A Limited Partnership

ISBN: 0231120850

Author: Wineburg, Bob

Condition: New

Product Description Ranging from the Reagan years to the present-a crucial period in both social welfare policy development and the history of religious involvement in social services-A Limited Partnership explores an important undercurrent in the new welfare policy. Robert Wineburg argues that the present policy, with its emphasis on services increasingly being delivered by the faith community, simply cannot work the way its architects envisioned. He calls for rationality in finding solutions to the complex problems of poverty and the division of responsibilities for helping those in need at the local level.Using almost twenty years of data from Greensboro, North Carolina, as a long-term case study, the author examines how the budget cuts of the Reagan era, the Bush era, and the Clinton era altered the relationships among religious congregations and other agencies. The book presents a vivid picture of the chaos caused by these policy changes at the level of service delivery and clearly demonstrates that the religious community cannot be the sole provider of social services but instead must remain an important but limited partner with a special role in delivering social services.Wineburg's study provides a fresh perspective on a policy debate that genuinely lacks understanding of how politics, religion, and a complicated web of social services operate at the community level. Review A timely book. To be commended for giving attention to a long neglected phenomenon. The book is worth reading and will hopefully stimulate additional research and writing which is greatly needed. -- Dr. Lawrence Ressler - Journal of Teaching in Social Work[This] book seeks to garner support for a 'limited partnership' between social work and religion that would counter government devolution... [it is] of interest to social workers and religious leaders in general for it provides past and future visions of collaboration. -- Elizabeth King Keenan - Religious Studies Review From the Back Cover RANGING FROM THE REAGAN YEARS TO THE PRESENT -- a crucial period in both social welfare policy development and the history of religious involvement in social services -- A Limited Partnership explores an important undercurrent in the new welfare policy. Bob Wineburg argues that the present policy, with its emphasis on services increasingly being delivered by the faith community, simply cannot work the way its architects envisioned. He calls for rationality in finding solutions to the complex problems of poverty and the division of responsibilities for helping those in need at the local level.Using almost twenty years of data from Greensboro, North Carolina as a long-term case study, the author examines how the budget cuts of the Reagan era, the Bush era, and the Clinton era altered the relationships among religious congregations and other agencies. The book presents a vivid picture of the chaos caused by these policy changes at the level of service delivery and clearly demonstrates that the religious community cannot be the sole provider of social services but instead must remain an important but limited partner with a special role in delivering social services.Wineburg's study provides a fresh perspective on a policy debate that genuinely lacks understanding of how politics, religion, and a complicated web of social services operate at the community level. About the Author Robert Wineburg is a professor of social work at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He was a member of the Governor of North Carolina's Task Force on Community Initiatives regarding Welfare Reform, has consulted with Partners for Sacred Places in Philadelphia, and was a consultant on Catholic Charities USA's Catholic Identity Project.