Secret Behind Groups’ Effectiveness

To the Editor:

A Chronicle article by Ian Wilhelm quotes Mr. James Towey, the new head of the White House faith-based office, as saying that small neighborhood groups can be more effective at fighting poverty than large ones, including Catholic Charities or the Salvation Army (“White House Missteps Stalled Bill to Help Religious Groups, Report Says,” March 7).

If this comment is accurate, it betrays an all-too-common misunderstanding of the structures of both organizations. Unlike some top-down national organizations, the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities do program development from the bottom up, based on neighborhood needs and parish social concerns. This is the secret of our high level of documented effectiveness and public support.

The national offices of both groups report to the grass roots, not the other way around, and represent our grass-roots concerns to policy makers in government and other nonprofits at the national level.

Maj. John R. Cheydleur
Social Services Secretary, Eastern USA Territory
Salvation Army
West Nyack, N.Y.