“I come from the government and I am here to help.” Those are the nine most frightening words in the English language, according to President Ronald Reagan. As a conservative governor, I try to consider that warning when creating state utility programs.
But as the daughter of a pastor, I also grew up with learning the similarities of Jesus. One that I have always loved is the parable of the good Samaritan, in which a man is left to death in front of the road and gets help – not of a likely helper, but of someone who would be considered an opponent. It shows that Goodwill can come from surprising places and that we have the obligation to help the necessary among us – regardless of who they are.
With that message as our leading light, my administration launches the 10:33 initiative, named after Luke 10:33, a passage in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We use our faith, business and non -profit allies to get Arkansans of government dependence and not imprisoned in a lifetime of poverty.
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The momentum behind this initiative started with a problem that I saw during the government: the billions of dollars that we release to well -being every year are temporary plasters, and they are not successfully moving from crisis to career. When someone appears at our door because they are hungry and need food vouchers, or because they have lost their jobs and need unemployment insurance, chances are that that is not the only services they need. They need stability, training, a job – and a road to a more permanent high quality of life.
The 10:33 initiative is a pilot program based on a daring new idea. Instead of just giving a hand -out of needy Arkansans, we give them a hand. When they contact the state government for help, the several hundred Arkansans registered in this pilot will be connected to a community lawyer of a local non -profit or church.
That lawyer will help to tackle the other problems with which these Arkansans are confronted, whether it concerns housing, health care or work. Beneficiaries will be sent to the launch, a site that has set up my administration to connect job seekers with education, training and vacancies. And in the end our goal is that these Arkansans are no longer dependent on the government and can be on their own two feet without extra help.
I believe this can work because it has been proven time and time again by the religious community and non -profit organizations of Arkansas. Recovery Hope is one of the groups with which we collaborate and offers already wrapped support to vulnerable Arkansans in more than a dozen provinces.
In one case, a recovery Hope organization was contacted by a father of two whose wife fights against terminal cancer and who at the same time had to deal with his own problems with resource abuse. He leaned on the non-profit organization, he was able to find long-term care for his family while being treated with substance abuse. Although his wife died tragically, his two children are now honor -Roll -students and he is sober for 43 months.
On another occasion, a single mother stood out to restore hope because she needed a mattress for her 4-year-old daughter. That simple request brought her into contact with a local church, so that when her car broke a few months later and she was desperately looking for help, she had someone to call. That same day, a friendly church member gave her a new car.
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Jesus tells us: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”, and driven by those words, the generosity of our faith community is enormous. So far, however, they did not work synchronously with the government agencies that spend billions on Arkansans in Nood every year. The 10:33 initiative changes that completely.
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This pilot program starts small, in just three provinces in Arkansas and in just a few hundred families. But once we show the success of leaning on the religious community, coordinating care and moving Arkansans of the path on dependence and on the path to prosperity, we want to expand it throughout the state – and create a blueprint for America.
Conservatives know that our welfare system has been broken. Christians know that we have the obligation for people in need. The 10:33 initiative unites common sense and compassion to offer wrapping help that can actually transform lives.
