Higher income residents are the most likely to volunteer their time. Finding time to volunteer for community activities can often be difficult in the 1990s. Single parenting, work and family responsibilities, and a variety of other socioeconomic factors have created competing demands for an individual s time and attention. A greater percentage of blacks than whites donated their time to area congregations. But when holding the effects of race, income, and place of residence statistically constant, household income matters most in predicting which group will volunteer its time.
Child care is the most used social service offered by congregations.
About one of every ten survey respondents said that they used congregation-based social services. All groups, regardless of race, indicated that child care was the service they used most often. With more than 60 percent of mothers in the Washington area in the paid labor force, child care is in great demand. The second most frequently used service was counseling. Other services such as tutoring, mentoring, senior services, emergency food, housing, or clothing services were used by 1 to 4 percent of survey respondents.