Survey Finds Few African American Churches Take Part in Federal Initiative

The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy
By: Anne Farris, Roundtable Washington Correspondent
First published: September 19, 2006

Only a small percentage of African American churches have received grants through the federal Faith-Based and Community Initiative (FBCI), and those that have tend to be liberal or progressive churches in the Northeast, according to a survey released today (Sept. 19).

The findings, reported by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, offered no support for concerns that the Bush Administration, which launched the FBCI in 2001, has benefited politically from the initiative.

"The surprising finding was that churches in the ‘blue states' where Al Gore and John Kerry won in 2000 and 2004 were more likely to have received FBCI grants than those in ‘red states' that George W. Bush won in 2000 and 2004, with New York and New Jersey leading the list," said David Bositis, a Center senior research associate who conducted the survey among 750 African American churches nationally.

Larger churches with liberal or progressive congregations are most likely to be taking advantage of the program, even though their pastors may not be ideological or political supporters of the Bush Administration, Bositis said. That's because they have the capacity and resources to apply for and administer government grants, and because progressive congregations tend to provide more of the social services that the federal government funds.

"Partly because of the intense political polarization at the moment, I think it's been difficult to have a clear debate on what government should and should not do in regards to faith-based institutions," said E. J. Dionne, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who moderated an event to release the report Tuesday. "Some of the fears that some folks had about the Faith-Based Initiative have not been realized."

Jay Hein, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives that administers the FBCI, said while the number of African American churches receiving FBCI grants was low, the level of interest in the FBCI and government interaction with faith-based groups is high. He described the Faith-Based and Community Initiative as "multi-dimensional," saying it must not only provide funds, but also help coordinate services provided by religious organizations.

"It is about funding, it is about training and technical assistance," he said, adding that his office has trained 25,000 ministers how to apply for grants and coordinate with government. "The mission of the Faith-Based Initiative is to help grow the supply of effective compassion in every community." Hein said the report also addresses the "prophetic voice concern" of churches - the concern raised by some religious leaders that accepting government money could diminish their ability to speak out against government actions that they disapprove of. "What this study perhaps reveals, at least in part, is that you're able to take a dollar and still be a critic -- or at least be a hard-question asker -- about what government is doing to help," he said.

A panel of observers who met today in Washington to discuss the report said the survey produced some unexpected results.

"There's been skepticism (about the FBCI) in black church communities," said Robert Franklin, a professor of social ethics at Emory University. "I find this report, at least with respect to those hot embers or hot issues, pours cold water on them. It tempers the conversation so that we can assess the merits of concern about these issues."

Franklin said he was surprised to find half the pastors saying they had detected no change in the level of government money for social services, that their prophetic voices had not been "muffled" by government partnership, and that critics of the FBCI had applied for grants as "pastoral pragmatism" -- to meet community needs.

Bositis, too, said he was surprised by some of these results. "There was surprisingly low levels of cynicism about the program," Bositis said. "A third of the pastors thought that the grants were going to all churches that applied and there was no particular bias. Thirty percent had no idea where it was going. One fourth thought they were going to megachurches more than other kinds of churches, but there's probably some truth to that because it's the megachurches that have the resources and capacity to receive the grant.

However, only 4 percent thought the grants were going to conservative evangelical churches and only 5 percent thought they were going to the ‘Christian Right' churches."

Dionne said the survey results complement a study in the early 2000s that also found smaller churches facing difficulties accessing government funds.

But Fred Davie, president of Public/Private Ventures, which has received an FBCI grant to support smaller congregations, said the study did not reflect his own experience. "A majority of the congregations in the program that we have funded through the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives are probably those mid-size and small programs. Our experience is slightly different from what this data would suggest," he said.

"I don't want to appear as an apologist for the FBCI, but I give credit where credit is due," Davie said. "I believe focusing more intentionally on this partnership between the black church and government has benefit."

Other findings include:

• Only a small percentage of the ministers surveyed had doubts about the political motivations behind FBCI grantmaking. Three in ten said they had no idea what types of churches were receiving grants. Those who were skeptical of the FBCI thought government was trying to shift its social service responsibilities to churches, that involvement with government was problematic, that government would control their work, and there were serious issues involving separation of church and state.
• Eleven percent of the churches had received some sort of government assistance, whether from the state, local or federal government, to provide social services. And 2.6 percent of the churches had received a FBCI grant, although it was noted that FBCI grants also flow through state and local governments, and ministers may not have realized they received a FBCI grant when accepting government money.
• Eleven percent of the churches applied for a grant from the FBCI, and the success rate for receiving grants was about one in four. Those who applied were much more likely to have been contacted by the government about applying. The churches that applied were generally larger churches with higher revenues.
• One fourth of the ministers thought the availability of government services had increased due to the FBCI, while 23 percent thought it had declined. Fifty-two percent thought the services had not changed. There was concern that the government was trying to shift the safety net to religious bodies and diminish its own role. Thirty-two percent thought it was a major problem, 28 percent thought it was a minor problem, while 40 percent thought it was not a problem at all.
• There was insufficient outreach to African American churches. While 75 percent of the churches surveyed were vaguely aware of the FBCI, 66 percent did not know about the rules and details for participating. Only one in six had been contacted about applying for grants.

Original Content >>

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=5001