The new issue of Christianity Today includes a profile of the new Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships director, Joshua Dubois. As far as I'm concerned, 2 things jumped out as an improvement over the role of the Faith-Based Office in the last administration: 1) the office will not report directly to the President, but serves under the umbrella of the Domestic Policy Council; and 2) Dubois does not seem overly interested in public relations campaigns using the office.
DuBois defends the office by saying much of its work will be behind the scenes.
"Our job is to communicate the opportunities and to provide technical assistance, like how to write a good application," DuBois said. "We're not necessarily having a press conference every time we move forward."
On another note, "White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships" is kind of a mouthful isn't it? Has anyone come up with decent shorthand? I'm assuming OFF-BANP is not going to gain any traction – doesn't exactly roll off the tongue – but I'm throwing it out there anyway. I'm open to suggestions .
