Baylor University Research Partnership

Renowned presidential scholar Bradley Patterson considers President George W. Bush’s faith-based initiative a landmark change in American government. Civil society advocates acknowledge the value of executive office attention yet they see much of it as confirmation of what they’ve known all along: positive social change occurs via voluntary action and citizen-centered solutions.

To sort out policy implications and relative societal benefit of faith-based social services, Sagamore Institute has formed a research collaboration with Baylor University’s Institute for the Studies of Religion (ISR). Baylor's ISR has become one of the world’s premiere research institutions on matters of religion and its director, Byron Johnson, is one of the academy’s leading experts in the “faith factor.”

Sagamore president Jay Hein served as director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives from 2006-08. He is writing a book on the Bush administration's compassion agenda, which is scheduled for publication in 2010.