Philadelphia Church Navigates Waters of Government Funding
by Kelly C. Martini
When changes to the welfare system were proposed, many residents of North Philadelphia asked, "How will we survive?" Cookman United Methodist Church (UMC) is helping them find answers.
With a weekly attendance of 60, half of whom are children, Cookman UMC was faced with a task that even much larger membership churches would have found overwhelming.
What Cookman United Methodist Church is doing is unconventional and controversial -- it’s delivering services to the poor using Charitable-Choice funding. Charitable Choice, a provision of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, provides government money to religious organizations to deliver social services without many of the usual guidelines for separation of church and state.
Critics of Charitable Choice question if the plan shifts responsibility for care of people from the government to religious institutions. Does the provision blur the distinction between church and state? Will the church be forced to work under state controls and requirements not in line with Christian values?
Those at Cookman United Methodist Church who have been involved in Transitional Ministries -- the partially state-funded program -- have committed themselves to working through these issues because of their commit to meeting their neighbors’ needs.
Sixty-five percent of residents of Cookman UMC’s north Philadelphia neighborhood have dropped out of high school. The poverty rate is high -- 46 percent of the neighborhood’s families receive full welfare benefits and 49 percent receive Social Security benefits.
The church applied for Charitable-Choice funding and received it. The church also received a grant from the Women’s Division. As members designed the Transitional Ministries program, they decided to include a spiritual component because they believe such a component is integral to moving people from welfare to education to work
Because of the government funding, students in the program sign a waiver stating they know they don’t have to participate in religious activity. The disclaimer is repeated before every spiritual class.
Education and work
"We are a work-first state," said Donna Jones, pastor of Cookman United Methodist Church. "That means that jobs come first."
If a student is offered a job, that becomes the priority. Yet Transitional Ministries staff know that without education, students will qualify only for minimum-level jobs with no opportunity for advancement. So they have begun at-home schooling programs to help students get their degrees in their off-time. "We are the church," Ms. Jones said. "We deal with the human side of things, and people know we truly want to help. We come at this program from a different place than the government programs and that elicits its a different trust level from the participants."
Doris Molina agreed. When her caseworker gave her a list of programs throughout Philadephia, she chose Cookman UMC’s.
"My goal was to complete training and get my diploma," said Ms. Molina, the mother of a four-year-old boy. "When I came here, I always believed in God and had faith, but here I learned more. I learned how to read the Bible. I was tutored so I could get my GED. And the life-skills class boosted by self-esteem because I could talk about any issue in my life."
Ms. Molina’s next goals are to complete two years of college, and pass on the importance of education to her son.
"I tell him you need to go to school, to graduate and go to college," she said. When you ask her son what he wants to do when he grows up, he repeats this instruction.
Commitment to students
Cookman UMC’s program was the first welfare-to-work program in which Ms. Molina enrolled. Yet for many students, Transitional Ministries is one of several programs in which they’ve been enrolled.
Because of the state’s strict standards, when students cannot meet the state’s criteria, they’re removed from one program just to enroll in another.
One such requirement is that a student absent from class for five consecutive days must be terminated from the program. But Ms. Jones recognizes there are extenuating circumstances that lead people to be on welfare and absent from the program -- abuse, problems with children, court appointments, household disasters, high-risk pregnancies, recovery from addictions.
"We made a commitment to work with students who have bounced from program to program," Ms. Jones said.
Legitimate disasters, compounded by no support system and no skills for dealing with emergencies is a formula for failure, Ms. Jones said. So Cookman UMC’s ministry seeks to give students these skills needed to succeed.
If a student missed five consecutive days, had a desire to continue with the program, and had extenuating circumstances the church could address, the student was allowed to continue.
The church lost partial state funding for making such exceptions -- a major blow to a tight budget. Yet those working in Transitional Ministries knew they had to work with these students to enable them to continue. Otherwise, Transitional Ministries would become just another state-run program. Program Director Karen Milligan explained:
"We get people in Transitional Ministries who are on the bottom rung of life’s ladders, and who are often overlooked. We give personal attention. We’re not routinely going to terminate someone because of abuse, sickness, disabilities."
Empowering women
In 1995, Wilhelmina J. Young, a member of Cookman UMC, went with advocacy groups to the state capital to voice concerns about proposed changes in welfare laws. She returned to the church realizing welfare changes couldn’t be stopped. Families in Cookman UMC’s neighborhood would be deeply impacted. The church had to look for community solutions to help people survive the life-threatening circumstances that were coming.
Ms. Young, who helped start Transitional Ministries now works part time for the program, leading the life-skills classes. Class topics include self-esteem, criticism, healthy relationships, communications, decision making, personal and financial planning, time management, and core values. Through dialogue, group members look at what drives their lives, who they are and what they value.
"We’re trying to help women look at themselves in a way that will be self-empowering," Ms. Young said. "Looking at relationships is the key."
Many of the women are in abusive relationships. They don’t know how to get out of them or if they even deserve anything else, Ms. Young said.
"We help them look at who they are, their purpose in life and their dreams without feeling that they’re being selfish," Ms. Young said. "Every woman has her own story."
There are several other ways that Transitional Ministries differs from government-run programs.
The program can be spiritually centered -- a choice left to participants because of government funding. A Muslim student was given time with her imam for spiritual direction. Most of the students have chosen to attend "Sisters of Faith" classes.
Ms. Milligan believes spiritual centeredness helps the women work through the secular welfare system. Students may have counselors without compassion or time, or who want to lump them with everyone else in the system, she said. The uniqueness of each individual is important, she added.
"We emphasize that God has a purpose for each person’s life," Ms. Milligan said. "This program is a self-esteem builder."
While there have been challenges in following state rules, Ms. Milligan believes Charitable-Choice funding has given Cookman UMC’s program an advantage. It has allowed a small-membership congregation, with few funds, to start a ministry that empowers the community. And it has helped the church become known for its work -- important when looking for funding.
With classes that run the gamut -- GED completion, life skills, computers, spiritual classes, employment preparation -- those who run the program know they are offering more than government-run programs. They are offering participants a future.
Kelly C. Martini is executive secretary for communications for the Women’s Division.