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Fighting Poverty With Faith: Reflections On Ten Years Of Charitable Choice, Michele E. Gilman

All Faculty Scholarship

Since 1996, the federal government has undertaken major initiatives to fund religious organizations to deliver social services. These programs, called charitable choice, continue to expand and now account for over $2 billion in social welfare spending. However, charitable choice blurs the lines between church and state and is thus highly controversial. This article reflects on ten years of experience with charitable choice and assesses the impact and effectiveness of these programs. There is little empirical evidence that faith-based social services are superior to secular programs. Moreover, religious grantees, and congregations in particular, are often unable to manage large federal grants …