HHS mobilizes faith-based groups for response to terrorism

The Washington Redskins recently learned that teamwork and keeping the faith in your program, no matter how loud the critics are, can pull you through the worst of times. It seems that Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson may be taking a page from Coach Marty Schottenheimer's playbook.

Thompson received plenty of internal and external criticism back in March when he launched the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, whose job is to make sure that religious groups get a fair shot at winning government contracts to deliver social services. Some career HHS insiders were nervous that the new center, which is based in the sprawling department and has, according to the White House, the President's full support, would upend current methods of delivering social services. The White House's release in August of a study pointing out where federal departments and agencies, including HHS, had failed to bring in faith-based groups to government programs only heightened these worries.

But Thompson--who as governor of Wisconsin in the mid-'90s led the charge, along with then-Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, for allying government with faith-based and community groups--dismissed the fears and vowed to move forward with his plan to get religious and community groups more involved in the alleviation of social ills. And on Wednesday in New York City, the HHS head coach put his unified team on display for the country to see.

Thompson convened this week's national summit--"When Terror Strikes: Responding to the Nation's Mental Health and Substance Abuse Needs"--to bring together health care professionals, government emergency preparedness agencies, and, significantly, members of the faith-based community. Its goal is to address the mental-health needs of people during the war on terrorism.

Until September 11, the Administration fought mainly to ensure that faith-based groups providing human services had equal access to government funds. At this summit, faith-based groups have become part of the national discussion on how to help the nation cope with the new war.

One plenary session at the summit is dedicated to discussing the ways state and local governments have already incorporated faith-based groups into their emergency response teams. Participants hope to devise mechanisms at the national level that will improve interaction among faith-based charities, government, and nonreligious charities when the next emergency arises.

Mark Weber, communications director for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which sponsored the summit, notes that the one thing his agency learned during the presummit discussions was that faith-based and community agencies had been "tripping all over each other," and all over other government agencies, when trying to help in times of crisis. The agenda for this conference, he said, was to make sure this doesn't happen again. "We're trying to get a little bit ahead of what's coming, and to prepare for any future terrorist attacks."

The summit is also looking at the long-term impact of terrorist attacks on individuals, communities, and the first-responders themselves. "A lot of the models we have are based on singular events," said Weber. "Oklahoma City was a day. Yet five years later, we still have firefighters showing up in mental health centers with problems." Multiply that effect by the vast number of people directly affected by the September 11 attacks, Weber says, and you can begin to understand the seriousness and scope of the problem.

Thompson has said that government can't handle this crisis alone. Long after the government's disaster teams and aid workers have left New York City and the Pentagon, the churches, synagogues, and mosques will be there to help people pick up and carry on with their lives. How government can help that assistance be more effective is one of the topics being discussed at the summit.

Sitting alongside the representatives from faith groups at the summit will be secular mental-health providers. In the past, many of these providers, such as the National Association of Social Workers Inc., have loudly and defiantly challenged the notion that faith-based groups should play a significant part in service delivery. But a lot has changed since September 11.

"This is a chance for faith-based groups to shine through in partnership," Weber said. Elizabeth Seale-Scott, head of the faith-based office in HHS, adds that the summit is an opportunity for the religious community to reach out to government within the context of September 11. This meeting, she says, "gives [religious groups] the platform to interact with public officials and agencies to address specific needs and concerns."

Vexing issues--such as church-state separation and the criteria for awarding government funds to faith-based agencies--will undoubtedly rear their heads again. But for now, those issues are of less importance than how faith-based programs can continue helping Americans bounce back from the events of 9/11.