06/28/04

LC040628

This program is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Why the White House wants to channel tax dollars to faith-based charities. Is it good social policy or just savvy politics?

Archbishop Carl Bean>> All of America knows that whomever is in office or power panders to their constituencies. That's the truth, and right now we know that the current administration panders to the religious right.

Val>> And then, another story of faith and how it shaped one woman's crusade to build a Los Angeles landmark.

All this and more straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

Val>> America has been built on the tradition of separation of church and state, but the line gets a little blurry when it comes to religious charities. The federal government has been supporting church-based charities for decades, but now President Bush wants to expand the practice even further. The idea is to help faith-based charities do some of the social work that otherwise falls on the government, but how many tax dollars are we prepared to commit to these organizations? As NewsHour correspondent, Jeffrey Kaye, reports, the White House isn't even sure how much it's spending now.

Jeffrey Kaye>> At first glance, it looked like any other trade show at the Los Angeles Convention Center. In fact, this gathering in early March was a vivid demonstration of the Bush administration's faith-based initiative. The eleventh White House conference in as many cities aimed at spreading the word that federal agencies are prepared to help more religious charities get more government funding. The president came to emphasize the point.

George W. Bush>> "And the government's got resources. We spend a lot of money on social welfare programs. So what I'm here to talk to you about today is how to make sure that you have a chance to access that money. You can access that money without losing your mission."

Jeffrey Kaye>> Since his first week in office, the president has made his faith-based initiative a hallmark of his administration. Seven federal agencies have new centers to assist religious charities obtain funding.

>> "We have a litany of information."

Jeffrey Kaye>> But three years into the initiative, the Bush administration has provided no detailed accounting of how much it's giving to faith-based groups directly or indirectly. Even the man in charge of the program, Jim Towey, head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives which was established by President Bush, says it's impossible to know.

Jim Towey>> You never can tell how much money is going to faith-based groups because so much of the money, social service federal dollars, goes out to organizations through the state and local communities that don't track it. I could say safely that it's billions of dollars a year.

Jeffrey Kaye>> The president has pledged to spread funding to small neighborhood organizations, but the bulk of federal support to faith-based groups still goes to the large religious charities as it has for years. To groups such as Fame Renaissance, the nonprofit arm of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles's old black congregation. Fame is as much a social service agency as it is a church. It's received federal funds for low-income housing since the Reagan administration. Today most of its budget of $13 million dollars a year comes from the government.

>> "They are now hosting our internet site."

Jeffrey Kaye>> Fame runs a program for start-up businesses. It dispenses transit vouchers and it helps the unemployed find jobs, among other programs. The federal government has long supported social service programs of black churches. Other long-time national faith-based groups have also received federal funds for decades. The Salvation Army receives twenty percent of its budget from Washington. Sixty percent of the funding for Catholic Charities U.S.A., a nonprofit arm of the Catholic Church, comes from the federal government.

While large organizations still account for the lion's share of faith-based funding, the Bush administration is slowly awarding grants to smaller groups, such as the Los Angeles Street Mission, an evangelical organization which feeds and houses homeless people in downtown Los Angeles. Alex Huang is a staff member. He preaches, he says, on his own time before going into the office where he works as a grant writer for the organization. He receives a stipend and expenses as a member of the federally-funded AmeriCorps*VISTA program.

Alex Huang>> I would like to be able to receive the funding from whatever is available from the federal government actually to be able to allow this free mission to expand and grow more as a recovery center.

Jeffrey Kaye>> But some churches believe that, no matter how skillful their grant-writing, they'll get little assistance from the Bush administration because of who they are and who they help. Archbishop Carl Bean's church has had its federal funding cut. The Unity Fellowship Church runs the Minority Aids Project. In its fight against HIV, the organization emphasizes frank talk about sex and the distribution of condoms to the gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Bean believes such work offends the conservative sensibilities of the Bush administration.

Archbishop Carl Bean>> The truth is, all of America knows that whomever is in office or power panders to their constituencies. That's the truth, and right now we know that the current administration panders to the religious right. That is a big part of their power base. That's the truth. It's no secret.

Jim Towey>> It's not true. I've heard the same allegations. I've watched the politics swirl around the faith-based initiative from the time I took this job two years ago. I've not seen any indication whatsoever that there's an effort now to discriminate against some certain sector of providers. There may be a change in providers and hopefully it will be because we're focusing on who's the most effective ones and starting to look at results.

Jeffrey Kaye>> Mindful of criticism that the faith-based initiative could erode the wall between church and state, federal agencies caution religious groups applying for grants about the do's and don'ts. President Bush spelled it out.

George W. Bush>> "There are some rules. You can't use federal money to proselytize. We want to make sure the church and the state stay separate, but you can use federal money to help a person quit drinking. If you're a faith-based organization, you can't say only Methodists allowed. You know, you can say all drunks are welcome (laughter)."

Jeffrey Kaye>> But some smaller groups say federal assistance does help them fulfill their religious mission. The Sol del Via Community Center north of Los Angeles has received $63,000 in federal funds. The money has allowed the center to buy music and computer equipment for an after-school program and to hire an architect for a new building. Lessons take place at a church campus. Pastor Domingo Mota, who runs the center, says the social services are provided without religious obligations, but he does hope a message gets through.

Pastor Domingo Mota>> It might take two to three years before someone comes to Christ. They might receive services and never come to Christ.

Jeffrey Kaye>> Do you feel that, just by being here and having a program here, that is an opportunity to, in your words, bring people to Christ?

Pastor Domingo Mota>> Absolutely. The most beautiful thing that I hear from people is that they say, when I walk in here, I feel like this is a community. When I walk in here, I sense love. What else can I ask for? I know the love of Christ is here. Although we are a developing structure, the most important thing here is that we develop the spirit of family and community. Through that, in time people will come to know Him.

Jeffrey Kaye>> That thin line between church recruitment and social services bothers secular organizations such as Americans United for Separation of Church and State. They worry that government funding of faith-based groups will lead to taxpayer support of religious ministries. Some clergy have also expressed concern about the faith-based initiative. The Reverend Kathy Cooper-Ledesma is Associate Director of the California Council of Churches, a Protestant group. She doesn't want to see faith-based groups replacing government programs.

Reverend Kathy Cooper-Ledesma>> We're concerned about an abdication of the responsibility of the federal government to maintain the safety net because the primary responsibility for maintaining the safety net for people who are poor in this country is the federal government. As the federal funding stays static, the reality is that people will not have a place to go if funding is cut to faith-based organizations and the federal government has abdicated their responsibility.

Jim Towey>> I think the focus should be on who's the most effective provider. When you look at results and not religion, not whether the organization believes in God or not, but whether their program works, that's how the decision should be made.

Jeffrey Kaye>> There has been little research comparing the effectiveness of religious and secular social service programs. The few studies that have been done are inconclusive.

Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life and Times".

Val>> When Brown vs. Board of Education desegregated America's schools, the Supreme Court could not have imagined that fifty years later many of our schools are still predominantly minority. But perhaps just as important, the quality of education is still sadly unequal.

We came to Manual Arts High School in South Central Los Angeles where only nine percent of the students are eligible for California state colleges. In other words, ninety-one percent of the students here do not have the required courses that even allow them to apply to state colleges. That's why fifty students here and at five other inner city high schools marched through the halls for the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education.

>> "Fifty years ago, Brown vs. Board of Education made it illegal for us to be denied an equal education, but yet we're still separate and still unequal. So half a century later, high school students all over South Los Angeles are being forced into low-wage labor, the penitentiary system or even the military."

Val>> I talked with organizers, Katynja Udengwu from Community Coalition, and Julio Daniel, a junior at Manual Arts High School. You are planning to present a resolution demanding certain reforms, in a sense, in your education. Tell us what you are asking for, Julio.

Julio Daniel>> One of our main goals is to get all students in South Los Angeles their A through G classes because sixty percent of the students are dropping out because of the --

Val>> -- now tell us what A through G is because a lot of people won't understand that.

Julio Daniel>> A through G are the classes required by universities for admission, like A is four years of math, B is four years of science and so on.

Val>> You cannot go to college without those classes?

Julio Daniel>> Right. Without those requirements met, a university will not accept your application. Another one of our goals is more resources. We need more books. If you go inside the school and look at the books, the books are out of date, torn apart. They're just in really bad condition and that's unfortunate that these black and brown schools have to have these conditions.

Val>> And Katynja, this is not the only school where this resolution is being pushed?

Katynja Udengwu>> No. We're doing this at five South Los Angeles high schools. This one's at Manual Arts. We're also at Fremont. We're at Washington Prep. We're endorsing Crenshaw high schools because the concerns and conditions are the same in all South Los Angeles high schools. It's really exciting, you know, for the community to see, for the world to see, that students do care about their futures and they're involved in making these changes. And then that they're in partnership with the principals, with the teachers, with the parents to make these concrete changes that we want to see occur.

>> "What we're going to do right now is read the resolution: Resolved as Principal of Manual Arts High School, I support statewide universal access A through G college preparatory classes, Resolve that I pledge to continue working with Manual Arts Youth and Power Through Action to develop policies and progress to improve education and opportunities."

Julio Daniel>> People don't believe that the students out here in South Los Angeles are going to pass the classes, so they figure let's just give them vocational classes, let's give them auto shop, floor tiling, cosmetics because they're not going to pass the A through G classes. It's the stereotype of what people have about students, black and brown students primarily.

Katynja Udengwu>> We know as a whole in California that there is a budget crisis, but we're saying that, regardless of the crisis, to prioritize education and education spending specifically in the most under-served communities such as South Los Angeles. What we are saying is that, you know, spending for South Los Angeles is being relegated to prisons versus the courses that students need to be eligible to go on to four-year universities. Kids are being prepared for low-wage labor, for prison, and we want them in turn to be prepared to go to college and have the careers that they deserve.

Val>> Now, Julio, you actually were bused for a while to a magnet school. It was a better school, but you chose not to be bused, to come to this school in your own neighborhood, even though it doesn't have as many resources and classes and so forth aren't as good, but you're still here. Why is that?

Julio Daniel>> Because it's part of a larger commitment towards what I believe there should be about education. All my life, I have been bused out to schools outside of my community and I finally decided that I shouldn't have to be taken outside of my community by a bus to receive the education that I need. It should be right here in my community. So it was a level of commitment to those ideals.

Val>> So what do you hope will come from today's action and presentation of the resolution? Not just here, but at the other schools as well. What do you want to result from this?

Julio Daniel>> Well, we want to change one of our major problems that students aren't receiving the A through G classes. By getting the principal to commit to these resolutions, since it's being done publicly, it will put more pressure on the principal to do more work for getting these students the A through G classes and getting them on a college prep track.

>> "On all of these issues here, I think that here at Manual -- I've been here seven years and I think we've made a lot of progress in these areas. I'm delighted to sign this resolution showing my commitment to work with you to continue to make progress on these issues and make Manual Arts High School a great school. Thank you."

Katynja Udengwu>> We want to really -- it's about at this time creating an urgency and then, you know, re-prioritizing or extracting resources and putting them where students want them to go. It's about dialogue, so we are creating this dialogue with students, with teachers, with the principal and with the community to address these concerns. It's a very fitting time, fifty years after Brown vs. Board of Education, because we're saying fifty years later, we don't want to still be separate. We don't want to still be unequal. We want to see that progress that, you know, the Supreme Court envisioned fifty years ago today.

Val>> Katynja, Julio, thank you very much. Very, very nice meeting you.

Julio Daniel>> Thanks a lot.

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Val>> It exists literally in the shadow of the Hollywood Bowl. It's been like that since day one. The Ford Amphitheatre may not be as famous as the Bowl, but this Los Angeles landmark has a history that is just as fascinating. In fact, the story got more interesting as we started digging deeper into why the amphitheatre was built in the first place and how it's linked to a cross on a hill overlooking Hollywood. Vicki Curry has our report.

Vicki Curry>> It's tucked away in the hills of the Cahuenga Pass, a leap across the freeway from a more famous neighbor, the Hollywood Bowl. But on the road less traveled lies a true Los Angeles landmark, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.

David Pier>> And when people first walk into this space and see it all lit up, they can't believe it because a lot of people have never been here before, so when they find out what's here, it's really kind of a little treasure chest.

Vicki Curry>> The Ford is an outdoor amphitheatre similar to the Hollywood Bowl. Audiences can picnic while enjoying performances under the stars. And the two have something else in common, a woman named Christine Wetherill Stevenson, who played a key role in the creation of both venues.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> In 1919, Stevenson helped purchase the land that's now home to the Hollywood Bowl. She was heiress to the Pittsburgh Paint fortune, but it was her spirituality that inspired her to build an outdoor theatre, one worthy of staging great productions with religious themes.

David Pier>> I think the original idea was to have a whole series of religious plays about different major religious leaders of the world.

Vicki Curry>> But Stevenson's plans provoked a dispute with her partners at the Bowl, so she started looking for another piece of land for her theatre. She found it just across the canyon and that was the beginning of the Ford, which was then called The Pilgrimage Theatre.

Laura Zucker>> She'd written a play called "The Pilgrimage Play" and she wanted a place to perform it. She recognized that this was a very spiritual special place in Los Angeles.

Vicki Curry>> Before the Hollywood Bowl even had a stage, "The Pilgrimage Play" premiered June 27, 1920.

Laura Zucker>> Well, "The Pilgrimage Play" was about the life of Jesus, which is what informed the architecture, the crenellated towers, and the kind of Old Jerusalem look to the Ford.

Vicki Curry>> But Stevenson never realized her dream to stage other religious plays. She died unexpectedly in 1922. In her memory, friends installed a cross on the hill next to the theatre. It's still there, having endured fires, storms and criticism over the years. And down below, another survivor: the amphitheatre that was born out of her spiritual passion.

Laura Zucker>> The theatre was made of wood and it burned down in 1929 and it was rebuilt by the WPA in poured concrete in 1931, and this is the structure that pretty much you see here today.

Vicki Curry>> "The Pilgrimage Play" which had been staged every summer during the 1920's returned with the new theatre in 1931 and continued its annual run.

Laura Zucker>> There was a brief interruption during World War II when the theatre was actually used to billet soldiers.

Vicki Curry>> During those war years, the theatre's private operators deeded it to Los Angeles County and that change from private to public ownership led to the eventual demise of "The Pilgrimage Play".

Laura Zucker>> And in 1964, a lawsuit was brought to stop "The Pilgrimage Play" as being too religious in nature and that was the end of "The Pilgrimage Play" and the beginning of the kind of modern life of the theatre.

Vicki Curry>> In 1976, Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman, renamed the theatre for his predecessor.

Laura Zucker>> Jonathan Ford was a real leader in establishing the county's vision around arts and culture for our region. He not only cared about this theatre, but he was instrumental in the creation of the Music Center.

Vicki Curry>> By the early 1990's, the old theatre had started to fall apart, so the County Arts Commission decided to renovate the structure and revitalize it with new programming.

Laura Zucker>> We looked at the panoply of presenting organizations in Los Angeles and it was clear that what was really missing was a place that presented Los Angeles-based arts organizations that didn't have an opportunity to work in a theatre this size, 1200 seats. So the Ford is really a partnership program with more than thirty-five local arts organizations each year presenting local, national and sometimes international artists.

David Pier>> I think one of our primary goals is to really support the local Los Angeles-based arts organizations, help them increase their visibility and build their audiences, and then also provide a venue of this size that a lot of the arts organizations might otherwise not be able to afford to go into or might not have the experience working in this size of space. We actually kind of help each of the different groups to learn how to produce in this size of venue and attract the large crowds.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Today the Ford's partnership program acts as an incubator for local arts groups.

David Pier>> We actually invite arts organizations, actually community organizations, from throughout Los Angeles County to apply to the Ford and make proposals for different projects. We certainly look for artistic excellence, but we also look at the history of the organization and what their producing history is, if they're ready to take this step and work in this size of a venue.

We provide a lot of technical assistance, so we help the groups with their marketing activities. We help them learn how to do the production side of things. We provide a very high quality sound system, very nice lighting equipment. We provide different promotional things. We have groups that perform here and eventually become national touring groups. We have producers here that maybe they started on kind of a relatively small local scale and then they start bringing international artists in.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> The program also helps the groups by pooling their resources. Their mailing lists are shared so the artists can reach more people and audiences can learn about different performances.

David Pier>> We work actively to really make both what's on the stage at the Ford representative of the cross-section of Los Angeles and also we really like to see that diversity in our audience. I think it's one of the fun things when you go to the Ford and you see the audiences here and you realize that this really is a cross-section of Los Angeles.

[Film Clip]

David Pier>> You get a little bit of everything here (laughter), everything from dance, we have theatre here, we have music, all different kinds of concerts, jazz, classical music, chamber music that has a special history here at the Ford. We also have a number of different film festivals here each summer. We have a full-size movie screen and 35mm projectors.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Many of the people who've been coming here for years, audiences and artists alike, feel there's no other place quite like the Ford.

Laura Zucker>> It's just amazing the people who want to perform here. What we hear continually from artists is that they feel a special connection with the audience here that they just don't get in other venues.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Much has changed since Christine Wetherill Stevenson built her outdoor theatre in the Hollywood hills, but one thing hasn't, and that's the joy of visiting this unique place. It's just as real now as it was eighty years ago.

David Pier>> When you come inside the theatre itself, it's really like entering a different world. You do not feel like you're in the middle of Los Angeles. It's a little oasis here and I think it's one of the reasons people really like coming to the Ford.

Val>> Each year, the Ford Amphitheatre has a variety of events under the stars and you can tap into their schedule by logging on to their website at fordamphitheatre.org. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

This program was made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.

Val>> Next time on Life and Times, the high cost of prescription drugs. Everyone knows they're cheaper in Canada. Can California lawmakers find a way to bring the bargains home?

>> The legislation is to empower consumers so they know that, if they're going to go online or they're going to do a mail-order from Canada, they're getting a reputable product. We want to let them know that these are safe avenues for them to get drugs cheaper. That's all we're doing is protecting consumers.

Val>> That's next time on Life and Times.