The Arc of Faith-Based Initiatives

This volume offers an in-depth examination of a diverse range of faith-based programs implemented in three different geographical locales: family support in rural Mississippi, transitional housing in Michigan, and addiction recovery in the Pacific Northwest (Washington-Oregon). Various types of religious service providers-faith-intensive and faith-related-are carefully examined, and secular organizations also serve as an illuminating point of comparison. Among other insights, this book reveals how the "three C's" of social service provision-programmatic content, organizational culture, and ecological context-all combine to shape the delivery of welfare services in the nonprofit world. This book warns against simplistic generalizations about faith-based organizations. Faith-based providers exhibit considerable diversity and, quite often, remarkable resilience in the face of challenging social circumstances. An appreciation of these nuances is critical as policies concerning faith-based organizations continue to evolve.

Analyzes the activities of faith-based organizations in Mississippi, Michigan, and the Pacific Northwest

Chapter 1-Faith-Based Persistence and Permutations.- Chapter 2-Faith-Based Initiatives Reconsidered: The Complicated Relationship Between Religion and Social Welfare Service Provision.- Chapter 3-Faith-based versus Secular Support for Fragile Families: Parent Education in the Rural South.- Chapter 4-Across the Continuum of Care: Transitional Housing Programs in the Midwest.- Chapter 5-Addiction Recovery: Residential Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programs in the Pacific Northwest (Steven Rathgeb Smith with Bejamina Menashe).- Chapter 6- Does Faith Matter? Client Transformation in Parenting, Housing, and Addiction Recovery Programs.- Conclusion-Promising Partners or Strange Bedfellows? Faith-Based Providers and Government Funders after Welfare.- Appendix A: Methods in Brief.- Appendix B: Research Instruments.- Appendix C: Descriptions of Programs and Agencies.