Three executive orders have created centers for the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in many federal agencies. Booklets have been published which provide guidance to faith-based groups on how to get federal funding, and the government has held a series of educational conferences and a catalog of grant opportunities. Recently, both USAID and HUD published final rules implementing a policy ensuring that faith-based organizations are able to compete on equal footing with other organizations for funding. So why has funding for faith-based organizations in the social service system at the state and local levels deteriorated recently? A new report by the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy details the funding problems of the "Faith-Based Initiative." The report addresses the question of how underlying, long-term fiscal trends are affecting the availability of public funding of services delivered primarily by congregations and congregation-based social service organizations. State and local governments currently lack adequate resources to expand their social service programs to include new grantees that traditionally do not provide social services. It is possible that some states will reduce contracts with secular nonprofits and transfer funding to the faith-based organization. Successful funding of faith-based organizations requires both substantial and sustainable growth in fiscal resources at the state and local levels and a desire to fund social service programs. It may be some time before state and local funding levels rebound to what they were before the economic slowdown. At the federal level, funding cuts and other programs and issues are making the environment for funding more competitive. With the economy still struggling, a continued decline in domestic discretionary funding and social service programs in general will continue to plague the Faith-Based Initiative. Additionally, current military obligations and a growing federal deficit will make it less likely spending on social service programs will increase in the near future. However, it is not just funding priorities that suggest a de-emphasis on the Faith-Based Initiative. The Bush administration stated, "The federal government must restrain the growth of any spending not directly associated with the security of the nation." The majority of the nation's social service programs are not involved in the physical security of our nation -- but instead the personal security of individuals -- providing much needed food, shelter and childcare services. Most of these programs are low priority for the Bush administration, which has proposed policies to push responsibility for them onto the states through conversion of funding to block grants or vouchers. The Bush administration exalts the Faith-Based and Community Initiative as a "bold new approach to government's role in helping those in need," and that "government has ignored or impeded the efforts of faith-based and community organizations." Many Americans find arguments in favor of faith-based funding to be compelling, and a strong majority acknowledges the contributions churches, synagogues and other religious groups make to society. Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) cite the care and compassion of religious workers as an important reason for supporting the concept of faith-based groups receiving government funding. This reflects a public recognition of the strong connection between religious practice and social service. However, from the beginning, the president's program contained little, if any, new money. The administration aggressively pushes a faith-based agenda, but as corporate tax cuts grow larger and the war in Iraq drags on, the funding of social service programs -- federal, state and local -- declines. This pits the current providers against a raft of new faith-based providers for the crumbs from an increasingly small sliver of federal funding for human needs. Read more.