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“Them bones, them bones,” Father Al Jost began his prayer.1 The thirty community leaders present were nervous. These women—school secretaries, homemakers , and nurses—came from poor Mexican-American neighborhoods of San Antonio, Texas. They were nervous because they were about to take the stage to lead the twentieth anniversary convention of their organization, Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS). Thirty-five hundred supporters waited for them behind placards announcing “Saint Leo’s” and “Saint Gabriel,” the Catholic parishes of the west and south sides of San Antonio. The leaders were going to face the governor of Texas, the mayor, a majority of San Antonio’s city councilors, and the CEOs of the largest local banks. They intended to demand support for COPS’s programs in the areas of affordable housing, job training, and school reform. The leaders formed a circle, gathered hands, and Father Al prayed: “them bones, them bones.” He told the story of Ezekiel’s prophecy of the valley of the dry bones, a symbol of a community in ruins physically and spiritually, a community without hope and in despair. Father Al spoke of the bones beginning to rattle, to come together, of sinews forming, and flesh and blood growing. He told of a great army emerging as a symbol of the community coming together to rebuild itself. When Father Al finished, the COPS leaders said “Amen” and marched out to the stage. To the sounds of a mariachi band, they climbed the steps to the podium, exuding an attitude of confidence and collective determiChapter 4 Faith and Leadership in the Inner City How Social Capital Contributes to Democratic Renewal Mark R. Warren 49 nation. Over the next two hours, Texas Governor Ann Richards pledged $500,000 to COPS’s job training program, and bank executives promised $110 million in housing loans for COPS neighborhoods. COPS is one of sixty or so local affiliates of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), a national network of faith-based community organizations. With over one hundred professional organizers on staff, the network claims to reach one thousand congregations, schools, and other community institutions, that, in turn, include more than 1 million member families. The IAF is rapidly growing , with more than twenty new organizing projects underway. This makes the IAF the largest network in an emerging set of faith-based community organizing efforts. The faith-based field incorporates three other networks, including the PICO network discussed by Richard Wood (Chapter 10 of this volume), as well as a large number of independent, non-affiliated local church-based community initiatives.2 Faith-based organizations are an important variety of the para-church organizations discussed by Coleman (Chapter 3 of this volume). Drawing upon its deep roots in religious institutions, the IAF network has proved able to draw large numbers of participants, particularly from lowincome communities of color, into sustained political action for community betterment in a way that has become quite unusual in American society. While many advocacy groups remain staff-dominated with few roots in local communities , IAF affiliates consistently engage community residents in political action at a variety of levels. For example, the Texas state network drew ten thousand participants to its founding convention in 1990. Affiliates across the country regularly draw two to three thousand participants to yearly conventions and engage hundreds in campaigns for affordable housing, job training, school reform, public safety, and neighborhood improvements.3 The faith-based network’s success in engaging many Americans often excluded from political participation suggests the gains that can be made by linking religiously based social capital to democratic action. This chapter analyzes how the IAF makes that link, drawing upon research on the IAF in Texas reported more fully elsewhere (Warren 2001).4 The IAF has built its largest state network in Texas. It began its organizing in Texas when Southwest IAF director Ernesto Cortes, Jr., founded COPS in his native San Antonio in 1973. It now has eleven local affiliates across the state, and it has become a powerful state-wide political influence. Since the IAF makes a conscious effort to engage religious communities in political action, it offers an opportunity to deepen our understanding of how social capital can contribute to democratic renewal. SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Recent research suggests the connections between social capital and democracy. In his study of Italy, Robert Putnam (1993a) shows that regions with greater stocks of social capital have more effective democratic institutions and higher 50 Faith and Leadership in...

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