As Director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA), I launched and managed outreach efforts with corporations and faith and community-based organizations. As a Republican, we are often accused of not supporting government programs to help our citizens. It's not that we don't care about those in need--we in fact care a great deal. We just don't believe government is always the most effective solution.
When people were in need a hundred years ago, it was our families, our churches and our communities that were our social safety net. Families, churches and communities met needs and provided solutions. Over the years, we, as a nation, moved away from helping each other and somehow got to the point that we believe government should provide support for citizens facing difficulties.
In these economically challenging times, it is even more important that we realize government is not the best solution for meeting needs. As Governor, I will continue my experience of leveraging limited resources by partnering with faith and community-based organizations and seeking corporate partnerships. These anchor institutions in our communities, those whose very mission is to serve persons in need, are ready, willing and able to address many of our social challenges.
The outreach opportunities described below that minister to the needs of others will not involve proselytizing or advocating one faith over another. Instead, they will engage interested, compassionate volunteers and corporations to partner with state government in assisting the citizens of Alabama.
Disaster Response: Having personally been through six hurricanes and one tornado, I have witnessed first-hand the tremendous outpouring of support of our faith community and corporate partners. After Hurricane Katrina, I saw a tragedy as great as the one left by the storm. Hundreds of volunteers—ready to help hurting people—arrived at the coast to serve at the same place at the same time, but found nothing to do. Many of these underutilized resources were volunteers who came from faith-based communities across the country. They had taken a week off of work or school, travelled hours or days in church buses and slept on the floors of area churches--resulting in an enormous missed opportunity to take advantage of the outpouring of compassion. I believe there is an opportunity to maximize this great desire of people to help others by coordinating the response effort with the faith community and corporate teams. A state-led effort will fully utilize manpower by distributing volunteers across all areas of need, which will in turn more effectively meet critical needs.
Mentoring and Private Partnering with Education: Eighteen months ago, I took over the Mentor Alabama program formerly managed by the Office of the Attorney General. This program currently has more than 10,000 mentors volunteering for over 200 organizations across the state. Mentor Alabama provides free criminal background checks on potential mentors registering to volunteer with mentoring organizations. Background checks, a service that the programs are not able to conduct themselves, protect our children and vulnerable populations from dangerous predators.
Re-entry and Recovery: One of the greatest social challenges facing our society is substance and drug abuse—a contributing factor in 85% of inmates currently incarcerated. Alabama, like most other states, is struggling to maintain the current level of correctional services. Adding additional services to better prepare inmates for release and re-entry into our communities is certainly not an option. The majority of newly-released inmates are in need of substance abuse counseling, finding gainful employment, locating a home and transportation, and finding moral and spiritual support—all elements necessary to reduce the chances of them reoffending and landing back on the taxpayer payroll in prison.
Over a year ago, my agency launched the Community Partnership for Recovery and Renewal (CPR) to engage the faith community in re-entry efforts. This program’s goal is to help break the cycle of recidivism by providing assistance to inmates re-entering our communities. Over 900 people and organizations stepped up to the plate and joined the CPR Network. As Governor, I would not only continue the existing CPR program, but further develop this partnership by encouraging faith-based organizations to adopt a “Celebrate Recovery” or similar recovery and support program for their communities. In addition to the substance abuse programs, Celebrate Recovery offers support for other emotional needs, as well, such as loss of a loved one, terminal illness, divorce and loss of employment.
Senior Outreach: Thanks to the advancement of medical knowledge and healthcare, our aging populations are living longer, more productive lives than generations before us. Our senior adults are vital members of our communities, bringing a lifetime of experience, wisdom, skills and good work ethic. We have a tremendous opportunity to engage our seniors in mentoring and education assistance to our young people. While many of our seniors are able to remain in their own homes longer, an outreach program through our faith community could meet transportation, shopping or other needs and allow our seniors to enjoy their independent lifestyles for years to come.