Faith, Hope, and Jobs

A front-burner issue on the public policy agenda today is the increased use of partnerships between government and non-governmental entities, including faith-based social service organizations. In the wake of President Bush's faith-based initiative, many are still wondering about the effectiveness of these faith-based organizations in providing services to those in need, and whether they provide better outcomes than more traditional government, secular, nonprofit and for-profit organizations. The book studies the effectiveness of 17 different welfare-to-work programs in Los Angeles County (where the U.S. government spends 14% of its entire welfare budget) to provide ground breaking insight into understanding what works and what does not. The book concludes with three sets of concrete recommendations for public policy makers, social service program managers and researchers.

Reviews

"A must-read for scholars, lay audiences, and anyone seriously concerned about contemporary social problems like employment in urban America. Monsma and Soper have produced a solid piece of research on a topic long-neglected by social scientists."?Byron Johnson, professor of sociology and director, Center for Religious Inquiry Across the Disciplines, Baylor University, and senior fellow, Religion and Civil Society Program, The Witherspoon Institute

"In this important book, Monsma and Soper offer a trenchant, empirically well-grounded analysis of the comparative effectiveness of the different types of faith-based and secular welfare-to-work programs. Their valuable book will be of broad interest to policymakers, scholars, and practitioners concerned with the future of social services and the role of faith-based organizations in helping people in need."?Steven Rathgeb Smith, professor of public affairs, University of Washington