Obama Turns to His Roots

President Barack Obama stayed true to his community-organizing roots this week and pledged to help motivated nonprofit organizations that are making a difference.

"Solutions to America's challenges are being developed every day at the grassroots. And government shouldn't be supplanting those efforts, it should be supporting those efforts," Obama told nonprofit representatives gathered at the White House on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

How will his administration provide this support? He pointed to the community service act he signed into law earlier this year, which included a $50 million innovation fund he expects will provide aid to the most promising nonprofits in the country. He told the group he has asked Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes and the White House innovation team to crisscross the country to discover and evaluate the best programs making strides in areas including education, training and health care.

Some of those programs were represented at the White House Tuesday, including Harlem Children's Zone, which helps children get an early start on a good education; Genesys Works, a Houston-based group that trains and helps low-income high school students get entry-level technical support jobs in major corporations; Bonnie CLAC, a New Hampshire organization that helps struggling people acquire fuel-efficient, affordable and reliable vehicles; and HopeLab, a California program using technology to help young people with chronic diseases.

The president also did not let the for-profit sector off the hook, calling on businesses and philanthropists to provide much-needed matching grants to help non-profits survive.

Helping organizations that help others? Sounds like a good idea to us. In these fragile economic times, we hope the president’s plan succeeds.