Michael Fabricant and Robert Fisher, Settlement Houses Under Siege: the Struggle to Sustain Community Organizations in New York City - Book Review

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Dec, 2003 by Bill Buffum

New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. $49.50 hardcover, $23.40 papercover.

Robert Fisher and Michael Fabricant, two prominent historians of community organization, have produced an important scholarly work, which sheds new light on the struggles of settlement houses, and offers direction for community-based agencies and organizations. While the focus of the book is on settlements in New York City, the plight that Fabricant and Fisher document is not dissimilar to the struggles of non-profits across the country, all of which have experienced the constraints inherent in the quest for financial survival during several decades of conservatism in the United States.

What is unique about Fabricant and Fisher's research of is that they modified traditional historical records research to include qualitative interviews with more than one hundred persons who actually experienced the stressful conditions, which over time moved settlements from activist centers to more traditional social service organizations. The authors begin by setting the context of the Settlement Movement with its emphasis on collaboration, community building, and social action; and while that discussion seems idealized, it does establish the importance of their emphasis on building a true sense of community among the low-income immigrant populations that were the focus for settlements. It was this community building emphasis that did bring collective power to people who alone would have had little hope for better lives. The very success of progressive settlement leaders contributed to the decline in voluntary support from wealthy philanthropists, and necessitated a shift towards government support. The trend towards public funding extends to the present time, which is characterized by performance contracting and narrowly conscripted and insecure grants. These trends are well documented elsewhere in the social work literature.

The core of the Fabricant and Fisher book is in the second part in which they report about their interviews with settlement workers. The authors in an appendix adequately detail the qualitative method that they used, although the reader will not immediately see the ways that interview content was analyzed to produce the research findings. Unlike the moving stories told by Studds Terkel, the comments of the settlement workers do not adequately convey the pain, anguish, and sense of victimization which their statements suggest they experienced. This is likely a result of the author's need to remain objective, as academics must.

If the meat of the book is in part two, then the heart is in part three. Here the authors' commitments are clearly seen as they explain their observations and conclusions culminating in an enthusiastic and compelling call for renewed efforts to build communities as the primary way to restore the promise of America. The fiscal control, which comes from contracting, privatization, and corporate involvement, brings external control, policy directions set by funders, and top-down control structures within organizations that deliver social services. The necessary focus on productivity and measurable performance outcomes, neglects the processes that are so vital for community building. Fabricant and Fisher argue that people--especially low-income people--need greater social connectedness, opportunity to develop shared meanings through common stories and patterns of interacting, their music, art, and life experience. They need to share their hope and their frustrations and anger. Such sharing is a process that can result in the development of a group identity and grass-roots activation.

Is the possibility for enhancing 'local capital' a possibility? Can the Settlement Movement return to its original purposes? Fabricant and Fisher are optimistic as they point out that the struggle never actually ended, and many front-line workers continuously work to build community and democratic participation to this day. This is the message to us all, I believe. If we agree that strength in people comes largely from their membership in viable communities, through their affiliation, by becoming one with another, then the struggle is worthwhile. Fabricant and Fisher have given us an excellent problem analysis with an understanding about the underlying causes. Now, the challenge is ours to search for strategies and directions that might lead towards durable solutions.

Bill Buffum

Barry University