Governor Announces Faith Summit For Foster Care, Prison Re-Entry

Gov. Asa Hutchinson Tuesday announced the creation of an interfaith summit to encourage faith-based communities to help find homes for foster care children and help departing inmates re-enter society.

The “Governor’s Restore Hope Summit: A Call to Action for Faith Leaders on Foster Care and Prison Re-Entry” will be August 25-26 at the Little Rock Marriott. He said the summit’s purpose is to inspire greater involvement, set goals, and identify barriers. It will focus narrowly on the issues of foster care and prison re-entry.

Hutchinson said he is enlisting the faith-based community because the need is greater than the state can address on its own. He said there currently are 4,400 children in foster care but only 2,500 approved beds where they can stay. Meanwhile, 6,000 inmates will leave prison and re-enter society this year. The unemployment rate for ex-offenders is 47%, while the recidivism rate is more than 40%. The Legislature this year funded 500 re-entry beds to help prisoners re-enter society, which is not nearly enough to meet the need. He called on employers to hire departing inmates and “help those who are trying to get a second chance in life.”

“It is about inspiration, it is about engagement, it is about action, and it is about follow-up,” he said.

The governor introduced members of a steering committee that has been meeting for a couple of months to plan the summit. Most come from Christian backgrounds, but it also includes two Jewish rabbis and an Islamic imam. Hutchinson said it “will be a very inclusive summit.” In the coming weeks, 5,000 houses of worship will be invited to participate.

Hutchinson said that the summit will be privately funded and did not constitute an endorsement of religion, but he acknowledged that faith-based communities’ activities will have a religious component. He also acknowledged that public agencies are involved and that the website is managed by a state agency.

In response to a question from a reporter, Hutchinson defended the Legislature’s placement of a monument to the Ten Commandments on the Capitol grounds because of the Commandments’ historical significance. He said he would have a problem with Hindu- and Satanic-related monuments.

“The Capitol grounds, we want to be careful as to what monuments and designations go there,” he said. “I think the secretary of state has historically been careful. … We don’t want just every group putting a statue on the Capitol grounds. We want it to be exclusive, we want it to be reasoned, we want it to be reflective, and I think that’s one of the reasons it went through the legislative process.”

He said any new monument would have to go through a process where it was approved by the secretary of state or the General Assembly.

Steering committee members for the Restore Hope conference are: Lauri Currier, founder of The CALL; Jerry Cox, director of the Family Council; John Belken, a member of the Arkansas Parole Board; Dubs Byers, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dumas and a member of the Board of Corrections; Kevin Murphey, chief deputy director of Arkansas Community Correction; Betty Guhman, senior advisor to Hutchinson; Scott McLean, executive director of Pathway to Freedom; Rev. Tyrone Broomfield, pastor of Bethel AME Church of North Little Rock; Paul Chapman, pastor of Fellowship Bible Church; Philip Pointer, pastor of St. Mark Baptist Church; Pat Page, board member of The CALL and Immerse Arkansas; Bishop Silas Johnson, Full Counsel Church; Milton Graham, pastor of Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Little Rock and director of the Department of Human Services and Department of Children and Family Services of Pulaski County; Keesa Smith, deputy director of the Department of Human Services; Paul Stevens, retired pastor of Fellowship Bible Church and an employee of Under Grace Ministries; Rabbi Barry Block, Temple B’nai; Rabbi Kalman Winnick, spiritual leader of Congregation Agudath Achim; Imam Johnny Hasan, Islamic Center of Little Rock; Rev. Steve Copley, executive director of Interfaith Arkansas; Anna Cox, founder of Compassion Works for All; Rev. Lindy Vogado, associate pastor of Second Presbyterian Church of Little Rock; and Tom Navin of Catholic Charities of Arkansas’ Prison Ministry Office.