Governor Bentley Changes Name Of State Agency
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: May 25, 2012
Governor Robert Bentley on Thursday signed an Executive Order changing the name of the Governor's Office of Faith-Based
and Community Initiatives to Serve Alabama: The Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Volunteer Service, to better reflect the agency's role and to clearly state its mission. The Governor was joined
by Serve Alabama's director, staff, commissioners and program partners as he signed Executive Order 30.
As
Serve Alabama, the agency better reflects the role as the state's
partner with non-government volunteer and non-profit groups serving
in Alabama communities.
"Serve
Alabama is a term that really reflects the actions of our fellow
Alabamians,"
said Jon Mason, Director of Serve Alabama. "We serve each other in so
many ways. This was very evident in the wake of last year's storms.
Serve Alabama is here to be a state partner to the many groups that
serve Alabamians every day. We also hope the name
will encourage others to considering serving their community or
neighbors in a new way."
Serve
Alabama's duties include targeted work with faith-based organizations
to ensure a level playing field for government funding; management of
state Citizen
Corps and Ready Alabama, community-based disaster preparedness programs;
state level coordination of volunteers and donations during disasters;
and continued oversight of the AmeriCorps State national service
program.
Serve
Alabama manages ten state AmeriCorps programs bringing in nearly
$4,000,000 in federal funds to the local programs. These AmeriCorps
programs are implemented by local/statewide non-profit organizations
through grants.
Serve
Alabama also continues to work on long term recovery from the April
2011 tornadoes. The agency manages a $12.9 million dollar FEMA
disaster case management grant, benefitting storm survivors. Serve
Alabama is the lead agency for the state in Volunteer and Donations
management during disaster response and recovery. The agency worked with
faith-based and community-based groups to coordinate
volunteer response and state donations after the April 2011 tornadoes.
In the past, Serve Alabama worked in the same role for Hurricanes
Ivan and Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon spill.
"Serve
Alabama plays such a vital role for our state and our citizens," said
Governor Bentley. "Much of the work they do is behind the
scenes, and often goes unnoticed. I commend Serve Alabama for what they
do in managing the volunteer services offered to our state and for the
work they continue to do in the long term recovery of storm survivors."
Beginning
with the passage of the National and Community Service Act of 1993,
which established governor appointed State Service Commissions in every
state,
through the reauthorization of the Serve America Act in 2009, Serve
Alabama, has fostered the expansion of community-based volunteerism and
national service programs throughout the State of Alabama for nearly
twenty years.
The
name change is also a recommendation from the Tornado Recovery Action
Council (TRAC). Serve Alabama will continue to include the use of
faith-based and volunteer terms as an official part of the agency name,
recognizing the groups the agency serves.
Serve
Alabama also serves as the administrative agency for the Governor's
Emergency Relief Fund, a disaster recovery fund of "last resort" for
survivors of the April 2011 Alabama tornadoes.
