A faith-based safety net

Workshop aims to help congregations reach out to jobless

Now, the executive director of Mecklenburg Ministries is battling effects of a recession that spilled across religious and socio-economic borders. But instead of reaching out to the countless people still struggling to find work, Hanlin's group is targeting the growing number of faith-based support groups cropping up to serve them.

Mecklenburg Ministries, a nonprofit that seeks to build relationships among clergy and tackle social issues, is hosting a free workshop next week for the leaders of those support groups, where city officials and employment experts will share resources and tips.

"My goal is simply just to try to help every person who is unemployed in Charlotte," Hanlin said on a recent morning in her office, a sunny room on the second floor of Park Road Baptist Church. "And the best way to do that is to help those who minister to them."

Job-support groups have emerged in waves since the recession sucked 53,000 jobs from the Charlotte region and drove its unemployment rate to 11.8 percent. Now, more than 50 groups - up from a handful a few years ago - meet in restaurants, church halls and coffee shops around the region, serving 2,000 job-seekers a week, experts estimate.

Faith-based groups are particularly popular, partly because the throngs of white-collar job-seekers, many unemployed for the first time, are seeking solace in the sense of community that their places of worship offer and that might not exist in crowded agency offices, some say.

And while some faith-based groups offer sophisticated help with resumes and other skills, others have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of workers in need - and ill-equipped to offer much beyond the clergy's expert emotional and spiritual counseling, experts say.

"They're on the front lines, responding to people who are becoming desperate," Hanlin said. "I think they need to be encouraged and given hope."

That's where the Mecklenburg Ministries luncheon comes in. Its goal, organizers say, is to coach support-group leaders on topics from social networking to navigating unemployment benefits and offer a chance for networking and partnership building.

The idea was hatched before Mecklenburg Ministries even agreed to host it, in a meeting of the Charlotte Regional Economic & Workforce Recovery Initiative, a stimulus-funded effort to launch job training, career counseling and business recruiting programs.

Committee member Vail Carter of the Centralina Workforce Development Board was familiar with a statewide network of faith-based support groups, and he'd seen a similar workshop in Hickory.

There was a great need for such an event in Charlotte, he said, because of the number of out-of-work professionals and the fact that churches have historically been the center of the community. Carter, who lives in Charlotte, said he's noticed a shift back to churches for help recently, perhaps out of a desire to return to simpler roots or the realization that government agencies aren't - and can't be - the only places to find help.

"It's like we're coming back to the core of what they used to do," he said.

Mecklenburg Ministries seemed like a natural fit for the workshop, Carter said.

Hanlin quickly realized the need, saying that for the first time, Mecklenburg Ministries considered the economy one of the area's top social issues.

"This was one of those, if you host it, they will come," she said.

Mecklenburg Ministries hosted its first job-group workshop in June. Organizers expected 50 people but the event drew more than 140.

The event was the kind of collaboration that should be happening more in Charlotte, said Sharon Lachow-Blumberg, a former consultant who has volunteered with Project Noah, an arm of Jewish Family Services that helps job-seekers, since she lost her job.

"Job-support groups in the faith-based community offer something unique and special to people who would not otherwise seek out support," she said. "There's a level of trust and comfort if they've been actively involved, or even if not."

The June workshop featured a national consultant and tips on best practices, and it received good feedback, Hanlin said. But she thinks this month's event will offer more local information and a closer look at the specifics of running a support group. For instance, a representative from a job group in Matthews will talk about how to line up meaningful speakers, and a local blogger will discuss the pros and cons of social networking.

Hanlin sent an e-mail invitation for the event in early January and received her first RSVP seconds later. Within a day, she got 50 more.

Organizers plan to cap the event at 150, and Hanlin said there were just a few spots left. In the future, she, Carter and Moira Quinn of Charlotte Center City Partners, who worked together on the workshops, envision informal gatherings among group leaders or even a series of support group networking events hosted by other community organizations.

For now, they hope the workshop helps group leaders serve job-seekers better and stay positive, even amidst so much economic pain.

"We have to build those relationships, because we know (another) crisis will come," Hanlin said. "It's just a matter of when."