DES MOINES (AP) -- Several Iowa agencies that shared in $1.9 million in federal funding to "faith-based" organizations do not consider themselves to be tied to religion at all.

The agencies were on a national list of faith-based organizations that received more than $1 billion in federal funding in 2003. The list was provided to The Associated Press by the White House.

"We're YWCA, which I guess in some respect is Christian-based. But we're open to all denominations," said Lori Freudenberg, executive director of YWCA in Clinton. "Preaching faith is not something we do."

The six Iowa agencies that received funding were Christian Home Association in Council Bluffs, St. Paul AME Church in Des Moines, Cedar Valley Friends of the Family in Waverly, John Lewis Coffee Shop in Davenport, Municipal Housing Agency of Fort Dodge and the Clinton YWCA. Most of the agencies received money to help the homeless or victims of abuse.

Carolyn Olson, executive director of the Fort Dodge Housing Authority, said the organization is a government agency.

"We're part of HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). We distribute all HUD funds," she said.

Olson said her agency, for the second year, received a Shelter Care Plus Grant from HUD to aid homeless people with disabilities. Some of the money went to the Salvation Army, a community task force and various churches.

"We work with faith-based organizations in the community, but we ourselves are not faith based," Olson said.

Cedar Valley Friends of the Family is a nonprofit organization created to help victims of domestic violence. For the sixth year, the agency received a grant to support a transitional housing program called Turning Point Rural Housing Project.

"We are not faith-based," said Jeanie Wright, executive director.

However, the agency was created in 1992 by Church Women United, "so our roots kind of go there, but we are not associated in any way with a faith-based organization," Wright said.

Wright said no religious material is handed out to clients, the organization does not have any religious programs and it doesn't promote any kind of religion.

John Lewis Coffee Shop, another agency that helps the homeless, was also started by a variety of churches.

"When you read the mission statement you might say it's rooted in gospel values, but obviously it is not anything that we evangelize," said Kate Ride, executive director.

Ride said the group has been getting government grants since 1997 for supportive services to help the homeless.

"They are federal government grants, so they are separate from religion," Ride said.

Freudenberg, of the Clinton YWCA, said the agency has received the same grant for the past 15 years to help homeless women and children.

She said the agency does not promote religion or offer religious services or material of any kind.

"We really stay away from that," she said. "We are primarily interested in helping these women become independent."