Obama creates faith-based office with wide mission

WASHINGTON (AP) - Expressing his own faith in “a force for good greater than government,“ President Barack Obama has set up a White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
   
He’s given it a broader mission than the one established by his Republican predecessor. Obama says the new office will reach out to organizations that provide help “no matter their religious or political beliefs” and will work with “both secular and faith-based” nonprofit organizations.
   
The goal is to help those organizations determine how to make a bigger impact in their cities, learn their obligations under the law and cut through government red tape. Obama says the top priority of the office will be “making community groups an intergral part” of the economic recovery and reducing the number of people living in poverty.
   
Obama has appointed 26-year-old Pentecostal minister Joshua DuBois to lead the office. DuBois headed religious outreach for Obama’s Senate office and his presidential campaign.