Episcopal Press and News
Kozol Urges Social Agenda For UEC
Episcopal News Service. April 13, 1989 [89075]
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (DPS, Apr. 13) -- "You vote against [social justice programs] that would solve these problems, then, when the problem gets bad enough, you run to the homeless shelter with your cupcakes and feel you have done something."
With those words, best-selling author Jonathan Kozol challenged the participants in the fourth annual United Episcopal Charities (UEC) conference to become not only caring people, but catalysts for change in a society that is abandoning the poor.
Meeting at the Duncan Center in the Diocese of Southeast Florida March 30-April 1, the theme of the three-day conference was "In Defense of Children," a series of workshops about ministries to children at risk. Telling the participants that there are now an estimated 500,000 homeless children in the United States, Kozol, author of the recent best-seller Rachel and Her Children, gave the keynote address on the problems and causes of homelessness in America. Decrying the $25 billion in cutbacks in federal assistance for housing, Aid to Dependent Children, and other social justice programs during the Reagan administration, Kozol urged churches and other nonprofit social service organizations to "not only provide the emergency care, but become catalysts for change and justice."
In response to Kozol's address, the UEC adopted a resolution calling on all Episcopalians to "work to facilitate school programs in their communities for the children of homeless families and organize and advocate with members of Congress, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the President to urge that the federal government appropriate adequate funds to make decent and affordable housing available to the poor of our nation."
Attending the conference were representatives from both the largest and smallest of the UEC affiliates, including Long Island, the oldest and one of the most successful UEC organizations, and the Diocese of Milwaukee, which has used the UEC plan for only four years. There are an estimated 54 diocesan UEC groups in the United States.
Although the UEC member organizations' structures vary -- from large, multi-member boards and affiliated agencies to simpler structures supporting single ministry operations -- all have the same goal: to minister to those in need who are not being helped by governmental or community agencies. In many cases, the Churchaffiliated agencies are the only ones helping those people who have "fallen through the cracks" of other social service programs.
In opening remarks to the 45 participants representing more than a dozen dioceses and charities groups, the Rt. Rev. David L. Bowman told the conference participants that "the challenge of Episcopal Charities organizations across the nation is to help the Church become the Church."
Bowman, Bishop of Western New York, is assigned by Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning as the episcopal adviser to the UEC. Bowman also oversees a successful and active UEC group based in Buffalo, New York.
The challenge, Bowman said, is to recognize that within the past decade the gap between the very rich and the very poor has widened to the point that the upper 20 percent of the income bracket now controls more than 45 percent of the material wealth of the nation. At the same time, the size of the poor population has grown significantly, while the middle class population continues to shrink.
The mission of the Church, Bowman said, is to be the Church -- to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and care for the young. Without the Church's involvement, he warned, American society is at great risk.
To accomplish this mission, Bowman said, it is imperative that the Church work on stewardship and growth. It is especially important, he noted, that dioceses and parishes recognize that a plan of 50-50 giving is essential. "We need to give away one dollar for every dollar we spend on ourselves," he said, to meet the needs of people at risk.
Taking his own diocese as an example, Bowman said that currently the diocese spends 41 percent of its income on outreach ministries. When the diocesan UEC organization adds its income and outreach spending, the percentage jumps to 54 percent of diocesan funds being spent on outreach programs and ministries.
Western New York, only now showing recovery from the devastating recessions of the mid-1970s and 1982, has responded strongly to UEC, which supports both Episcopal and ecumenical ministries, as well as providing aid to some community organizations.
The key to UEC operations around the country, a number of participants noted, is that the Episcopal Church and UEC organizations have the advantage of being the most effective negotiating, leveraging, and intermediary agents in community social work.
Glenn Allison, executive director of the Diocese of San Diego's $5.2 million Episcopal Community Services, related San Diego's success in using the diocese's $94,000 contribution to leveraging an additional $500,000 in Episcopal contributions from the Episcopal Church Women (ECW) and household pledges, in turn using that total to increase the funding tenfold, to $5.2 million, through contributions and contracts from outside the Church.
Now in its fourth year of operation, UEC is a nonprofit affiliation of Episcopal charities and Episcopal-based social service agencies that meets annually to share information and ideas about fund raising, programs, and common concerns.
The next meeting of the UEC will be April 18-22, 1990, in Estes Park, Colorado, in conjunction with the Family 2000 Conference sponsored by the national Church.
For more information about the UEC, write to Joan Scalfani, Episcopal Charities, 1114 Delaware Ave., Buffalo, N.Y. 14209, or call (716) 881-0660.
