But discussing faith and inviting people to worship are allowed, as long as they are not forced. Volunteers don't have to be church members, but they have to understand that the program is religious in nature, he said. The federal government loosened the rules in 1996 with a welfare-reform provision called charitable choice. It allows faith-based groups that provide welfare services to compete for government contracts without sacrificing their religious character. Charitable choice has not caught on in North Carolina, said Barbara Earls, director of Project Jubilee, a N.C. Council of Churches agency started to help religious groups cope with welfare changes.
Earls knows of no county in North Carolina paying for services from a church-based group.
Most mentor programs run within county government or through nonprofit urban ministries. Charitable choice allows the use of religious language. Faith-based agencies are free from some government mandates. Organizations don't have to meet diversity goals and can hire and fire employees based on religious grounds, despite their use of federal money. Faith groups are subject to the same financial audits as other providers.