Report on State Support for Religious Groups That Provide Social Services

Charitable Choice: First Results From Three States, by Sheila Suess Kennedy, describes the preliminary findings of research on the effects of federal welfare legislation passed in 1996 allowing religious groups that receive government financing to apply religious criteria when hiring, to display religious symbols in rooms where programs take place, and to use faith-based concepts in administering services. Ms. Kennedy, principal investigator on the research project and an associate professor of law and public policy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and other researchers discuss how Indiana, Massachusetts, and North Carolina interpreted the provision allowing aid to go to religious groups and what programs, if any, those states put in place to help such groups bid for government contracts. Researchers also looked at the ability of religious organizations to deliver services, states’ management of new contracts with religious groups, and whether First Amendment boundaries between church and state were maintained. The authors say initial research shows that relatively few new religious groups in those three states were awarded government contracts. Additionally, data from Indiana suggest that religious groups are “somewhat less effective” than secular ones in providing job training and placement. This is the first report of a three-year research project supported by the Ford Foundation.

Publisher: Center for Urban Policy and the Environment, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana U.-Purdue U. Indianapolis, 342 North Senate Avenue, Indianapolis, Ind. 46204-1708; (317) 261-3000; http://www.urbancenter.iupui.edu; 174 pages; $5; or free for download on the center’s Web site.