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Senior Fellow Dr. Robert Marbut and actor Billy Baldwin appeared on Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade Show to discuss their new documentary, “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated.” Marbut and Baldwin discuss how they got involved with the creation of the documentary, the origin of the fentanyl crisis, and the scope of the problem. “The stat that really brings it home,” says Marbut, “[is] more people have died of fentanyl in the last five years than the last hundred years of war for Americans.” Find out more about “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated,” and where you can watch it, at fentanyldeathincorporated.com.

I’ve learned in my stays at homeless shelters one clear lesson: how hard it is to offer true help. Jeff Cook, chief program officer at Springs Rescue Mission (SRM), wrote this in his dissertation: “When reviewing the reason clients are homeless, it was apparent that they all had some traumatic experiences that caused them to be homeless. This trauma could have begun in many forms: the death of a parent or family member, the victim of a crime, human or drug trafficking, or the loss of a job due to illness.” Such stressful events shatter senses of security. They leave people feeling endangered by normal life, unstable even when placed in stable housing. A faith in Christ can be a Read More ›

The Springs Rescue Mission had humble beginnings thirty years ago, which is typical of programs that last. Unlike Athena in Greek mythology, they don’t spring forth full-grown from the head of Zeus. Starting in 1995, SRM gradually grew its focus on homeless services and addiction recovery. It built slowly but solidly, and started in 2013 to build a resource campus that could serve more people and provide more opportunities for those encouraged to leave homelessness behind. A dozen years later, it serves more than 4,000 individuals each year and has a variety of programs under the authority of Chief Program Officer Jeff Cook — but Cook, to his credit, wondered in his June 2024 doctoral dissertation (Bakke Graduate School, Dallas) Read More ›

The Springs Rescue Mission transients I met had a choice. Those who were addicted could join the recovery program and get a heavy dose of Jesus plus medicine. Others could join the Hope program, maybe enticed by the opportunity to sleep in the same bed every night and get better meals during the day, maybe motivated by faith in Christ. While staying in the Colorado Springs shelter, I sat in one Hope class in an SRM “multi-purpose room” and saw that the name reflects the goals of students as well as how the space is used. The text was Core Purpose 2.0, Fifth edition, authored by Victoria Jeffs. The class emphasized “mindfulness,” a key component of Buddhism’s eight-fold path for Read More ›

Caitlyn McKenney reacts to data shared by the Mayor of Normandy Park WA that shows the role of addiction and mental illness in homelessness. This data should inform policymakers in Washington as they consider a bill that would make it easier to sue cities for restricting public camping.

A Springs Rescue Mission (SRM) document declares, “Our faith is why we do what we do, but faith is never required of others to receive basic relief services.…We believe it is God’s job to change people, not ours.” Old-style missions often thought they could change people by requiring attendance at chapel services. SRM does not have a campus church or any required service. SRM’s Christian statement emphasizes that God is “the one who transforms. Therefore, when guests make bad choices, it’s up to God to work with them. It’s God’s job to change people. It’s our role to help in the project, not own it.” Last March, though, The Gazette — Colorado Springs’ daily newspaper — reported criticism of SRM Read More ›

In this short video, Caitlyn McKenney responds to an argument for rent control made in a Washington State public debate on the subject.

Two weeks ago I noted how Colorado Springs city officials a decade ago handed a $3 million federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant to Springs Rescue Mission (SRM) leaders. Later, City Hall gave $3 million more. That was because SRM, an explicitly Christian organization, was ready to help homeless wanderers in Colorado Springs, and no one else was ready. Strict church-state separationists didn’t like it, but city housing executive Steve Posey noted that the HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) contract detailed public benefits: “SRM would build a commercial kitchen; they would build an overnight shelter for several hundred people; they would build a day center with showers and laundry facilities. Nowhere in those contracts, or any ongoing contracts Read More ›

Discovery Institute Research Fellow Caitlyn McKenney appeared on [un]Divided with Brandi Kruse this week to discuss McKenney’s op-ed in The Seattle Times, “Sensible WA Tenancy Laws Will Help Housing Stability.” McKenney argues that nonsensical laws protecting tenants from eviction cause harm to housing stability. This is substantiated by emergency funding applications from Seattle affordable housing units, documenting the assaults, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, drug use, arson, and other criminal activity occurring without any recourse. “Instead of mandating rent control, lawmakers should provide housing stability by enacting smart landlord-tenant laws,” writes McKenney. Watch McKenney and Kruse discuss.