Governor’s Office Of Faith-Based Initiatives To Receive $1.2M In Taxpayer Money

Image Credit: The Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

Governor Lee’s Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives is set to receive a recurring annual amount of $1.2 million in direct taxpayer money for the first time this year.

During his 2018 campaign and shortly after taking office in 2019, Lee touted the office as being a self-funded group that would help collaborate with faith groups and seek solutions that might be beyond the scope of the government.

In his initial State of the State address, Lee said “This office will leverage the nonprofit community and help us unleash the potential of all Tennesseans to get involved to not only make lives better for their fellow citizens but to reduce the responsibilities and ultimately the size of the government.”

This year, however, Governor Lee asked for state funding to “strengthen the Office’s mission” and to “help meet the greatest challenges facing our state including reducing recidivism and ensuring that every child has a safe, loving home.”

According to the governor’s office, the money will be used to hire five additional staff members, as well as six community liaisons. Private funding has paid for six staff members in the past.

There are not, however, any budget records to provide additional details as to how that money might be spent. All oversight is left to a nonprofit board and is not handled by the governor’s office. The board is made up of volunteers, including several close associates of Governor Lee. Lee’s former chief counsel Lang Wiseman, Deputy Governor Butch Eley’s wife Ginger, and Memphis philanthropist Tyrone Burroughs of the Burroughs Foundation are just a few of those.

The office is required to submit an annual report of all activities to the governor and the speakers of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but the governor’s office did not have a record of a budget or a list of the organizations that the office has coordinated with.

During the spring legislative session, lawmakers changed a requirement that the office be self-funded, instead allowing the governor to include a funding request in his 2023 fiscal budget.

While tax records show that the office raised $441,500 in private contributions in 2021, Executive Director Lance Villio would not give the names of any donors. Villio was appointed to the position in September by Governor Lee.

The office currently only employs Villio and one other person, despite requesting funding for six employees. Their website has not been working since April, although Villio says they are currently working on a redesign.

Under the previous director Dave Worland, the office worked on a statewide initiative to encourage residents to offer up prayers for state leaders and worked with church groups to navigate the pandemic. Villio is working on a program called TN Fosters Hope with the goal of finding nonprofits to work with the Department of Children’s Services to provide greater care for foster children.

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com