tremendous blessing," said Pastor Vivian Thomas of the Word of Life Center in Titusville, one of the churches participating in the program.

Brevard's program could be a model for the rest of the nation, said Brent Orrell, who flew down from Washington, D.C., on Thursday to see the sites in action. "I'm very impressed with what I see here in Brevard. This is exactly what I had in mind."

The United Way partnered with the Brevard Workforce Development Board to establish mini career-resource centers at 20 churches around the county. The money was used to provide technical assistance, Internet access and resource materials to the churches. In turn, the churches agreed to keep the job search offices open at least 16 hours a week. Many have much longer hours and also provide such services as day-care for children and transportation for people searching for work.

"Here, you access it through church. You get a nurturing environment. They'll watch your kids. They'll drive you to a job interview," said United Way President Rob Rains.

By spreading out such sites around the county, they are more physically accessible to job seekers. More importantly, some say, is many of those job seekers will be more comfortable going to a local church rather than a government agency.

"We find that some people don't feel comfortable going directly to one of our Job-Link sites, said Linda South, executive director of the Brevard Workforce Development Board. "One of the first places people go for help is to their pastor or church family."

President Bush's proposal to use churches and other grass-roots community organizations to help deliver government services was met by a lot of criticism by people who thought it violated the First Amendment principle of separation of church and state.

"It is not nearly as controversial at the local level, though," Orrell said. "The moment has arrived for faith-based and community initiatives. If we are serious about helping people, we have to do it through institutions they are comfortable with."

Orrell warned that there likely won't be as much money for such programs next year. He anticipates that his department will have only about $5 million or $6 million for faith-based and community initiative grants next year.

Rains said many of the churches have said they will continue the programs even without the grant money. He added that the United Way will try to support those efforts with other money.

Orrell said he hopes that programs such as the one in Brevard will flourish in the future. "These types of groups can really strengthen the way we deliver social services."