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This paper examines organized religion as a driving force within the social welfare state and looks at religious organizations as human service providers. Direction is provided for incorporating content on religious groups and organizations as influential forces, into courses on social policy, administration, organization, and community. (Author/MLW)

Over 30 years since Alternative Social Agencies (Perlmutter, 1988) was published, scholars from a range of disciplines have studied alternative approaches to human service administration, management, and leadership. In this paper, we pull the historical threads of alternative voices into the web of contemporary practice and memorialize Perlmutter's legacy to social work education and practice. We begin with an historical perspective, framing the concept of an alternative agency and establishing the narrative in which Perlmutter's book was incubated. We then review the literature that has emerged on alternative agencies and build on her quest to conceptualize what it means to be an "alternative agency," using the subtype of feminist organizations as an exemplar. Finally, based on a review of this diverse literature, and grounded in the factors for success originally identified by Perlmutter, we identify lessons learned about strategies used in contemporary alternative agencies and their implications for human service leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies focused on a continuum of service delivery forms that target Asian Americans are examined: (a) ethnic agencies serving Asian and other ethnic groups, (b) pan-Asian ethnic agencies, and (c) ethnic agencies targeting specific Asian groups. Culturally responsive strategies being used to develop these Asian-specific service programs are identified, as well as assumptions/themes that undergird organizational identity, frame organizational culture, and guide practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three central and enduring themes related to the construction and reconstruction of the organizational identities of 24 charitable organizations in a Southern city are examined: communicating founding legends, adapting language to the times, and structurally responding to change. These themes within the stories of these organizations are retold throughout their histories, legitimizing their images within their communities and weaving identities into the agencies' coherence. The study reveals the importance of emergent change as accommodations and adaptations occur, the interfacing of multiple identities, and the potential of community images when tied to early identities. Connotations for organization practice and survival depend on sustaining a delicate balance between enduring collective identities and a changing community context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human service agency cultures are often difficult to understand. Competing values and paradoxical assumptions add to that difficulty. In this study, we use a well-established framework for organizational analysis to establish a tool to assess differing values and assumptions in diverse field agencies. A total of 200 MSW field instructors responded to a mailed survey at a 50% response rate. Comparisons of responses by participants in private and public agencies revealed that public agencies tended to have more traditional cultures than nonprofit agencies. Younger agencies were more likely to score higher than older agencies on items representing alternative perspectives. Participants perceived their organizations as straddling multiple perspectives. Knowing what values and assumptions are dominant within an organization may allow the professional to assess his or her fit within that organization and how to approach change within respective cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Program planning is about creating a means of guiding policy implementation. The impetus to engage in program planning may come through enacted policies, community needs, funding initiatives, or other incentives. We identify two major types of program planning, both of which engage participants in advocacy activities, but in different ways. Focused planning seeks within-systems change (generally for individual clients), whereas transformative planning seeks overall systemic change. Transformative programming is intended to change the status quo with or without related direct service interventions. Both transformative planning and focused planning require unique strategies, particularly in funding environments bent on outcome-based measurement. We provide guidelines for translating transformative program planning efforts into measurable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Built on the assumption that both rational and nonrational thought go into problem solving, but only rational approaches have been presented as appropriate technology for program development, this article offers an alterative way of designing social programs. We call this approach ‘emergent planning.’ Our aim is to provide a conceptualization of planning processes that will be useful regardless of culture, mission or goals of the human service organization within which planning and service occur. Our hope is to deconstruct what constitutes rational thinking in program planning in order to critically consider alternative ways of thinking and planning within the context of multiculturalism and globalization. The goal is recognition of a subjugated model of planning so that those who do not plan rationally are not automatically assumed to lack competence to engage in ‘real’ planning and effective problem solving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a grounded theory design and methods, 65 key informants in 15 faith-based organizations having promising programs in four urban areas were interviewed. Respondents were asked what makes their direct service programs faith-based. A story emerges, motivated by mission-driven visions tied to forces beyond local programs and steeped in deep traditions. A major implication of the findings is that in teaching people about the various practices of diverse religious groups, we are only giving them the visible elements. While the expressed values of acts and faith are integral in the faith-based discussion, they do not tell the full story. The deep drivers of human behavior and practice are found in the specific beliefs and interpretations of individuals who are involved either as leaders or participants in faith-based organizations. For many of these individuals in faith-based organizations, mission and accountability to God trumps secular or professional expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historical development of the faith-related organization is examined in light of the terminology used to describe these nonprofit groups, beginning with sectarian, moving to religious affiliate, and more recently using the term faith-related as a subcategory of being faith-based. Historical and contemporary research on faith-related organizations is reviewed, including a distinction between these studies and the increasing amount of research on religious congregations. Research findings are examined in the context of a complex political environment beginning with the Reagan/Bush Administrations, continuing into the Charitable Choice provisions introduced under the Clinton Administration, and moving to the Bush Administration's faith-based and community initiative. Implications of this initiative for the delivery of elder services are explored, particularly in light of the long-standing relationship the aging network has had with local faith groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). These communities provide varying degrees of housing, health, and human services in exchange for an up-front fee and monthly payments. As elderly residents age, accommodation and relocation decisions are inevitable. Housing managers and their staff must respond sensitively to increasing resident frailty and the resulting need for supportive services. Individual CCRCs develop policies and procedures to assess residents, to determine when an accommodation or relocation change is appropriate, and to decide who should be included in the decision-making process. Therefore CCRCs exist along a continuum from those with no assessment procedure to those with a multidisciplinary team that works closely with individual residents and uses a well-developed multidimensional process to inform staff and to assist with resident decision making. As older CCRCs with cohorts of frail elderly people encounter these concerns, they must depend on the skills of housing and health care staff to appropriately evaluate and implement appropriate changes in housing arrangements and level of care. The American Association of Homes for the Aging defines a CCRC as an organization that offers a full range of housing, residential services and health care in order to serve its older residents as their needs change over time.