Will Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Overlook Black Churches For Secular Organizations?
President Joe Biden signs the Inflation Reduction Act on Aug. 16. Video still courtesy the White House.
(ANALYSIS) This month President Joe Biden signed a new bill into law, the Inflation Reduction Act, aimed at lowering the deficit, reducing inflation, knocking down prescription medicine prices, taxing the profits of large corporations and significantly addressing climate change. At first glance, this legislation does not immediately appear to be a law that intersects much with religious freedom. Yet there are surprising connections worth considering.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court limited the capacity of the Environmental Protection Agency to restrict the use of carbon fuels. The Supreme Court’s reason was that Congress had never granted the EPA the broad ability to divert America’s dependence on fossil fuels toward renewable options. This new landmark climate change legislation, according to lawmakers who drafted the legislation, clarifies that the EPA has the power to limit the emission of fossil fuels and to incentivize American organizations and individuals to move toward sustainable sources of energy.
The new law, according to Biden and congressional Democrats, will reduce energy costs for families and especially marginalized communities, advance creation care and cultivate a flourishing economy where green interests and business interests mutually reinforce one another.
Although not immediately obvious, this new legislation raises important questions for religious, community-based organizations represented by and serving communities impacted by toxic pollution and climate change: Will this legislation proactively include houses of worship and faith-based, place-based organizations in grants and other funding opportunities created? And why does this matter?
The connection between religious freedom and environmental racism
Experts claim that, once executed, the Inflation Reduction Act has the capacity to lower fossil fuel emissions by 40% in the U.S. by the year 2030. Faith-based organizations representing and serving low-income communities and/or people of color could play a pivotal role in bringing to life the goals of this movement. Globally, many distinct faith traditions and their institutions have creation care as affirmative and central tenets of their sacred animating worldviews. For example, as Jewish scholar Tirosh-Samuelson states, “The contribution of Jews to environmentalism is more extensive and the impact of environmentalism on contemporary Judaism is more profound than is commonly acknowledged.” Through the Inflation Reduction Act, faith-based and community-based organizations are eligible for new grant programs that the law will create to address pollution, incentivize the use of clean energy sources and mobilize place-based entities to advance solutions that will benefit the climate.
According to the White House, this legislation will produce “Climate Change and Environmental Justice Block Grants to support community-led projects in disadvantaged communities and address disproportionate environmental and public health harms related to pollution and climate change.” Religious and spiritual organizations can and do play an important role in climate change solutions. According to a report for Aspen Institute’s Religion and Society Program, an estimated 35%-40% of the U.S. nonprofit sector is religious or faith-inspired. That means about 228,000 faith-based nonprofits and congregations are providing social services, strengthening spiritual and civic ties, and strengthening local community ecologies across the United States. As the report shares:
“Despite the headlines about declining religious membership, the landscape of our country is still deeply shaped by personal faith and religious institutions. This is even more true in communities of color, where religion plays an outsized role. 91% of Black and 84% of Latino Americans say religion is important in their lives.”
This is important, as the Inflation Reduction Act acknowledges that environmental harms of climate change disproportionately impact communities of color and communities of lower income. As the Aspen Institute’s recent report notes, it is not uncommon for these marginalized communities to be predominantly served and represented through their faith-based institutions and networks. As the report makes clear, “this is especially true in Black and Brown communities, where faith affiliation rates are higher, specific cultural competencies are essential, and external organizations may be less trusted by community members.” The report, written for philanthropic entities, concludes that given all this information, “faith-inspired organizations may be best positioned to deliver the services funders want to deliver and therefore the ones that should receive grant dollars.” Although this report is written for foundations, individual donors and other funders in the private sector, this insight has value and pertinent for the public sector.
Government grant programs that seek to address the heart of environmental injustices in impacted communities ought to realize that the heart of these communities is often the house of worship or faith-based nonprofit. While on a technical level, the faith-based and place-based organizations are not entirely excluded from applying for the grants created through the Inflation Reduction Act, there remains much misunderstanding and confusion, particularly among faith-based organizations representing predominantly non-White communities, about whether they are free to apply for government funding given their religious status.
A broader but related concern was recently expressed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. In early August, before the bill was officially signed into law, McConnell raised concerns that grant funds created under the bill would benefit predominantly progressive, secular nonprofits with a history of working on climate change. This legislation, through the EPA, will administer approximately $2.8 billion through the environmental and climate justice block grants to community-based organizations and other entities, such as tribal governments. According to the Washington Examiner, this grant funding would be accessible to organizations that “benefit ‘disadvantaged communities,’ the exact definition of which would be determined by the EPA administrator.” Specifically, McConnell expressed doubts about the potential bias in the grant funding created through the bill, stating that this bill would "enrich far-left nonprofits," including organizations that engaged primarily in partisan advocacy work. So will these grants support the community organizations — often Black churches — on the ground dealing with the impacts of climate change every day, or will the funding go to legacy, national environmental groups that do not have deep trust and ties in the local community?
How the EPA can reduce barriers for faith-based organizations applying for environmental justice grants
It remains unclear whether McConnell’s specific concerns will come to pass. However, the EPA could consider listening deeply to the leaders and communities served by faith-based organizations and led by people of color on innovative solutions to increase their capacity to partner with the government to address climate change locally. According to a recent report from Bridgespan, Black and Latino communities demonstrate much social, spiritual and civic trust in faith-inspired institutions.
“As a means for intersecting with communities that are rooted in race and ethnicity, faith-inspired organizations that are governed, run, and accountable to the people they serve can be excellent partners for funders who wish to build authentic connections and partnerships with underrepresented communities,” said David Dodson, the former president of MDC, a catalyst for social change organization in the South, in the report.
Black-led congregations and faith-based and community-based organizations are often disproportionately impacted by climate change. As the National Religious Partnership for the Environment notes, “The Black Church has long taken up the charge to protect God’s creation and God’s people and has outlined a need to address environmental justice and environmental racism.” This organization offers resources for local congregations, opportunities to engage in advocacy for creation care, leadership development opportunities and tools to equip communities for the connection between faith and environmental care.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, I had the honor of interviewing Pastor Cheryl Gaines, an attorney and founder of EDEN, a faith-based, innovative youth-focused urban garden initiative that brings fresh fruits and vegetables, environmental renewal, workforce development and transitional employment opportunities to underserved youth and adults in southeast Washington, D.C. Her words, although spoken in the context of the Payroll Protection Program, apply equally to this present conversation. Gaines stated that religious freedom must apply equally to individuals as well as institutions, because humans are relational and communal beings in their nature. This is especially true in communities led by people of color, where an interconnected, underground web of deep social and spiritual relationships continuously sustains the thriving ecosystem of local communities. Gaines emphasized that, at its most basic level, religious freedom must involve religious organizations being treated on an equal basis with secular organizations. But, she emphasized, it must go beyond this:
Religious freedom also must extend to recognizing the additional barriers that small, community-based ministries — often led by and serving Black people — face, in applying for these government support programs. Religious freedom requires more than just opening up the program to all religious organizations on an equal basis. Large, white faith-based organizations often have the connections to the lending institutions, the attorneys and CPAs, and the government officials that make it easier for them to apply for government funding. Religious freedom is about creating true equal treatment for the organizations like EDEN who lead and serve their communities day in and day out. To do this, religious freedom demands that the government recognize that Black ministries and community organizations may need more help, more time to navigate the application process.
To achieve this level of religious freedom’s potential, advocacy is needed. But so many essential ministries in the Black church community do not have the pre-existing connections to important government officials to make their voices heard. I am on the frontlines. I give my attention to serving in my community. Through programs like EDEN, (ministries led by people of color) are putting garden tools, and not guns, in the hands of the people we work with. Essential services are real life.
What now?
Faith-based organizations, whether or not they wish to engage with the EPA’s program, should consider the value of partnering with the government on a state, local and federal level. Faith-based organizations face many misconceptions today about their freedom to both partner with the government in creative and innovative ways and their freedom to remain true to their faith-based identities. In the midst of national debates about where to draw the lines in the separation of church and state, one thing remains clear: Faith-based organizations and communities remain some of the most vital resources the government has in meeting many of its goals, and particularly addressing environmental injustices. Under the Obama administration, the EPA maintained an Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership. In January 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency turned to diverse communities of faith to help achieve its lofty aim of reducing food waste in the United States by 50% by the year 2030.
The current administration has an even bigger task ahead. This landmark climate legislation will require all hands on deck, including strong and interconnected partnerships with diverse faith-based and spiritually based organizations. As the EPA’s past efforts to engage faith communities demonstrate, it is not in spite of their faith principles that these organizations are effective and value resources, but because of their faith identities and precepts that the government has turned to them for help. The EPA would be well advised to consider reigniting its Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Office, forming an advisory working group of faith-based and place-based leaders representing communities impacted by climate change, and ensuring that technical, cultural and capacity barriers are proactively planned for in meaningfully engaging faith-based organizations led by people of color.
Many faith traditions teach a beautiful, interconnected vision of sacred reality, recognizing the mutual flourishing of all — individuals, social institutions and the natural world — depends upon recognizing a sacred source outside of ourselves, whether we call that source God, Sacred Mystery, Creator or simply Love.
Let us pray, “Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love, teach us to contemplate you, in the beauty of the universe, for all things speak of you.” — Pope Francis, Laudato Si
Chelsea Langston Bombino is a believer in sacred communities, a wife and a mother. She serves as a program officer with the Fetzer Institute and a fellow with the Center for Public Justice.