ABSTRACT
Religious institutions play a significant, if little understood, role in poor communities in the United States. Among the institutions of civil society, churches are often the last to leave deteriorating neighborhoods and dwindling communities and the first to return. Religiously based social service efforts carry an important part of the burden of providing for the needs of poor communities. Congregations and local denominational bodies frequently build broad community coalitions on behalf of policy change and to strengthen both private and public social services for the poor. Congregation-based community-organizing programs have been among the most successful efforts to mobilize residents of poor neighborhoods for political action on behalf of local needs. What some call “para-church” organizations-religiousbased outreach and community action groups like Habitat for Humanity, Bread for the World, and Teen Challenge-devote themselves to addressing the needs of individuals and groups in poor communities in diverse and sometimes controversial ways. To what degree these diverse religious-based organizations have proven effective agents for generating and mobilizing social capital within and for poor communities remains an open question.
