Giving Second Chances a Try
By Better late blogging about it than never.
Yesterday, President Bush signed a piece of legislation that I actually agree with — the Second Chance Act. The Act authorizes $326 million to local governments and nonprofit groups to fund drug courts, re-entry programs, education, and drug treatment. The bill is meant to help reduce recidivism rates…which is something that is desperately needed.
The only potential downside: the program explicitly allows funding for faith-based groups. Seems to me like it’s a double-edged sword — in many ways, it makes a lot of sense to fund faith-based programs because the church is such a strong center of so many communities of color and it can be a powerful force for good. But because of the Bush administration’s seeming inability to keep faith and government separate, anything that blurs the line makes me nervous.
Still, I’m hopeful.