Networking Between Agencies and Black Churches

Abstract

Summary The question of the possible, proper, or desirable relationships of churches lo health and human service agencies is raised. Identifying, recruiting, and training important members of natural helping networks in the black church, who can serve as “lay health advisors” (LHA) linking and negotiating between people at risk and agency services, is one health intervention strategy for establishing a relationship between formal and informal support systems. As lay people to whom others naturally turn for advice, emotional support, and tangible aid, LHAs provide informal and spontaneous assistance. Found at many levels in a community, these persons are already helping people by virtue of their community roles, occupations, or personality traits. A lay health advisor intervention model conceptualizes the relationships between the social support functions of networks within black congregations and their expected effects on: (1) the behaviors of individuals at risk; (2) the service delivery structures of ag...