A Mission in Jeopardy
Each day of the year, the big red doors of the 125-year-old Bowery Mission swing open to New York City’s poor and homeless, offering them three warm meals a day, clean clothing, and for many, a sheltered night’s sleep. But it’s not just the 600-800 hot meals that the mission serves up daily; it also offers a healthy dose of hope. Between the various operations of the mission’s parent organization, Christian Herald Association, thousands of men, women, and children are provided vital services each year.
“We operate from the power of faith to change lives, but provide all services regardless of race, religion, creed,” said Glenn McKinney, Director of Development for the Bowery Mission. And he believes that his program is more effective than those that are not infused with this spiritual aspect.
Yet all the effective change elicits some disapproval. Faith-based community programs have always toed the controversial line of church-state separation. In the light of President Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative, the federal support of programs such as the Bowery Mission is under contest.
McKinney is concerned that if Sen. John Kerry beats President George W. Bush in the upcoming presidential election, his organization will lose not only the potential for federal aid, but also the increased attention they have received as a result of Bush’s faith-based program.
Offering clothing, medical attention, educational assistance, job training, and children’s after school programs, the Bowery Mission aims to be “the most effective provider of compassionate care and life transformation services in New York City,” according to its 2004 fact sheet. Serving up to 220,000 meals and providing 38,000 nights of sheltered sleep annually, the mission opens its doors 365 days a year to New York City’s poor and homeless. What distinguishes it from city-run relief efforts?
“It’s the faith component. The hope,” McKinney said. The mission focuses on life transformation through the influence of the Christian faith.
To measure its efficiency, the Bowery Mission takes into account sobriety relapse rates, academic improvement, positive life goals, strengthened family relationships, and exhibition of “Christian character” in those who pass through the program. Assisting homeless men to achieve a drug-free and productive future, the Mission’s Transitional Center, which has a unique partnership with the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS), has a 93.5 percent client success rate, according DHS criteria. It is the best of all city shelter programs for six years running, said McKinney.
Programs such as this have been in action for years, and in the case of the Bowery Mission, since 1879. But the fear that the government is meddling with religious outreach is more acute than it was a century ago, where alternatives to the religious relief efforts were fewer and less effective.
The Faith-Based Initiative, proposed just after Bush took office in 2001, calls for “leveling the playing field” so religious organizations can compete for government funds, as long as no federal funds are used for any “inherently religious activities.” Also, there must be a secular alternative program available so no one is forced to receive services from a faith-based provider.
“I am convinced our plan is constitutional, because we intend—we will not fund a church or a synagogue or a mosque or any religion, but instead, will be funding programs that affect people in a positive way,” Bush said to the press when he announced the plan.
“It’s fantastic to have a President who doesn’t discriminate against organizations [that] provide [services] more effectively,” McKinney said.
According to the Christian Herald Association, Inc.’s financial summary for the fiscal year 2003, 22 percent of its support and revenue comes from governmental contracts and grants.
The Bowery Mission knows that this assistance is not guaranteed to keep flowing its way. It is very careful about what funds to accept. It is dangerous for a faith-based group to rely on the government for funding of essential daily operations, according to McKinney.
“There is an old saying, ‘Feed from the government trough, and they’ll build a pen around you,’” he said.
Most of the federal funds received by the Mission, he said, are routed through the state of New York, which in turn funnels it to the city, which works with the Bowery Mission through DHS. Therefore, it was receiving some financial assistance before Bush’s plan went into effect. To date, McKinney said that the mission has not received any money as a direct result of the Faith-Based Initiative, although they are “on the cusp of getting some right now.”
More than anything, McKinney said he has seen the effects of the Bush agenda through increased public interest. “The awareness of faith-based charity and the presence on a national agenda has meant great benefits to our work in the public’s eye,” he said.
Yet this program of “leveling the playing field” for secular and religious community service groups is not guaranteed to continue if another president were to come to power.
Kerry has recognized the potential of faith-based programs and believes that they do “legitimate work,” But, as he told the Associated Press, “George Bush and his administration has stepped over the line of separation of church and state.”
He also threatened to end government funding to any religious group.
“There’s all kinds of wonderful work going on, and I salute it and I applaud it and I embrace it. But the government shouldn’t be funding it. It’s very simple,” said Kerry.
So the Bowery Mission, which strongly feels that Christian faith is at the core of its achievement, is at risk of losing the support of the White House. And it doesn’t intend to temper the spiritual impact to solicit more funds.
“The irony is that we have a much more open-door policy than almost all other programs; private and especially public, where people must check in…sometimes give social security numbers, or be bussed around,” McKinney noted. Yet, he said, his organization has frequently been discriminated against in fundraising efforts because of their faith.
In this tumultuous election, groups like the Bowery Mission have some stakes in the outcome. Its programs could suffer cutbacks. Its planned expansion projects, including greater reach with their children’s camps for inner-city kids in the Pocono Mountains, could be curtailed. Kerry has made it clear he doesn’t support Federal assistance to these organizations. To the Bowery Mission, retaining the president’s support for faith-based charities is crucial.
“The fact that the government is open,” said McKinney, “and see that we’re doing effective work—that’s fantastic!”
The mission survives on volunteer efforts, such as the group led by Sen. Rick Santorum during the Republican National Convention or the team recently led by Gen. Wesley Clark, to facilitate their daily functions. While they largely rely on personal financial gifts for their day-to-day operation, Presidential denunciation could seriously thwart the Bowery Mission’s support base and inhibit its operation.
“I find it hard to believe that Kerry, or any other president, would give faith-based organizations the same level of attention,” McKinney said. “Clearly, this election will affect my work.”
