Episcopal Press and News
Does Church Have Means to Pick Up the Slack?
Episcopal News Service. October 8, 1981 [81260]
NEW YORK -- Parish feeding programs are bolstering their operations. Other parishes are exploring starting such programs. Funding organizations are finding themselves overwhelmed with requests. The changes marking the American social service system caught no one by surprise, but recent conversations highlight the mixed emotions with which Church people are taking up the task.
The government theory is that a revitalized economy, coupled with a renewed sense of volunteerism, will more than make up for the budgetary cuts to social service programs. Personal, estate and corporate tax cuts and increases in corporate charitable deduction limits are expected simultaneously to revive the economy and support necessary social programs.
However, some analysts see a flaw in the theory. They argue that there is a built-in inconsistency in the theory because the money freed by tax law changes must be poured immediately into capital investment -- plant, equipment, investments -- in order for the supply side theory to work out.
The theory holds that such investment will create needed jobs and reduce the need for social dependency, but analysts still worry that the jobs that are created will be sophisticated and technical and, therefore, beyond the reach of most social service clients.
The tax cuts themselves are also viewed with mixed feelings. They are of greatest benefit to those in higher income brackets and, in the case of the lightened estate tax burden, actually reduce the incentive to give to charities.
Even the charitable deduction limit is viewed as "window dressing." One observer noted, "Corporate giving now doesn't approach the existing five percent level. The increase to ten percent will mean nothing."
On the other hand, changes in filing laws are expected to encourage those who don't itemize deductions to contribute more. Moreover, religious groups, where the level of commitment is higher, are expected to suffer less than foundations, academia, the arts and other beneficiaries of philanthropy.
However, while the view of the future remains very murky, there is little question that many people are afraid that the cuts will hurt -- at least in the near future until the theories are proven or abandoned.
The effect of that fear has been a dramatic increase in the number of grant requests made to Church funding groups. Spokesmen for the United Thank Offering, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, the Coalition for Human Needs Commission, and the various ethnic and social programs of the Episcopal Church Center all report a surge in requests began as early as last spring when people first realized that the changes were inevitable. Judith Gillespie, United Thank Offering coordinator, reported that the office usually received grant requests for about $5 to $6 million. "This year it was up to $10 million and I'm pretty sure that all of the increase was from domestic requests."
Feeding programs, housing rehabilitation projects and almost any ministry that relied on workers hired through the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) seem to be the ones in greatest jeopardy, to judge by the onslaught of requests. These requests make it clear that, while the effects of most of the budget shifts are uncertain, the loss of the CETA program workers is real and immediate.
CETA workers staff feeding programs, build low-cost housing and operate agricultural experiments. The program has also been used to support crafts and other skill-training programs. Steve Charleston, Native American ministries staff officer at the Church Center, noted that, partly because of the CETA losses, Native Americans would be absorbing about three percent of the budget cuts while making up less than one-half of one percent of the total population.
It has been noted that these changes were no surprise. Church officers seem to have been well prepared, and programs and policies are already being worked out.
The September issue of Episcopal Hunger Notes contains resources on starting food banks, pantries and soup kitchens and information on rural area feeding programs, counseling with the poor and wider outreach possibilities. Through the hunger network, this resource is already in the hands of most dioceses and a great number of parishes throughout the church.
Howard Quander, who directs training and housing programs for the Church Center, said his networks are "shifting back to creating models -- workable models that can be shared around the Church. We are also going into new training areas. Since local funds are likely to be needed for program and outreach, we are developing a program with the Chinatown Mission (of the Diocese of New York) to train small parishes in computer use that can eliminate costly bookkeeping practices."
Finally, all parties agree that the key factor in meeting the need will be the attitude of concerned Christians, and this factor now seems to offer some hope.
"One of the scary things about all this," commented Dr. David Crean, Hunger Ministries staff officer at the Church Center, "is that as people work harder to meet increased local need, discretionary money that used to go to national and diocesan programs may dry up. It will be very important to keep the balance before the congregations."
Right now, the concern is deep and the balance exists, as Gillespie notes: "Mrs. Taylor Lonsdale, who chairs the UTO committee of St. Timothy's in Hawaii, wrote to us recently to say that she and her husband had been looking for a project that was ministering to people who would suffer from the budget cuts. They were drawn to a Washington, D.C. free clinic which had been publicized in an urban mission brochure; and they are not only making a special offering to that, in addition to their continued UTO support, they are talking it up around the parish and hope to get wider support for the clinic."
