As President-elect Barack Obama develops his multibillion-dollar plan to stimulate the economy, nonprofit leaders should push federal, state, and local governments to use the money to pay for construction projects that help the poor, writes Angela Glover Blackwell, an anti-poverty activist.

Mr. Obama has proposed spending upwards of $300-billion to improve American roads and infrastructure; he says his proposal would create jobs and fight the country’s economic recession.

Ms. Blackwell, chief executive and founder of PolicyLink, a nonprofit group in Oakland, Calif., writes that the plan — if put together wisely — “could be one of the most successful anti-poverty programs the nation has ever seen.”

“First off, we must stop building more and wider roads out to far-flung exurbs. Instead, we need to fix the bridges, transit systems and roads we already have — especially those in...

With little more than a month left in office, President Bush is showing more of his “sensitive side” and frequently discussing the importance of helping needy people, reports The Washington Post.

Mr. Bush discussed addiction-treatment efforts during his weekly radio address Saturday, the newspaper noted, and has recently promoted his anti-AIDS work in Africa, and met with children whose mother or father is in prison, during which “he extolled the virtue of loving those who are less fortunate.”

Political observers quoted in the article differed on why in his waning days he was focusing on assisting others and social problems.

A former White House aide said the president was reiterating his role as a “compassionate conservative,” which was key to why he ran for office. But an official at the Brookings Institution, a think tank, said the president’s rhetoric did not match his...

Several nonprofit and government officials are applauding Barack Obama’s pick to lead the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department in part because of his willingness to work with charities.

Mr. Obama on Saturday named Shaun Donovan, currently the head of New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, as his nominee for the federal-housing agency, saying that it will play a key role in the mortgage crisis, reports the Los Angeles Times.

One of his accomplishments in New York was creating a $200-million fund with foundations and financial institutions to help small commericial developers and nonprofit groups build and preserve affordable-housing units.

“He has moved our focus beyond the old public sector-driven solutions by giving the starring role to the private and nonprofit sectors,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the Associated Press.

“I...

Bill Gates said last week that, if asked, he would consider a position with the incoming Obama administration, according to The Washington Post.

He said his work as chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a full-time job, but “if there was some committee or pretty focused task where I could contribute, I’d be glad to consider that.”

What position would you nominate Mr. Gates for? Education secretary? United Nations ambassador? Philanthropist and chief — or is that Bill Clinton’s unofficial title?

Click on the comments link below to give your ideas.

Tuesday’s arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich contained a somewhat telling perception about some nonprofit salaries.

Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, allegedly conspired to sell an appointment to his state’s open U.S. Senate seat, reports the Associated Press. A lawyer for Mr. Blagojevich said the governor denied the charges.

According to the 76-page affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, one of the ideas the governor floated was offering the national political position in exchange for being appointed to work at a foundation or the American Red Cross — places he thought he could make significant salaries.

In discussions with aides, which were taped by federal investigators, he also wondered about starting a nonprofit lobbying group — a 501©(4) under the U.S. tax code — by raising $10-million to $15-million from Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and other wealthy...

Barack Obama has tapped another nonprofit official for a role in his administration.

Cecilia Muñoz, senior vice president of research, advocacy, and legislation at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group in Washington, will become Mr. Obama’s director of intergovernmental affairs.

Last week, at a forum of 2,500 community organizers, Ms. Muñoz spoke to The Washington Post about the goals of the administration.

Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to Mr. Obama, also spoke at the event, which was sponsored by the Gamaliel Foundation, in Chicago.

Read The Chronicle’s article about a discussion between Ms. Jarrett and other nonprofit leaders last week.

Foundations should make sure that states, cities, and localities make good choices in how they spend federal dollars that come to them as part of an economic stimulus package, said Bruce Katz, an urban-policy expert who is helping Barack Obama on housing and development issues.

Mr. Obama has proposed a multibillion-dollar plan that would create 2.5 million jobs and rebuild American infrastructure. He has also pledged to establish a White House Office of Urban Planning, reports The Washington Post.

During a meeting last week with foundation leaders, Mr. Katz said he is concerned that many state and local governments may not spend the infrastructure money wisely or quickly. Grant makers, he said, should be watchdogs to make sure they do.

Mr. Katz is a vice president at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, and is assisting Mr. Obama to bring his ideas to the U.S....

Nonprofit leaders hopeful that Barack Obama will listen to their ideas take note: This week he sent a senior adviser to meet with foundation officials.

During a meeting organized by the Council on Foundations, an association of grant makers, Valerie Jarrett, soon-to-be a White House senior adviser and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison, discussed ways the federal government and philanthropy can work together to overcome the nation’s financial turmoil and housing problems.

The event was closed to the news media, but Steve Gunderson, the council’s president, said that the “listening session” had gone very well. Ms. Jarrett appeared open to nonprofit ideas and did not come with an agenda to impose on foundations, he said.

Mr. Gunderson said that the discussion included the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, a program supported by the...

Since Barack Obama was elected, there’s been a drumbeat of encouragement for him to develop a new government role for charity — a cabinet-level position to promote the arts or a new White House office to support philanthropy.

Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics and a member of the Kennedy family, is going one step further, calling for the creation of a U.S. Department of Development and Service. Mr. Shriver is the son of Sargent Shriver, who helped form the Peace Corps, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who established Special Olympics.

“Today, there’s no national voice inviting Americans to serve humanitarian interests around the world and no clear strategy for promoting democracy, economic development, health, education, and human rights,” he writes in The Washington Post.

“More than ever, citizen groups, philanthropies, businesses, and faith-based organizations are...

In an unusual twist of fate, the parents of Barack Obama and his pick for secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, share a nonprofit connection: they worked at the Ford Foundation at the same time.

Indeed, Mr. Geithner’s father was head of the philanthropy’s Asia grant making for a period in the early 1980s and oversaw the work of Mr. Obama’s mother, who developed the organization’s microfinance programs in Indonesia.

According to the foundation, they met at least once in Jakarta.

No word on whether the two parents speculated on the future careers of their sons.