Publications
The Center for Religion and Civic Culture produces reports, civic profiles, newsletters, and other sources of information related to religion and civic culture. Usually these are available for downloading as PDF files and some are available in printed form.
To view a PDF file, click on the name of the publication. Hard copies are available upon request by sending an e-mail to timothys@usc.edu.
Community Research and Development
Church State Guidelines: When Faith-Based Human Service Programs Are Funded by California Taxpayers
(February 2005) (PDF)
John B. Orr provides an overview of church-state guidelines for state-funded programs.
The Changing Face of Faith-Based Childcare in Los Angeles County (February 2005) (PDF)
John B. Orr and Robert Fillback offer a comprehensive view of trends in faith-based childcare in Los Angeles County and focus on recent trends and leadership programs.
Toolkit for Multidisciplinary Approaches to Homelessness (Spring 2004) (PDF)
USC faculty members present papers related to problems of homelessness in Los Angeles.
Written by Grace Roberts Dyrness, Mia Thompson, and Peter Spoto, this publication contains data related to homeless families in Los Angeles. It details services that are being offered to this population, then offers recommendations to social service organizations. Executive summary (PDF)
Faith-Based Adoptive/Foster Services: Faith Communities' Roles in Child Welfare (Spring 2004) (PDF)
Written by John Orr and Grace Roberts Dyrness, this publication offers a global scan of the historical involvement of faith communities in child welfare services. It describes recent trends and leadership programs, and concludes with recommendations.
Civic Participation and the Promise of Democracy (April 2004) (PDF)
Craig McGarvey explores civic engagement strategies (faith-based and community organizing, popular education, collective learning) and provides an overview of these strategies in California.
Policy on the Streets: A Handbook for Sidewalk Vending Programs (Fall 2002) (PDF)
The handbook, written by Grace Roberts Dyrness, offers guidelines for creating legalized sidewalk vending districts. Dyrness also explores street vending in light of the informal sector and the global economy.
Faith Works: Religious Communities Building Neighborhoods (Summer 2002) (PDF)
Written by Grace Roberts Dyrness and Andrea Dyrness. This publication profiles the capacity-building activities of San Francisco's FAITHS Initiative and the Faith Initiative of South Santa Barbara County.
Increasing Your Congregation's Capacity to Offer Publicly-Funded Human Service Programs (PDF)
This brief introduction by John B. Orr discusses strategies for building capacity.
Faith-Based Organizations and Welfare Reform: California Religious Community Capacity Study Qualitative Findings and Conclusions (December 2000) (PDF)
John B. Orr's qualitative analysis of welfare reform efforts.
Power, Justice, Faith: Conversations with the IAF (July 2000) (PDF)
Donald E. Miller, Roger Gustafson, Timothy Sato offer selections from interviews with leaders from the Industrial Area Foundation in California.
Religion and Health Services in Los Angeles: Reconfiguring the Terrain (April 2000) (PDF)
A profile of religion's engagement in health services within Los Angeles County John B. Orr and Sherry May.
Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches: Organizing Congregations to Create Change (September 1999) (PDF)
Donald E. Miller and Timothy Sato provide an overview of a congregation-based organizing effort in South Los Angeles.
Religion-Based Discrimination in Charitable Choice: A Guide for the Perplexed
John Orr offers a primer concerning the use of religious criteria by faith-based organizations in public contracts that are affected by Charitable Choice.
Promising Public Practices: Implementing Charitable Choice in California (PDF)
John B. Orr and Peter Spoto focus on practices that are working to include faith-based organizations in county and state efforts to serve the poor.
Religion and Welfare Reform in Southern California: Is Charitable Choice Succeeding? (April 2001) (PDF)
CRCC's report card on the implementation of Charitable Choice in three California counties by John B. Orr with Peter Spoto and Carolyn Mounts.
Charitable Choice: A Primer for Faith-Based Organizations (PDF)
John B. Orr offers a short introduction to Charitable Choice.
Christians Supporting Community Organizing: A New Voice for Change Among Evangelical, Holiness, and Pentecostal Christians (September 1999) (PDF)
Timothy Sato and Donald E. Miller report on the activities of Christians Supporting Community Organizing.
Religion and Immigration
Immigrant Religion in the City of Angels (January 2001) (PDF)
Donald E. Miller, Jon Miller, and Grace Roberts Dyrness report on two years of research on immigrant religious congregations.
International/Transnational Studies
Orphans of the Rwanda Genocide (April 2004)
This photo essay by Donald Miller, Lorna Touryan Miller, and Jerry Berndt (photographer) contains interviews by members of an association of orphan heads of households.
Spirituality and Civic Engagement
Engaged Spirituality: Spirituality and Social Transformation in Mainstream American Religious Traditions (Fall 2004) (PDF)
This report by Gregory C. Stanczak and Donald E. Miller summarizes findings from a research project funded by the Governance and Civil Society unit of the Ford Foundation.
Engaged Spirituality: Spirituality and Social Transformation in Mainstream American Religious Traditions (Fall 2002) (PDF)
This report by Gregory C. Stanczak and Donald E. Miller is the result of a one year study on the ways in which individual spirituality may be understood in relation to social transformation. A detailed report supplement (PDF) is also available.
Arlene Sánchez-Walsh provides an overview of important issues facing Latino Protestant churches in Southern California.
Newsletters
Religion and Civic Culture (Spring 2005) (PDF)
The newsletter features CRCC's Community Research and Development unit.
Includes an article about the work of faith-based non-government organizations.
Religion and Civic Culture (Winter 2003) (PDF)
Includes article about the visual representation of religion.
Religion in the City (Summer 2002) (PDF)
Includes an article about the Center of Excellence initiative, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Religion in the City (Spring 2002) (PDF)
Includes an article about the role of California's community foundations in funding regional faith-based community development projects.
Religion in the City (Summer 2001) (PDF)
Includes an article about faith-based human service programs and the federal Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
Religion in the City (Spring 2001) (PDF)
Includes an article about the role of hometown associations in creating transnational identities within immigrant communities.
Includes an article about the faith community's response to at-risk youth. spring2005
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