Stephanie C. Boddie

Philadelphia Census of Congregations and Their Involvement in Social Service Delivery

This census of congregational social services is the first attempt to identify all of the congregations in Philadelphia and their services. This article reports results from 1,376 of an estimated 2,095 congregations. It finds that 1,211 congregations (88 percent) have at least one social program. On average, each congregation provides 2.41 programs and serves 102 people per month. The primary beneficiaries are children (served by 49.2 percent of all programs). According to the census, 571 congregations (41.5 percent) collaborate with secular organizations, and 857 congregations (62.3 percent) are open to collaborating with government welfare programs. Conservatively, the financial replacement value of all congregational social services in Philadelphia is

Religious Congregations as Social Services Providers for Older Adults

246,901,440 annually.

Fruitful Partnerships in a Rural African American Community: Important Lessons for Faith-Based Initiatives

Abstract A large proportion of older adults are affiliated with congregations. The literature suggests that, in general, religious participation among die older adults enhances their quality of life and provides a network of social care. In diis article, we explored the relevant literature on organized religion and social support for older adults. Based on a census study of congregations in Philadelphia (N = 1,393), we documented the following: (1) the number of congregations serving older adults, (2) the types of services provided, and (3) the number of beneficiaries. The study also identified the organizational factors that predict the provision of congregation-based services for older adults. The findings suggest that serving older adults is not a top priority for most congregations. Most senior programs are small and often informal. Approximately half (48%) of me congregations do not provide a formal social service. However, diose congregations mat are more likely to serve older adults have larger budgets, more members over 65-years-old, and a moderate political orientation. We recommend that congregations, social service providers, and older adults explore ways to maximize this underutilized resource of congregational services to meet the needs of the increasing number of older adults.

Teaching About Organized Religion in Social Work: Lessons and Challenges

Rural African American congregations often have been pitted against their urban counterparts, with the urban churches viewed as superior social agents with a wider range of community services. An examination of social service provision in rural areas is necessary because both policy and programmatic responsibilities increasingly are delegated to state and local governance and ultimately to local communities. Legislation referred to as Charitable Choice encourages the government to contract with faith-based and community-based social service providers. This legislation also increases the importance of understanding the role that rural congregations play as the social service system favors private delivery of such services over public avenues. In this study, an in-depth examination of 17 congregations in an historically all-Black town revealed the distinct patterns of African American congregations providing a unified network of collaborative social services with secular organizations on behalf of their communities.

Setting the context : Assessing the effectiveness of faith-based social services

Abstract It is commonly taught in schools of social work that the origin of the profession is in the humanistic principles of the many world faith traditions. However, social work education, research, and practice had disassociated themselves from religion and its contribution to the profession from as early as the days of the Charity Organization Societies (COS) in the late nineteenth century to the Social Security Act of 1935. Society, however, especially in the last two decades is marching toward greater integration between social services and organized religion. Furthermore, a large number of social workers, regardless of their personal religious affiliations, were trained to think that their religion has no relevance for their everyday professional practice. This rift, extenuated in the past fifty years, has been challenged by devolutionary trends of government funding and social service delivery that encourage faith-based social service provision. It also challenged the dogmatic exclusion of religious contents in social work education. In this article, we review the place of organized religion in social work education and present our innovative course to re-link organized religion into social work curriculum.

Family-Centered, Community-Based Asset Building: A Strategic Use of Individual Development Accounts

Abstract This paper provides an overview of assessing the effectiveness of newly legislated social policies. In an era of growing public reliance on faith-based social services, it is imperative to be accountable and assess the efficacy and effectiveness of this set of providers. It discusses the paucity of such attempts and the complications involved in measuring effectiveness of social programs, especially when religion is involved. It then reviews the contributions provided in this volume and draws conclusions for future Studies.

Concluding Remarks: Common Findings and Challenges

This research examines individual development account (IDA) programs as part of a broader community development strategy for low-income/low-wealth communities, particularly communities of color. Through a review of multiple literatures and detailed case studies, we explore the potential of explicitly creating a community-based, family-centered development account program as a step toward a comprehensive community asset building approach in low-income urban neighborhoods. From the perspective of IDA practitioners, such an approach provides program participants with local support networks and access to additional services. From the perspective of grassroots community organizers, such an approach provides tangible benefits to low-income residents of their neighborhoods. The likelihood of success may depend on the availability of local resources to build areas of strength and reduce vulnerabilities, but there are examples where a family-centered, community-based asset building approach seems to thrive.

Wealth Building in Communities of Color

One can observe based on the reported studies in this volume that two conclusions have emerged. First, from a societal point of view, we have not invested nearly enough in assessing the effectiveness of faith-based social services. The empirical studies reported here, and a handful of others, all suggest that we are in the infancy stage of faith-based program evaluation. The methodologies used by the pioneering empirical researchers in this area fall very short of the challenges posed by the scholars in the first part of this volume. The sums of money available for this kind of research are meager, and hence there has hardly been a chance to utilize the many sophisticated designs proposed in the first part of the volume. Before any conclusive statements can be made regarding the effectiveness of faith-based organizations, many more studies are needed and generous funds are required. The researchers who went ahead and made some progress in the puzzle should be commended for their heroic efforts and important findings. However, much more resources are needed for future research, and we are many years away from any authoritative or comprehensive answers. Second, our tentativeness about conclusive results notwithstanding, it seems safe to suggest that faith-based organizations as a whole are neither superior nor inferior to their secular counterparts. It seems that

Did the Religious Group Socioeconomic Ranking Change Leading into the Great Recession

Racial disparities exist in many aspects of social and economic life in the United States. One of the more persistent and potentially damaging disparities is the racial gap in wealth. In this chapter, we (a) explore why communities of color remain behind in asset accumulation, (b) introduce blueprints for individual and collective strategies for building wealth in communities of color, and (c) provide three brief case studies. We acknowledge that it has taken generations to create the current racial wealth gap in the United States and it will not go away quickly. Yet, it is still possible to reduce the number of people living in asset poverty and improve economic security among communities of color. Individual-level strategies and assets discussed in this chapter include investing a portion of Earned Income Tax Credit refunds, Individual Development Accounts, retirement savings, real estate, and estate planning through a trust or family endowment. Collective-level strategies and assets discussed include shared risk pools for insurance, housing cooperatives, investment clubs, worker-owned and microenterprise cooperatives, Community Development Corporations, venture capital entities, and foundations. We note the need for “gap-closing methods” that collectively implement these strategies on a large scale and make suggestions for how this might happen.

Charitable Choice and Faith-Based Welfare: A Call for Social Work

Purpose – In this chapter, we advance research on the socioeconomic ranking of religious groups by using both income and wealth to document the rankings of the six major religious groups in the United States – Jews, Catholics, mainline Protestants, evangelical Protestants, black Protestants, and the religiously unaffiliated – during 2001–2007, a period marked by both catastrophic economic losses and widespread economic gain. Design/Methodology/Approach – Drawing from the Panel Study on Income Dynamics (PSID), we provide descriptive statistics to explore the socioeconomic differences among the six major religious groups. In addition, we note their ownership rates and changes in wealth and income during 2001–2007. Findings – Overall, these findings point to enduring stratification in the U.S. religious landscape. Based on median net worth, leading into the Great Recession, the six major religious groups ranked in the following order: Jews, Catholics, mainline Protestants, evangelical Protestants, the unaffiliated, and black Protestants. At the same time, these findings point to the upward mobility of white Catholics, who increased their income and made the greatest increase in net worth between 2001 and 2007. These data also suggest a decline in the socioeconomic status of the religiously unaffiliated as compared to previous studies. Research implications – These findings illustrate the degree to which certain religious groups have access to wealth and other resources, and have implications for how the years leading into the Great Recession may have influenced households’ vulnerability to financial shocks. Originality/Value – We use both income and wealth to examine whether different religious groups experienced any changes in income and wealth leading into the 2008 economic downturn.