Been Such a Long Time

In the estimable words of Journey, "It has been such a long time [since I posted in my blog]".

Daily words of wisdom:
If you come to work clean shaven, with a new hair cut, and a new shirt and your co-workers compliment you a lot that day, you have probably come to work very disheveled a lot in the recent past.

And now, more reasons for you to get married, brought to you by the Bush Administration:

(from the Foundation Center Email Listserv)
(5) Faith-Based Grants Awarded to Groups Promoting Marriage

As a result of the Bush administration's re-energized faith-based initiative, a number nonprofit groups have received grants from the Department of Health and Human Services ( http://www.hhs.gov/ ) to promote and strengthen marriage, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

In December, President Bush signed an executive order directing federal agencies to treat funding proposals from faith-based nonprofits as they would requests from secular groups -- a move designed to give faith-based social-service providers a better chance at securing government funding. At the same time, the president's order stipulated that federal funding awarded to such groups could not be used to "directly support inherently religious activities" -- a concession to members of Congress concerned that faith-based groups might use government funding to proselytize, thereby violating the constitutional separation of church and state.

Earlier this month, HHS secretary Tommy Thompson announced grants totaling more than $2.2 million to a variety of religious, nonprofit, and tribal organizations in a dozen states, including $200,000 to the Marriage Coalition, a Cleveland Heights, Ohio-based nonprofit, to test a curriculum over the next eighteen months for poor single parents that emphasizes the value of marriage and child support. The organization, which describes itself as an
"inter-religious group of clergy, mental health professionals, and individuals," eventually hopes to make the curriculum available nationwide.

"We have no official relationship with a religious community," said Sandra Bender, a clinical psychologist and marriage counselor who is executive director of the Marriage Coalition. "We are primarily providing skills for relationships. We want people to have the confidence and the skills that they can do it without just urging people that they can get married."

Other recent marriage-focused grants from HHS include $177,373 to Community Services for Children Inc., an Allentown, Pennsylvania, group that works with church groups to provide marriage education and other services to unwed couples, and $200,000 to the Alabama Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, which works to help poor single parents learn marital skills, improve their employment prospects, and increase child support payments.

"Faith-Based Grant Goes to Group in Cleveland Heights." Cleveland Plain Dealer 1/03/03.

Related News:
President Issues Executive Order on Faith-Based Initiative (12/13/02)