One more river to cross: African -American congregations at the dawn of a new millennium

Can African-American congregations succeed where big government has failed? Are African-American congregations providing services that will help individuals and their families lead self-sufficient and productive lives? Are African-American congregations providing more social services than other congregations? Questions that once only seemed important to African-American congregations and African-American communities have become essential for understanding private sector social welfare provision with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996 - PL 104-193. This legislation, called the Welfare Reform Law, marked a change in welfare services from an entitlement program to a temporary assistance program with a provision that encourages states to contract with faith-based and community-based organizations to provide social services. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the social service patterns and resource capacity of African-American congregations as social service providers when compared to other congregations. This study examined the social service involvement provided by African-American congregations as compared to interracial and white congregations. Data from Cnaan\u27s study of 251 congregations in seven cities (Chicago, IL; Houston, TX; Indianapolis, IN; New York City; Mobile, AL; Philadelphia, PA; and San Francisco, CA), as well as my study of 17 congregations in the historic all-black town of Boley, OK, supported the argument that African-American congregations were more involved than their interracial and white counterparts in providing social services across a wide array of areas. African-American congregations were more involved in basic need services, health services (especially health education and drug and alcohol services), community development services (especially housing and community security), and advocacy services. While these findings suggest that African-American congregations participate in a broader range of social services than interracial and white congregations, the scale and financial capacity of African-American congregations appears to be overestimated. This study calls for future research to examine the scale, capacity, human resource usage, and collaborations of congregations to refine the understanding of the social service involvement of African-American congregations