![](media/image1.png){width="2.0in"
height="1.0756944444444445in"}Frequently Asked Questions\
SBA and the President's Faith-Based\
and Community Initiative

**SBA and the President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative:
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers**

> ***Why did President Bush launch the Faith-Based and Community
> Initiative?***
>
> President Bush knows that faith-based and other community
> organizations have long been performing a critical service by helping
> people in need. Unfortunately, though the Federal government spends
> billions of dollars yearly for social service programs, faith-based
> and community groups have found it difficult to provide
> Federally-funded services. President Bush believes that faith-based
> and other community organizations should be able to compete on an
> equal footing to provide these services. To facilitate the involvement
> of such organizations in Federal programs within constitutional
> parameters, the President launched the Faith-Based and Community
> Initiative. In 2001, he issued Executive Orders creating the White
> House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and five Centers
> for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the Departments of
> Justice, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services and Housing and
> Urban Development. Two more Centers were created in 2002 at
> Agriculture and the Agency for International Development and three
> more were created in 2004 at the Small Business Administration and the
> Departments of Commerce and Veterans Affairs. Each of the ten Centers
> is administered by a Center Director who works closely with the White
> House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
>
> ***What are the ten Centers for the Faith-Based and Community
> Initiative trying to accomplish?***
>
> The Centers have three main goals:

-   Coordinate agency efforts to eliminate regulatory, contracting and
    other programmatic obstacles to the participation of faith-based and
    other community organizations in the provision of social and
    community services.

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-   Reach out to faith-based and community organizations to assist them
    in identifying Federal resources and educate them on partnering with
    government; and

-   Provide agency sources for technical assistance to faith-based and
    community organizations designed to expand their capacity to help
    the needy.

> ***How does SBA fit into the overall Faith-Based and Community
> Initiative?***
>
> The SBA is the leading government agency established to help small
> business. It does this through loan guarantees, technical assistance
> and counseling. It also provides disaster loans and federal
> contracting assistance.
>
> In recent years, faith-based and community organizations have
> increasingly emphasized economic and community development. SBA and
> its resource partners offer a wide range of financial and technical
> assistance programs that may help faith-based and community
> organizations better serve their communities.
>
> These programs can help accomplish two goals:

-   Give faith-based and community organizations the knowledge base they
    need to help people in their communities start or expand their own
    small businesses---businesses that will open new opportunities for
    them and for everyone in their communities; and

-   Help these organizations instruct people in their communities on how
    to obtain credit with which to launch or expand their own
    enterprises.

> ***Does SBA guarantee loans and award grants to faith-based and
> community organizations?***
>
> In general, the SBA does not guarantee loans made to non-profit
> organizations. A business must operate for profit to be eligible for
> an SBA guarantee loan. (SBA Physical Disaster Loans are the only
> exception, where loans may be made to non-profits.) Thus, charitable,
> faith-based, and other non-profit organizations are generally not
> eligible. However, SBA may, and does, provide loan guarantees to
> intermediary loan institutions that are themselves non-profit
> organizations, including faith-based and community organizations
> (e.g., credit unions, certified development companies and
> micro-lenders). These intermediary loan institutions, in turn, make
> loans to for-profit small businesses.
>
> SBA---the smallest Federal agency involved in the President's
> Initiative---has only a few grant programs compared to other Federal
> agencies participating in the Initiative. SBA grant programs are
> generally designed to help organizations that provide small businesses
> with management, technical and financial assistance. Faith-based and
> community organizations have successfully competed for funding under
> these programs. Some of SBA's competitive grant programs have resulted
> in awards to Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) at non-profit
> educational institutions to develop programs for small businesses and
> new entrepreneurs; participating non-profit micro-lenders to assist
> micro-borrowers develop business skills; and non-profit
> community-based Women's Business Centers (WBC) to provide training to
> women business owners and entrepreneurs.
>
> ***How can SBA's efforts to partner with faith-based and community
> organizations help state and local governments promote economic
> development?***
>
> In recent years, governors and mayors have placed considerable
> emphasis on attracting large corporations to cities, especially
> inner-cities, as a means of promoting economic development. This
> approach, while important and necessary, is often
> insufficient---especially when many large corporations are down-sizing
> or out-sourcing. That is why economic development and job creation
> must also take place at the grassroots level in city neighborhoods and
> must be spearheaded by both established and start-up small businesses.
> Unfortunately, many of these small businesses lack sufficient capital
> and the knowledge to put together a good business plan. Working
> together with faith-based and other community organizations, SBA can
> help provide the necessary technical and financial assistance to the
> entrepreneurs and small businesses that bring jobs and hope to
> economically distressed communities all across our Nation.
>
> ***How do faith-based and community organizations partner with the SBA
> to promote community economic development?***
>
> SBA has sixty-eight District Offices located across the United States.
> All of these District Offices are committed to advancing the
> President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative by working with local
> faith-based and community organizations and will know how best to
> address your organization's needs. To find the SBA District Office
> nearest you, visit our website at [www.sba.gov](http://www.sba.gov/),
> or call the SBA Center for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative at
> (202) 205-7316.

All SBA's programs and services are provided on a nondiscriminatory
basis.