Public Policy Initiatives

In addition to providing training and technical assistance to neighborhood-based organizations, the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise documents their experiences and presents these findings to inform public policy.

One of the first public policy initiatives undertaken by the Center was the issue of resident management of public housing. CNE saw that there were leadership strengths among public housing residents, and responded to their desire to take responsibility for management of their developments. The Center helped establish a successful pilot resident management program, and then assisted residents in taking the results to the U.S. Congress, including commissioning a cost/benefit analysis by Coopers/Lybrand. In 1987 the Congress almost unanimously passed amendments to the U.S. Housing Act to allow resident management and ownership of public housing.

In 1995, CNE responded to a request of then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich to assemble grassroots leaders to elicit their ideas about how to reform the welfare system. CNE convened some 30 leaders of the most effective faith-based and community organizations from around the country to get their views not only on welfare reform but other policies regarding the government’s programs for low-income people. The Grassroots Alternatives for Public Policy (GAPP) Neighborhood Leadership Task Force presented its findings to the 104^th U.S. Congress, and a number of its recommendations were enacted into law, including rules limiting welfare dependency, Charitable Choice, the Community Solutions Act, and Individual Development Accounts. The Center also was asked by the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin legislatures to review and make recommendations on public policies in those states, and state-level GAPP task forces were facilitated by CNE.

In 2004, the Center learned that participants in faith-based substance abuse programs who were otherwise eligible were suddenly being denied Food Stamps. Assisted by the prestigious law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld which provided extensive services on a pro bono basis, the Center together with Teen Challenge USA mobilized an effort that eventually succeeded in a reversal of that policy in 2005. In 2006, CNE and Teen Challenge began mounting an information campaign to educate policymakers about the facts and benefits of the Access To Recovery substance abuse recovery voucher program, which offers individuals in need of recovery services a choice among faith-based recovery programs as well as traditional providers, and expands the range of services available. This effort continues in 2007.