Communities of Faith Initiative

This article was posted in 2000.

Working across denominational and racial lines to address the needs of rural people, especially those living in or near poverty, the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center launched the Communities of Faith Initiative in 1993. The purpose of the initiative was to build an alliance among the most prevalent, powerful institutions in rural communities - rural churches - to support those most in need. Under the Communities of Faith umbrella, the Rural Center conducted several projects, the most important of which were the Church Child Care Initiative and the Work First Job Retention and Follow-Up Model Program.

Church Child Care Initiative.

To address the growing need for accessible, affordable, high quality child care in rural communities, the Rural Center joined with leaders of the faith community in 1993 to form North Carolina's first partnership for children. The partnership is an inter-denominational, inter-racial group of 12 leading denominations, the N.C. Council of Churches, the Duke Divinity School and the Duke Endowment and the Rural Center.

Together, these groups have developed a Church Child Care Initiative, which, for almost a decade, has served low and moderate-income families in rural areas by:

Providing technical assistance to individuals wishing to develop, expand or improve child care programs in rural churches
Providing a loan guarantee program for churches and others in economically distressed areas who seek capital for child care facilities, equipment and other needs
Sponsoring a statewide Church Child Care Policy Forum for religious leaders
Sponsoring an annual workshop series at sites throughout the state for churches interested in developing child care programs
Publishing and distributing "A Child at the Door," a comprehensive guidebook for starting and running a church-based child care program
Sponsoring an annual statewide Church Child Care conference

Work First Job Retention and Follow-up Model Program.

The groundwork for this project was laid in March 1997 with a two-day Communities of Faith Conference sponsored by the Rural Center, the Duke Endowment and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. Attending the conference were more than a hundred church leaders who came to explore the role rural churches play in the welfare reform movement. Other events followed, during which interest escalated. These events included a second conference in 1998, meetings among foundation leaders to discuss the role of philanthropic organizations in welfare reform and meetings with the N.C. Division of Social Services to discuss the possibility of creating a multi-agency initiative for assisting welfare families.

In March 1999, the Rural Center entered into a contractual partnership with the N.C. Division of Social Services to initiate a church-based pilot program designed to support rural families as they moved from welfare to work. The goals of the program are to help those participating in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to attain and maintain self-sufficiency through job retention, family support services and pre- and post-TANF follow-up.

To put the program into action, the Rural Center made "faith demonstration awards" to faith-based organizations that are now testing new ideas and serving local TANF recipients at sites throughout North Carolina. Following is a summary of the projects now being undertaken by these groups.

Asheville-Buncombe Community Christian Ministry - The ministry, which in the past provided basic necessities for needy families, has expanded its services to include assessing individual job readiness, initiating a case management program to help families move from welfare to work and facilitating transportation services for those families. The initiative focuses on five western North Carolina counties.

The Christian Women's Job Corps - Launched by the Women's Missionary Union of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, the Christian Women's Job Corps develops one-on-one mentoring programs to help women break out of the cycle of poverty through mentoring, job training and job placement. The Job Corps currently has five operational sites and is working to establish program at six more sites.

Catholic Social Ministries - A nonprofit agency serving 54 counties through seven regional offices and several family support sites, Catholic Social Ministries has initiated a Working Families Partners program. This program creates teams of volunteers from churches to help families in need, as identified by local social services departments. So far, the program has trained 95 volunteers and is operating in Brunswick, New Hanover, Wake, Johnston, Cumberland, Lee and Craven counties.

The Jobs Partnership - Building on local partnerships between the faith and business communities, the Jobs Partnership emphasizes job retention, family support services, mentoring and transportation models, as well as an innovative technology training program. The Jobs Partnership Program is operating in Vance, Granville and Wake counties.

The TANF Faith Collaborative - Representing the A.M.E. A.M.E.Z., GBSC and UMC/BMCR churches, this collaborative has initiated computer-assisted instruction pilot programs in 15 counties. Other collaborative efforts include the Cornerstone Lifestyle Innovations for Employment Program and the St. Paul's Employment Institute, which has initiated 21 replication sites in 12 additional counties.

Women's Missionary Union's Christian Women's Job Corps - The Christian Women's Job Corps, modeled after an initiative under way in Alabama, centers on one woman helping one woman break the cycle of poverty. The program provides long-term mentoring services by encouraging Christian women, through the Job Corps, to pair up with Work First families, making a commitment of at least one year, to help them transition into the workforce.

Faith Empowerment Community Consortium - The consortium consists of more than 200 houses of workshop and faith-based organizations in 11 counties and represents 12 denominations. It provides training, mentoring and job placement assistance for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds.

Welfare Reform Liaison Project, Inc. - The Welfare Reform Project offers a 12-week program that includes a mix of classroom experiences, on the job training and intensive casework. A central component of the program is the distribution job training center that receives, inventories and disseminates corporate donations to families, churches and non-profit organizations.

Truth in Youth and Family Services/Southeastern Empowerment To Work Program - Truth in Youth is a community resource center that provides crisis management and referral services for families that receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds. The program provides an after-school counseling and work program in Brunswick County and works with single moms, economically disadvantaged women and others in Columbus, Bladen and Brunswick counties.

Representatives from these programs, along with the Rural Center and the Division of Social Services, make up a working committee for the Work First Initiative. Each quarter, the committee shares its experiences, facilitates collaborations among programs, and provides insights, which will be presented in a final report.

The Work First initiative provides technical assistance, organizational development and project oversight to faith-based organizations involved in the initiative. In turn, the faith communities provide much-needed personal attention and support to families struggling to find and keep living-wage jobs.

Funding

Financial support for the Communities of Faith Initiative has come from the Duke Endowment, the Grant Fund of New York and the North Carolina Division of Social Services.