An update from the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy, an independent research
project of the Rockefeller Institute of Government. The public policy research arm of the State
University of New York.

New! Atlanta's Faith Leaders Confront the Sale of Kids for Sex

The facts were ugly, disturbing, and in the words of a major report from the mayor's
office that highlighted them, “Hidden in Plain View”: Atlanta had become a hub for the
commercial sexual exploitation of children – the prostitution, and sometimes
enslavement, of kids. Three of the major corners where illicit activities were initiated sat
at or near the sites of Atlanta churches. But the pastors who preached there and the
congregants who gathered to pray had little knowledge of what went on outside their
doors under the cloak of night. Until a newspaper article in fall of last year highlighted
the 2005 report from the Atlanta Women's Agenda, a project of Mayor Shirley Franklin's
office. The news hit hard at the pulpits of the city's churches, spurred Atlanta's faith-
based community into action early this year, and prompted the launch of an informal but
active partnership between city agencies, religious groups and other nonprofits.

Click here to read more by Roundtable Correspondent Claire Hughes.

New! An Interview with Ethel Ware Carter of the Regional Council
of Churches of Atlanta

Ethel Ware Carter is associate director of the Regional Council of Churches
of Atlanta, where she has been involved over the last several years in a change in the
organization's mission. She works with membership and resource development, the
ecumenical intern program, and a website and weekly e-newsletter of items of interest to
the region's faith community. Before joining the Regional Council three years ago, she
was a community volunteer, particularly in the areas of juvenile justice and child advocacy.

She talked to the Roundtable about how collaboration within the faith community and
with government agencies following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 set the stage for future
partnerships, including in the area of combatting child sexual exploitation.

Click here to read the interview.

New! Final Settlement Reached in Penn Case Targeting Faith-
Based Prison Program

Civil liberties groups and the state of Pennsylvania settled a lawsuit last week that
challenged government funding of a faith-based job training program operating at a
Bradford County jail. The settlement, signed June 5, requires that no federal or state
money be used for inherently religious activities, that tax-funded programs will not
religiously discriminate against program participants, and that the state will monitor the
program activities to ensure there are no violations.

In 2005, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil
Liberties Union sued Bradford County, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and
Delinquency, the U.S. Department of Justice, and The Firm Foundation, a religiously
based rehabilitation program at the Bradford County Correctional Facility that received
state and federal grant money.

The settlement ends the litigation. Bradford County reached a settlement with AU and
the ACLU in April. The federal government and the Firm Foundation were dismissed
from the suit.

Click here to read more by Roundtable Washington Correspondent Anne Farris.

Click here to read the settlement agreement.

Click here for more information through our Resource Page on Faith-Based
Prison Programs.

New! Head Start to Make Grants for Marriage Programs

The federal Head Start early education program will begin offering for the first time
marriage education counseling to the low-income families of Head Start children to help
them with communication skills, decision making, parenting, managing family budgets,
and conflict resolution. Up to 40 first-time grants totaling $8 million to pay for the
counseling were announced last week by the Office of Head Start (OHS) at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Letters of intent to apply for the
marriage counseling grants from Head Start and Early Head Start grantees are due June
19 and applications are due July 19.

For years, HHS has administered a Healthy Marriage Initiative that promotes marriage,
family formation and fatherhood as a means to reduce poverty through the federal 1996
welfare reform legislation and, more recently, through George W. Bush's Faith-Based
and Community Initiative. Now the marriage initiative will be added to the Head Start
program, which provides comprehensive child development services to more than
900,000 preschool children nationwide. According to an annual Head Start report, 56
percent of Head Start families are run by single parents. Head Start also serves 2,219
expectant mothers who are younger than 18-years-old.

Click here for information on the grants.

Event: African American Healthy Marriage Conference, June 19-21

HHS' Administration for Children and Families will host its annual African American
Healthy Marriage Initiative Conference on June 19-21 at the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill. This year's theme is “Healthy People, Healthy Families:
Connecting Marriage Research to Practice.” HHS describes the African American
Healthy Marriage Initiative as an outreach effort to promote and strengthen marriages
within the black community. ACF has partnered with national, civic, faith-based and
community organizations to offer marriage education services to Americans who may not
have such opportunities in their neighborhoods.

The Healthy Marriage Initiative, in all its components, is not without controversy.
Supporters of the initiative say the benefits of marriage include more stabile families,
greater wealth, and a healthier atmosphere for the well-being of children. Opponents
fear that some women will become trapped in abusive or submissive relationships, while
others say marriage is an intensely private matter that should not involve the government.

For more information, click here.

Weekly Digest of Federal Grants with Faith-Based and Community
Organization Eligibility

The grant opportunities this week for community and faith-based organizations are through
programs administered by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services,
Justice, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Potential applicants should be aware that some grant programs require specific technical expertise,
or experience with particular foreign countries.

Click here for the grant digest, compiled by Roundtable Correspondent Allison Sarnoff
with Lisa Montiel.

Roundtable Digest of Current Faith-Based News Stories

Backing victims of abuse
Mohave Daily News (Nevada)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6602

House panel hikes abstinence funding
Baptist Press News (Tennessee)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6600

House panel hikes abstinence funding
Baptist Press News (Tennessee)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6601

Presidential candidates connecting to voters through religion
Tucson Citizen (Arizona)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6561

Group targets liquor sales in stores; Corner hangouts can breed crime, it says
New Orleans Times-Picayune (Louisiana)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6564

Local faith groups to UVM: Build affordable housing
Burlington Free Press (Vermont)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6565

Putting faith in search for rights: Clergy, worshipers join to demand immigration changes
Chicago Tribune (Illinois)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6566

A force against gangs: Dorchester negotiator reaches at-risk youth
Boston Globe (Massachusetts)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6567

Prisons ban certain religious books over terror fears and inmates file lawsuit
The Associated Press

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6572

Pa., civil-liberties groups settle suit over jail program
The Associated Press State & Local Wire

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6573

A Tentative First Step in Addressing Faith and Politics
The New York Times

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6562

Group Envisions Church Patrol
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6568

Pathways founder finds faith as motivating factor
Pensacola News Journal (Florida)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6569

The Care Communities bring more than basics to the terminally ill: Volunteers keep things lively when helping with food, appointments, etc.
Austin American-Statesman (Texas)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6575

Revolving door no more: Turning ex-prisoners' lives around
Herald Times Reporter (Wisconsin)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6576

Volunteers bring water purification systems to Moss Point churches
The Pascagoula Mississippi Press (Mississippi)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6577

Hephzibah House: A faith-based place of restoration
Newton Daily News (Iowa)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6578

L.B. church gives shelter to immigrant
Long Beach Press-Telegram (California)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6570

Prayer can be a powerful weapon; Church mothers formed a support group for relatives of those in the military.
Fresno Bee (California)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6571

New school pitched for at-risk kids: Backers studying charter programs.
Columbia Daily Tribune (Missouri)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6579

Prison makes history with Baptist seminary
Baptist Press News (Tennessee)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6580

Faith Takes a Front Seat in Planning for Flu Pandemic; Religious Groups Explore Responsibilities, Reservations in Managing a Possible Health Crisis
The Washington Post (Washington, DC)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6583

Hearing focuses on role of faith-based groups in combating global warming
San Jose Mercury News (California)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6563

Religious Leaders Label Immigration Bill Anti-Family
EthicsDaily.com

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6574

Clean And Sober: Newly-Formed Coalition To Wage War Against Drugs In Toccoa-Stephens
The Toccoa Record (Georgia)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6585

New Habitat project puts faith into action; Work begins on first of 6 Mandeville houses
New Orleans Times-Picayune (Louisiana)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6586

Cycle of violence; Gangs flourish when youthful hopes die
The Bradenton Herald (Florida)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6587

'I Was Hungry...': Summer food program provides free take-out to needy families
Hardin County News (Texas)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6588

Louisiana lawmakers pledge money for state's food banks
The Shreveport Times (Louisiana)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6589

Just who are the homeless?
Folsom Telegraph (California)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6590

Interfaith Gathering to Focus on Hunger
Religion News Service

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6591

IRS Says Complaints of Church Politicking Up in 2006
Religion News Service

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6593

Faith-Based Programs for Kids Can Work Without Legal Controversies
Ascribe Newswire

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6594

Church groups take on mission project close to home
TriCities.com (Tennessee)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6592

Criminalizing the Homeless
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6584

Weekly Opinion Roundup - 6/12/2007
The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy

The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy promotes informed debate on the issue of publicly funded faith-based social service. Supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Roundtable provides independent, non-partisan research on the scope and scale of faith-based social services, their effectiveness, how public resources are being used in providing such services, and the legal and regulatory issues involved. The Roundtable's comprehensive web site makes this research and related information easily available. It can be accessed by clicking here:

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