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HOW THE ‘JOSEPHS’ OF TODAYCAN HEAL THE INNER CITY

By Robert L. Woodson

One of America’s fundamental moral underpinnings is Jesus’

eaching in Matthew 25: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto

ne of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto

me.” An echo of this is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty,

which says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddledmasses yearning to breathe free.”

n America, the principle of helping

he least among us has been a noble

ne. But the means by which it has

een applied has often injured with

he helping hand. For instance, in the

960s we assumed that the problem was social injustice—

acial discrimination.

We passed civil-rights laws and the Voting Rights Act. We

ssumed that lack of economic resources was the problem,

nd we spent $9 trillion on poverty programs over the past0 years. We assumed that the problem was lack of political

articipation. Now people of color run major cities throughout

he nation.

What are the consequences of these major policy approaches?

adly, conditions facing many low-income people are worse

han they were 40 years ago. Violence in urban centers, par-

cularly among youth, has risen. Out-of-wedlock births have

ramatically increased, particularly in the black community.

As the welfare state became the War on Poverty, federal

Centennial ReviewPrincipled Ideas from the Centennial Institute Volume 1, Number 7 • December 2009

Robert L. Woodson is president of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in

Washington, D.C. Prior to founding CNE in 1981, he was with the American

Enterprise Institute and the National Urban League. He is a winner of the

Presidential Citizens Medal, the Bradley Prize, and the MacArthur Award. This

essay is adapted from his address at the Values-Aligned Leadership Summit

(VALS) hosted by Colorado Christian University on April 22, 2009. The essay is

available online at www.centennialccu.org.

money went not to the individual but to “services.” From th paradigm shift arose the poverty-industrial complex. Prioritie

were driven by government-grant possibilities, which mean

that providers were rewarded not for solving problems but fo

the proliferation of problems.

There was no malicious intent on the part of the providers. Bu

as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his Letters from Prison, th

most difficult behavior to confront is folly; it is not malice.

is very difficult to confront the folly of people who are doin

something with the intent to help, but without realizing th

they are injuring with the helping hand.

Perverse Incentives

The welfare laws that grew from these poison roots offere

perverse incentives. With resources going to services instea

of individuals, people became government clients, sappin

them of independence, dignity, and initiative. A marrie

couple could not live in public housing. This destabilize

marriage.

If an unmarried woman receiving public assistance marrie

a man who was gainfully employed, her benefits would b

ended. This pulled another plank from the incentive to marr

and establish a household. It also provided a disincentive tseek steady employment. Rent wa

fixed at 30 percent of income fo

people receiving public assistanc

This clause had the effect of makin

people reluctant to take certain job

or promotions for fear of pricin

themselves out of affordable housing.

Misguided restitution programs made criminality an entré

into employment. Pregnancy programs rewarded illegitimac

by giving mothers more money with each additional chil

Welfare policies undermined healthy communities and cre

ated poverty with a helping hand.

In order to challenge the faulty assumptions of the 1960s w

Welfare policies created

poverty with a helping hand.



CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian

University. Publisher, William L. Armstrong. Editor, John Andrews.

Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin Hummel.

Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Ave.,

Lakewood, CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at www.CentennialCCU.org.

Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance public

understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation. By proclaiming Truth

we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizenship, and renew the spirit of 1776.

Tax-deductible contributions from friends make possible the Institute’s outreach and all of

Colorado Christian University’s educational work. We invite your support at the above mailing

address or via our Web site at www.CentennialCCU.org.Centennial Review, December 2009 ▪ 2

need to look at black America before that decade. From 1940

to 1970 the poverty rate had dropped from 87 to 30 percent—a

reduction of two-thirds. In contrast, the poverty rate has only

declined from 30 to 24 percent in the past 35 years, despite

the presence of armies of social workers and mountains of

money.

The core of the black community in the

hundred years between the end of the Civil

War and the War on Poverty was the fam-

ily, belief in God, and business formation.

Up until 1965, the marriage rate for blacks

was over 80 percent. In fact, during the Depression, the black

marriage rate was higher than that of whites.

In the first 50 years after the Emancipation Proclamation,

black Americans had accumulated a personal wealth of $700

million. They owned more than 40,000 businesses, 40,000

churches and 937,000 farms. The literacy rate had climbed

from 5 to 70 percent.

Black commercial enclaves in Durham, North Carolina, and

the Greenwood Avenue section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, were

together known as the Negro Wall Street. Blacks in both dis-tricts turned harsh Jim Crow laws to their advantage by using

entrepreneurial skills to serve a segregated community.

Revenge and Redistribution

In contrast, the fundamental flaw in the latter-day approach

toward poverty in the black community was the insistence

that anything all black was automatically bad. Sixties radi-

cals interpreted separate to be inherently unequal rather than

strategically unequal. They renounced the values of family,

faith, and self-reliance in favor of revenge, the redistribution

of wealth, and the embrace of a political-spoils system.These assumptions were taking root at just the time the civil-

rights movement was reaching its apex and becoming a race

-grievance industry. The movement wanted to make the case

that segregation was harmful. It needed the federal govern-

ment to intervene in the states.

For this to happen, successful black entrepreneurship had to

be abandoned or ignored. Historically black universities and

colleges severed the technical assistance formerly provided

to black businesses, and ceased publication of journals that

described their triumphs. The leaders of the civil-rights move-

ment had to portray blacks as hapless victims of an omnipotentsystem.

The good that came from the civil-rights movement was the

replacement of Jim Crow laws with more equitable statutes.

The bad, on the other hand, was that blacks were cut off from

their heritage of success, and the stereotype of blacks as a per-

petual victim class was institutionalized. The War on Poverty

broke down the moral immune system of low-income black

neighborhoods and made them breeding grounds of dysfunc-

tion. All of the resulting pathologies were laid at the feet of

allegedly outmoded American social values.

This tactical debasing of American culture has been eno

mously successful, to the point where those of us who ho

onto traditional American ethics and Judeo-Christian valu

are now the counterculture.

To paraphrase what Gertrude Himmelfarb wrote in her sem

nal book One Nation, T

Cultures, for many blac

the benefits of the civ

rights movement we partially negated by

culture revolution that denigrated precisely those virtues th

are conducive to economic improvement and social mobili

The Great Society, which intended to open the doors to o

portunity, all too often drew minorities into the closed socie

of chronic dependency.

Racial prejudice continues to be a problem in the Unit

States. However, it is not the most important problem faci

even the black community. Continuing to focus on race a

supporting those who profit from maintaining a grievan

industry is keeping this nation from addressing some threening fundamental problems.

But investment in the grassroots institutions that bring abo

moral and spiritual healing can address those problem

Racial reconciliation will be a natural by-product.

Who Are the Experts?

If the public and private sectors are to refocus their effo

so that their contribution will have a positive impact, seve

crucial questions must be answered:

■ Who are the true experts on social revitalization?

■ What principles should guide funding decisions?

■ What qualities are common to all effective programs?

Unfortunately, as a nation, we are prone to place our trust

irrelevant authority. Just as commercials lead consumers

believe that sports stars are experts on nutrition or footwe

there are those who would have us believe that the MBAs a

sociologists in distant universities can provide expert advi

in salvaging our inner-city neighborhoods. But the solutio

to the problems of our nation’s Harlems will never be fou

in its Harvards.

Adherents of traditional values

are now the counterculture.



entennial Review, December 2009 ▪ 3

The good news is that solutions do exist. Today, among the

ruins of inner-city neighborhoods, there are embers of health

and restoration. I was looking for a way to describe these

grassroots leaders and how they relate to those outside. And I

found it in the Book of Genesis in the Bible.

There we read how Jacob’s favorite son Joseph was sold by

his jealous brothers into Egypt, where he languished for many

years as a slave. But in every situation as a slave, Joseph

became the best slave. When he was falsely imprisoned, he

became the best prisoner. In the depths of the dungeon, Joseph

accepted his fate and served faithfully. Finally one day, he

was cleaned up and summoned to the Pharaoh’s court.

When the Pharaoh described his dreams, Joseph replied that

they were portents that seven years of bountiful harvest would

be followed by seven years of famine. He advised that during

the prosperous years one-fifth of all that was produced should

be stored in preparation for the famine.

The Pharaoh was not deterred by the fact that Joseph was

not of the same ethnicity, that he came from a “dysfunctiona

Hebrew family,” or that he was a prisoner. He trusted and fol-

lowed Joseph’s advice, and even appointed him to administerhis harvest, awarding him power of office second only to

himself. Pharaoh did not have a religious conversion. But he

was impressed by the secular outcome of Joseph’s work.

Never Yielding to Bitterness

Today, in communities throughout the nation, hundreds of

modern-day Josephs are at work restoring spiritual health

in their neighborhoods, guiding others to lives of value and

fulfillment.

Although Joseph was betrayed and treated unjustly, he held

firmly to the belief that God could work through any situa-tion, and, even in the worst circumstances, he continued to

serve without resentment. He never yielded to bitterness, and

his attitude determined his availability to God. Likewise

our modern-day Josephs have faced adversity and injustice

without bitterness or resentment.

The answers to many of the most pressing problems that

America now faces can be found in the men and women who

have come out of prison, who live in drug-infested, crime-

ridden neighborhoods, some of whom have fallen but have

recovered through their faith in God.

There are countless examples of these Josephs who have been

called to responsibility from jails, drugs, crime, or prostitu-

tion. Their authority is attested to not by their position and

prestige in society, but by the thousands of lives they have

been able to reach and change. These neighborhood Josephs

go unrecognized, unappreciated, and underutilized. They

are working with individuals that all the other conventional

service-deliverers have given up on. They take only the worst

cases and they work with meager resources, yet their effec-

tiveness eclipses that of conventional professional remedies.



THE PERSISTENT PROBLEM

OF POVERTY

By Kyle Greenwood

As young newlyweds in 1993, mywife and I were strapped for cash,

living paycheck to paycheck. Rentwas often a challenge. When our 1983 Omni was totaled, we keptdriving it. On one occasion I hadto take a pay advance so we could

buy groceries. We were poor.

But we knew our poverty wastemporary. This is not the case

for many living below the poverty line in the United States,and denitely not the case for those living in many parts of

developing nations around the world. Persistent poverty,intergenerational and pathologically widespread, is a concern

for us at Colorado Christian University—in our classes, our missions work, and our individual Christian walk.

Compassion for the poor is a core value at CCU. It has to beif we take the Bible seriously. Jesus once said, “The poor willalways be with you” (Mark 14:7). His words directly allude toDeuteronomy 15:11, “The poor will never cease to be in your land,” which ends with the emphatic imperative, “Open yourhand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor who arewith you in your land!” Jesus was directing His comments at

people who were more than willing to share someone else’sresources but were unwilling to share freely from their ownresources.

From the Law to the Prophets to the Writings, the Old Testamentspeaks consistently about the responsibility of God’s peopleto care for the disadvantaged. The Law of Moses not only

protects the poor against injustices like usury (Exodus 22:25), but also demands compassion by seeking the welfare of all people (Leviticus 19:18).

James’ concept of undeled religion (1:26) nds its antecedentin Isaiah (1:17) and Jeremiah (22:16). Amos blames Israel’sdemise on their mistreatment of the poor. Job defended hisown righteousness on the basis that he had delivered the poor,helped the orphan, cared for the widow, was eyes for the blind,and became a father to the needy (29:12–16).

I am grateful that my circumstances have changed since 1993.I drive a reliable vehicle, have a modest retirement fund, andam able to enjoy some of life’s pleasures. But as faculty andstudents here on campus daily remind each other, the poor stilllive in our land. Are our hands open? ■

Kyle Greenwood (Ph.D., Hebrew Union

College) is Assistant Professor of Old

Testament in the School of Theology at

Colorado Christian University. He previously

taught at Indiana Wesleyan University and

served as a youth pastor.

Voices of CCU

Centennial

Institute

Colorado Christian University

Centennial Review, December 200

What the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise does is build

n this natural, indigenous resource. We act like a Geiger

ounter and go around the country looking into these neigh-

orhoods for Josephs—the natural antibodies in their com-

munities. And once we find them, we bring them together so

hey begin to form an immune system.

We provide training, technical assistance, and access to

material resources so that this immune system can grow,

egin to transform from within the neighborhood, and make

ramatic improvements in the lives of the people there. We

ave proven over the past 23 years that this approach can

ring about dramatic changes in the conditions of people

ving in low-income neighborhoods.

Why haven’t we heard more about these leaders? Why isn’t

heir success common knowledge? Elitism has caused us

o dismiss the possibility of remedies emerging from low-

ncome neighborhoods. With silent prejudice, faith-based

trategies are dismissed out of hand in spite of their consis-

ent track records of effectiveness.

n addition to many overtly faith-based programs therere many grassroots leaders whose outreach is motivated

y a heartfelt spirit of service but is not affiliated with any

articular religion or faith. And although many of the most

ffective grassroots healing agents are those who have per-

onally experienced the lives of depredation and corruption

hat they urge others to escape, there are also among our

modern-day Josephs those who have never even ridden a

tolen bicycle.

Defining Characteristics

here are as many different types of Josephs as there are

ifferent types of needs. However, while there is a broad

ariety in the source of inspiration and the life experiences

hat motivate today’s Josephs, there are a number of defining

haracteristics they all hold in common:

Their programs are open to all comers. The grassroots

leaders do not target their services exclusively to individu-

als of any particular race or background. Help is offered

instead on the basis of the need a person has and his or

her desire to change.

Neighborhood healers have the same ZIP code as the people they serve. They have firsthand knowledge of the

problems they live with and they have a personal stake in

the success of their solutions.

Their approach is flexible. They know that not every per-

son can be reached in exactly the same way. Even where

there may be a pervasive theology or philosophy in a

program, not every person is expected to embrace it or

be affected by it in the same way.



entennial Review, December 2009 ▪ 5

Effective grassroots programs contain an essential elem-

ent of reciprocity. They do not practice blind charity but re-

quire something in return from the individuals they serve.

They recognize that treating them only as “clients” would

result in their becoming poor citizens.

Clear behavioral guidelines and discipline are an import-

ant part of their programs.

Grassroots healers fulfill the role of a parent, providing

not only authority and structure, but also the love that is

necessary for an individual to undergo healing, growth,and development. Like a parent, their love is unconditional

and resilient. They never withdraw their support, in spite

of backsliding and even in the face of betrayal.

Grassroots leaders are committed for the long haul. Most

of them began their outreach with their own meager

resources. They are committed for a lifetime, not for the

duration of a grant that funds a program.

They are on call virtually 24 hours a day, in contrast to a

therapist who comes once a week for a 45-minute session,

or staff who come for a nine-to-five and then return to their distant homes. The homes of grassroots leaders are always

open to the people they serve.

The healing they offer involves an immersion in an envir-

onment of care and mutual support with a community of

individuals who are trying to accomplish the same changes

in their lives.

0. These Josephs are united in a brotherhood of service.

They are eager to share ideas and strategies. They offer

earnest support to each other in times of struggle, and

sincerely celebrate one another’s victories.

Although today’s Josephs deserve to be heeded by modern-

ay Pharaohs (political leaders and leaders of the business

nd philanthropic community), their effectiveness is not

ependent on such recognition.

ong before support or acknowl-

dgment came their way, our

ation’s neighborhood healers

ommitted themselves to lives

f service—and they engendered miraculous changes in the

ves they touched.Yet an alliance by the Pharaohs with these Josephs could now

rovide the support that is needed to allow their transform-

ng efforts to expand and further develop for the benefit of

he entire society. This type of partnership requires a major

verhaul in how we view the poor. Many policy-makers on

oth the Left and the Right see the poor as hopelessly lost in

sea of pathology and with few personal redeeming qualities.

hey assume that their only hope is rescue coming from the

rofessionals and the intellectual elite. They cannot recog-

ize the capacities that exist within America’s low-income

communities. As former Education Secretary Bill Be

once so aptly stated, “The Left sees the poor only as vict

while the Right sees them as aliens.”

Social Economy, Market Principles

One of the lessons of the 1960s is that elitism is more de

tating to the interests of poor people than racism is. If we

cerely desire to help the poor, we need to apply the princ

found in our market economy to our social economy.

The marketplace is results-oriented and expects a returthe social economy, certification equals qualification. A

son with genius and drive like Bill Gates would be discou

because he lacks the proper academic qualifications.

Our nation’s moral and spiritual crisis is taking secular

pression in violence and despair. We are experiencing a c

of meaning and self-esteem, a vacuum of content and pur

in life.

We must be willing to look to new sources of insight

wisdom among people who are experienced at addres

the crisis at its own level. We must look for non-conventsolutions in non-traditional places. We do not hesitate t

that in our business economy.

In the marketplace, workable solutions are embraced whe

they exist: If a teenaged computer hacker develops softw

that has capacities beyond those of well-trained comp

specialists, he is rewarded.

We look for cures in the roots and herbs of the rainfo

of Brazil and New Guinea, and some of our most impo

discoveries have come about because someone did not f

on the source of the discovery, but looked at the conte

what was produced.

So regardless of the certifications, education, or “legitim

of social-service providers, if their attempted solutions

not had a measurably positive impact on a problem

neighborhood-based efforts have effect

addressed, things need to change. We

remove the blindfolds of bias and emb

the strategies that work.

In every place but our social economy, we accept new i

and innovations, no matter how untutored the source o

information may be. We at the Center for NeighborEnterprise have identified examples of how grassroots he

agents have successfully addressed gang violence, subst

abuse, teen pregnancy, homelessness, and a myriad of o

problems that have been resistant to conventional therap

Overlooked in today’s urban “rainforests” there exist g

roots cures for the most devastating forms of social de

and those cures have been sustained over long period

time. That’s where the Josephs of today come in. In an

of spiritual hunger and moral disarray, they are a sourc

both spiritual and economic renewal that will have an im

Remove the blindfolds,

embrace what works.



Centennial Review

ecember 2009

ow the ‘Josephs’ of Today

an Heal the Inner City

y Robert L.Woodson

he Persistent Problem of Povertyy Kyle Greenwood

ww.CentennialCCU.org is your online resource

r this and previous issues of Centennial Re-

ew, news of Institute events, and daily updates on

th, family, and freedom at our ’76 Blog.

ax-deductible contributions from friends make pos-

ble the Institute’s outreach and all of Colorado Chris-n University’s educational work. We invite your

pport via our Web site at www.CentennialCCU.org

at the above mailing address.

entennial Institute

olorado Christian University 87 W. Alameda Ave.kewood, CO 80226

urn Service Requested

Centennial Review, December 2009 ▪ 6

ond the boundaries of inner-city neighborhoods.

assroots leaders who have proven that they can engender

stantial and lasting transformations—sometimes at

y a tenth of the cost of less effective but “credentialed”grams—have much to bring to the table.

mes of Revitalization

America’s grassroots leaders can heal the heart of a hard-

e drug addict who has been to prison and who once refused

yield to any and all figures of authority, if they can heal

erson who has been so severely damaged and hardened,

agine what they can do for those who have gone astray but

l have some resources of income and power. Healing them

uld be a comparatively easy task.

day, among the most devastated economic and social

nditions, the embers of spiritual renewal are still alive in

work of thousands of grassroots leaders. If these embers

be nourished by those who have wealth and influence in

iety—today’s Pharaohs—the flames

revitalization can become a brushfire

t will sweep across the nation, bring-

life and hope where there is now only

nicism, confusion, and despair. ■

WANT TO TAKE ACTION?By John Andrews, Editor

Pronounced dead by his brothers, Joseph showed them gra

when he didn’t have to. Born homeless, Jesus loved the pof the earth and commended the poor in spirit. Acting

God’s strength, they mastered circumstance.

As Christmas nears, I’m moved to such thoughts by

Woodson and Greenwood articles in this issue. We at

Centennial Institute send the blessings of Advent to you a

yours, and best wishes for the new year of 2010.

The coming year will be our second year of bridging betwe

campus ideas and policy action. You can act with us

connecting to Bob Woodson’s anti-poverty efforts at ww

CNEonline.org , networking at our Issue Friday sessions, a becoming a donor-member of the Centennial Institute.

May I send you a free DVD of Centennial Review auth

from 2009? E-mail [email protected] and specify which

the following you would like to receive:

Paul Cleveland on economics, Douglas

Groothuis on truth, Thomas Krannawitter

on America, Bill Armstrong on conser-

vatism, Horner vs. White on climate, or

Robert Woodson on the inner city. Thank

you for your interest. Together, we can

make a difference. ■

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