Haley House, Boston, Massachusetts. Ten years ago, a group of regular guests at Haley House’s popular soup kitchen in Boston’s gentrifying South End asked their hosts to teach them a trade. Haley House, which receives grant support from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, responded by offering training in bakery skills after the day’s last meal was served in the soup kitchen.

The demand for both the training and the baked goods grew rapidly. Haley House opened a storefront bakery and later expanded the three-month breads-and-sweets course to a six-month program that now includes preparation of soups, salads and sandwiches, customer relations and basic business principles.

More than 70 trainees have completed the program and found work in the Boston area. According to Haley House Executive Director Kathe McKenna, the bakery profession typically pays a living wage and is one of the few industries open to people who may have a criminal record.

The bakery training program has expanded in several directions to meet the needs of the trainees and the demands of the market. On the bakery side, the trainees are producing muffins and organic pizza dough for wholesale clients. At-risk teens participate in a cooking class taught by the bakery café’s head chef and a local police officer. And so many non-profit organizations in Boston asked for catering services that the catering department holds the promise of putting the bakery café in the black during its march to profitability as a model business.

Kathe says that “the way we do what we’re doing is an important part of our mission,” which is summarized in the bakery cafe motto, “nourishing our community while fostering economic independence.”

Community Land Trust
Blanche Gardner of Portland, OR, is a grandmother who supports her extended family by working 30 hours a week in a grocery store meat department and earning additional income as a caregiver. Six years ago, when she moved into low-income apartment housing, home ownership was an impossible dream. But thanks to a remarkable new program sponsored jointly by the Portland Community Land Trust (PCLT) and the Clackamas Community Land Trust (CCLT), Gardner recently purchased a 58-year-old bungalow and converted the garage into two additional bedrooms. “I’ve done it all,” she confidently says of her experience in real-estate and construction negotiations. “I’ve learned all about filing permits, reviewing blueprints and hiring contractors, and even how to save money by doing some work myself.”

Gardner is the first of what PCLT and CCLT hope to be many success stories in their Smart Growth Community Land Trust Homeownership Program, which preserves and renovates homes in the city of Portland and nearby Clackamas County, providing low- and moderate-income earners with the opportunity for permanent home ownership. The Smart Growth program received a $35,000 economic development grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) in 2006. Funds from the grant helped both community land trusts (CLT) to implement homebuyer education programs and contract with a rehabilitation manager to assist new homeowners with needed improvements.

Citizen Potawatomi
Jason Glasgow’s construction firm has much-needed new equipment. His is one of a growing number of Indian-owned businesses that have obtained a helping hand from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) funded Citizen Potawatomi Nation Community Development Corporation (CDC).

The Potawatomi Nation set up the CDC to make loans to tribal members and other Native Americans across the United States. Glasgow spent a year doing homework on becoming an entrepreneur, and formed Glasgow Paving in early October 2003. However, he experienced difficulty obtaining bank loans for the equipment his new business needed, “Lenders wouldn’t even talk to me because of my age.”

With help from CDC, Glasgow was able to obtain a loan at First National Bank & Trust Company. He used the loan proceeds to purchase a Case landscaper, new concrete saws, and other equipment. He brought lay-down machines, rollers, and trucks into the business.

Glasgow gives the CDC tremendous credit for turning his dream into reality. He believes the advantage he will offer his customer is the ability, as a small company, to spend more time with each project, ensuring better quality.

He is willing to travel across Oklahoma to perform work with his new equipment.
(This feature was adapted with permission from a Citizen Potawatomi Nation web feature)

Faith Works
At Faith Works in the Roanoke Valley, listening is an art. That’s because the group invests a good deal of its time in one-on one conversations with members of churches and residents in the city’s Southeast, a neighborhood that reflects the area’s lingering racial divide. Because 80 percent of residents are uninsured, Faith Works helped to get the area classified as a medically underserved area, a critical step in securing $6 million in public and private funding for a new health clinic. The group also works on neighborhood safety, housing and business improvements, and a recent youth outreach program focuses on the needs of young people, from afterschool care to safe recreational opportunities. Members have also begun reaching out to the growing Hispanic population, training leaders and listening to the concerns of the community. These visible signs of progress are mirrored in the relationships that have developed across once-taboo color lines. As one member put it, “nowhere else would we probably have talked to each other but here we are now working together, gardening [in community gardens] together.” Faith Works director Donna Bollinger says the organization’s work is varied, but all the projects share a common goal. “It’s hard to say we’re about a particular issue because we’re really about people having charge of their own lives, rebuilding neighborhoods one leader at a time,” she says.

Win-Win Cleaning, Dorchester, Massachusetts
Nhan TonThat (pronounced Nee-yan Ton-tuck) credits CCHD with keeping Win-Win Cleaning in business following an exodus of technology companies from commercial buildings in and around Boston. “Without CCHD’s generous support, we would have probably closed shop, but their support allowed us to try new strategies, test out new markets and new sales techniques,” said Nhan, executive director of the Vietnamese American Initiative for Development, Win-Win’s parent company. The cleaning cooperative helps Vietnamese immigrants make inroads into the lucrative commercial cleaning business. The company has recruited and trained eight entrepreneurs who serve businesses ranging from large offices to local builders’ spec houses. Members undergo intensive training in basic and advanced cleaning as well as administrative functions like tax reporting, record keeping, and time management. Because English proficiency is often an issue, Win-Win handles marketing, insurance, sales, and customer service for its members while encouraging them to learn the language. It’s a model that TonThat says works particularly well for the Vietnamese community and taps into the hardworking entrepreneurial spirit of people who want their own business.

For members like Thao Le (pronounced Tow—rhymes with how—Lay), who operates Le Cleaning, the business supplements his regular income, allowing his wife to stay home with their two young children, something they both wanted. In keeping with Win-Win’s objective of creating self-sufficiency, Le hopes one day to operate the business on his own, with a staff and major cleaning contracts. Given his dedication, that day will likely come soon. And as the name implies, that’s a win for everyone.

Ten students from a Confirmation preparation program in Kailua-Kona, HI, have won the Grand Prize in the 2004-2005 CCHD Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest. Ninth-graders Bridget Clarke, Miyeko Inafuku and their eight classmates submitted a 10-minute DVD entitled, “Let Their Voices Be Heard! Public Housing and Homelessness in Hawaii.”

Ms. Inafuku said that the outcome of the project was greater than the actual DVD. “I really never gave much thought to homelessness before, but after we began, I realized that even just thinking about it isn’t enough – you’ve got to try to do something. I also learned that you can help people, but it’s a long process to get anything accomplished.” read more>>>

Poverty in America is on the rise—37 million Americans live below the government-established poverty line. But one by one people are joining local community groups to break the cycle of poverty, and Catholics across our country are part of that change. Join in solidarity by giving generously to your parish’s CCHD collection, November 19-20.

Your support will help low-income people as they work together to solve community problems, increase educational opportunities, and create jobs.

Helping People Help Themselves – newsletter update
The fall newsletter, highlighted the opening of a new cooperative restaurant, COLORS, supported by ROC-NY, a CCHD–funded organization devoted to improving conditions for restaurant workers citywide. More than 300 people joined them for dinner at their opening Gala! See the photos at http://www.rocny.org/FoodForThoughtGala.htm

Faith Works in the Roanoke Valley

At Faith Works in the Roanoke Valley, listening is an art. That’s because the group invests a good deal of its time in one-on-one conversations with members of churches and residents in the city’s Southeast, a neighborhood that reflects the area’s lingering racial divide.

Because 80 percent of residents are uninsured, Faith Works helped to get the area classified as a medically underserved area, a critical step in securing $6 million in public and private funding for a new health clinic. The group also works on neighborhood safety, housing and business improvements, and a recent youth outreach program focuses on the needs of young people, from after-school care to safe recreational opportunities. Members have also begun reaching out to the growing Hispanic population, training leaders and listening to the concerns of the community.

These visible signs of progress are mirrored in the relationships that have developed across once-taboo color lines. As one member put it, “nowhere else would we probably have talked to each other but here we are now working together, gardening (in community gardens) together.” Faith Works director Donna Bollinger says the organization’s work is varied, but all the projects share a common goal. “It’s hard to say we’re about a particular issue because we’re really about people having charge of their own lives, rebuilding neighborhoods one leader at a time,” she says. www.roanokefaithworks.org

CCHD Received Several Creative Awards for "One Nation Free from Poverty," the 2004 Public Service Advertising Campaign

Washington, D.C., September 2005 -- Barbara Stephenson (right), CCHD Communications Director, accepts the Thoth (first place) Award in the “Multi-Media Communications” category for CCHD’s "One Nation Free From Poverty" public service campaign. Presenting the award is a representative of the National Capital Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), sponsor of the awards program.

CCHD’s Poverty USA educational/awareness program continues to garner recognition for its creativity and the results achieved. In June 2005, at the Best in Maryland awards program sponsored by the Maryland Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), CCHD’s One Nation Free from Poverty public service campaign won five awards, including “Best in Show,” the competition’s top award. CCHD received first place in three categories: 1) Public Service Programs, 2) Public Service Announcements - radio, and 3) Public Service Announcements - television. The “Tour Poverty USA” CD-ROM received an Award of Excellence (second place).

In September 2005, CCHD’s One Nation Free from Poverty public service campaign was honored by the National Capital Chapter of PRSA at its annual awards program. The campaign won a Thoth (first place) award in the Multi-Media Communications Category and a Certificate of Excellence (second place) for the radio public service announcements. [see attached photo and caption below]

Out of the 760 television public service announcements whose airings were tracked by Nielsen Media Research in 2004, CCHD’s One Nation Free from Poverty, ranked #22, which puts this campaign in the top 3% of all public service airings for the year.

The One Nation Free from Poverty radio public service announcements received the “Century Club Award” in honor of exceptional radio PSA Campaigns that surpass 100,000 confirmed airings. The award was presented by TV Access, a major distributor of public service material to the media.

Rebuilding With the Poor, in the Aftermath of Katrina

As Catholics we understand that people closest to problems are in the best position to identify solutions. Therefore, we have provided $150,000 to the principal community organizing networks that have projects in the affected areas or in locales where people are being relocated. These organizations are working closely with local authorities to assist in welcoming the victims of Hurricane Katrina, recruiting and training volunteers, and ensuring that low-income people are receiving basic emergency assistance. CCHD’s funds will also help with the more intermediate steps to work with government agencies, legislators, and public entities on an array of planning and policy issues, e.g., city reconstruction, housing, employment, healthcare, and education.

We hope to make direct connections between these organizations and the work of Catholic Charities USA* which is coordinating emergency relief efforts on behalf of the Catholic Church on a national level. We encourage Catholics to support the special parish collection called for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and administered by Catholic Charities USA to provide for the essential long-term recovery efforts in addition to emergency relief. CCHD also encouraged other interfaith funders to respond in kind.

In the face of such overwhelming need, we pray that our offering will contribute to the tremendous task of reconstruction. We pray that the spirit of cooperation, compassion, and solidarity will prevail—restoring economic strength and stability to these communities.

----------------------------------------------------------
* Though both organizations address poverty in the United States, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and Catholic Charities USA have two distinct missions. CCHD provides funding to community organizations of poor and low-income people who are addressing long-term, community-based solutions to structural problems of poverty while Catholic Charities USA provides social services that address immediate relief/direct service.

News Stories About Friends of CCHD and Organizations Funded by CCHD

• In the video (see link) is a story about St. Bernard Parish, a community in which the Louisiana Bucket Brigade (CCHD-funded) was working before the hurricane. The mission of the Bucket Brigade to reduce pollution and protect public health is even more important now!

  Katrina Stirs Up Oily Nightmare
  CHALMETTE, La., Sept. 7, 2005
  Oil Spill Threatens Town
  Oily gook in St. Bernard Parish (Photo: CBS/The Early Show) http://www.labucketbrigade.org/press/news_cbsnews.090705.shtml

• Bishop Roger P. Morin, Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans, and Member of the USCCB-CCHD Committee, stayed behind during the hurricane to help others. http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0505061.htm

• Visit the USCCB’s Hurricane Response site: http://www.usccb.org/collections/hurricanekatrina.shtml

Four Bands Community Fund -- Eagle Butte, South Dakota

When you ask Tanya Fiddler to talk about the success of the Four Bands Community Fund, she tells of last year’s town parade and the triumph of having a parade float representing a native-owned business. To some it may seem trivial, but to Tanya, who is Four Bands’ executive director, it is a small but significant sign that the organization is fulfilling its mission to support self-determination, self-sufficiency, and a stronger economy for the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. The float’s owner, Makeshift Innovations, is a local welding and repair business that received help from Four Bands. It is among just one percent of native-owned businesses in an area where Native Americans make up nearly 80 percent of the population. Four Bands incorporated in April 2000 to lend money to businesses and entrepreneurs who are tribal members. The organization takes its name from the four bands of Native Americans living on the reservation. The federal name for the Lakota people—including those Native Americans on the reservation—is Sioux. Four Bands also provides training and technical assistance, marketing support, and access to “Made on the Rez,” a retail and e-commerce outlet that sells native-made products and is located in the recently restored Eagle Butte historic railroad depot. Participants receive micro loans of up to $5,000, or larger revolving small business loans of up to $50,000. For the larger loans, members participate in Cheyenne River Entrepreneurial Assistance Training & Education (CREATE) courses, which teach personal finance, business planning, and the basics of writing a business plan. So far, the program has helped more than 250 people and made 30 loans disbursing more than $66,000. In an area with 78% unemployment and some of the highest poverty rates in the country, Four Bands Community Fund is helping residents to feel a sense of pride in their accomplishments and hope for self-sufficiency.

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition -- Huntington, West Virginia

Maria Gunnoe, a fourth-generation resident of Bob White, West Virginia, lost five acres of her property to a raging river created when rock and rubble from mountaintop mining was deposited by a coal company into a nearby brook. Fighting back has pitted her against angry coal-miner neighbors and big companies with deep pockets. But Maria has help in the form of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), a West Virginia non-profit that organizes the state’s coal field residents to fight for clean air and water and an end to destructive mountaintop mining practices. OVEC got its start in 1987, when local residents got together to successfully oppose a toxic waste incinerator. The group’s legal victories include a state supreme court ruling against coal companies trying to take land from property owners and a record-setting $38.5 million Department of Justice fine against Ashland Oil and other refineries. OVEC’s staff also works with media to educate them about environmental justice issues and trains community members in leadership development and media relations.

The Bible and Catholic Social Teaching are powerful motivators for the members of Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) and Metro Alliance, organizations funded by CCHD that collectively include 70 member churches, schools and labor unions in San Antonio, Texas. Ramon Duran, the lead organizer for these two affiliated organizations, explains, “You have to connect what was said in biblical times to what is happening in 21st century San Antonio. Studying the scripture is useless if there is no action as a result.”

The scripture came alive for COPS member Christina Castro when she helped with a parish census of community needs at St. Henry’s in 1993. Her group reported its findings, but she found herself filled with sadness and guilt when a 90-year-old respondent was burned to death cooking his breakfast outdoors the following winter. His utilities had been turned off. Christina says that the guilt of not following up on the old man turned to “holy anger”… Read more >>>

CCHD provides $1 million to 39 organizations addressing healthcare issues in the United States.

Have you ever walked out of the doctor’s office more confused about your diagnosis? Or perhaps you had difficulty describing your symptoms to your doctor. The medical lingo can seem foreign. Imagine the greater difficulty if you did not speak the same language as your doctor. This is the reality for thousands of low-income people in the United States.

HealthReach Incorporated, a not-for-profit provider of free healthcare for the uninsured in Lake County, Illinois, created a solution to break down the cultural and linguistic barriers to good health care. Through funding from CCHD, HealthReach Inc. implemented an economic development program called HABLA (Healthcare Access By Language Advocacy). HABLA trains and employs low-income Latinos to provide interpretation services to poor residents and their healthcare providers.

Since 2003, HABLA has trained 42 medical translators who now have valuable communication skills and employment that pays a living wage. Due to HABLA’s success, more than 6,200 low-income patients have increased participation in their diagnosis and treatment which, in turn, increases the likelihood that they will succeed at following the prescribed care regimen.

Throughout its 35 years, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has funded community-based initiatives that improve access to healthcare services, secure health benefits for workers, promote independence and inclusion for people with disabilities, and ensure quality of home health care for seniors.

These efforts rely on the leadership of poor and low-income leaders who define the problems, decide on the priorities, and determine the appropriate action to solve the problems.

Focus your attention on Poverty in January!

Poverty can be ended and each of us can do something to help. It doesn't have to be a big thing. Every bit helps. By joining with others in your community, in your region, across this nation, you lend strength to efforts already underway to end the vicious cycle of poverty affecting one out of eight Americans.

Find out how you can promote Poverty in America Awareness Month!

News about Poverty this month:

• Majority Believe There Will Be More Poor Americans Four Years From Now
• CCHD tour highlights L.A.'s poverty
• Art work from 7-8th graders in Atlanta who entered the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s art contest is on display at their Catholic Center until Jan. 28 and at a local bank building from Jan. 20- Feb. 18, 2005.
• Patty Bowman of St. James Cathedral in Seattle, WA put this insert in their weekend parish bulletin.
• Steve Krzanowski, 17, a high school senior and the youngest intern to work with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, developed an educational program called PA-SWEEP, which stands for the Pennsylvania South-Western End to Economical Struggles and Poverty. The program implemented through Catholic schools and parish youth ministry programs will focus on raising awareness among youth about poverty and Catholic social teaching, as well as helping them develop leadership skills for becoming effective agents for change. Click on “November 18” at The Catholic Accent.

Employment Opportunities for Teens living in low-wage families can do much more than supply spare change for entertainment. In addition to helping families meet basic needs, those employment opportunities can help teens develop into healthy adults. Hope Street Youth Development (HSYD) project provides leadership, empowerment, and employment opportunities for African American youth in Wichita, Kansas, through partnerships with government agencies, local businesses, and community-based organizations. One of the group’s most successful efforts has been its Youth Summer Jobs campaign.

When this group of youth in Wichita realized that they would not be able to get a job in their community because employment opportunities did not exist, they concentrated on helping to create the jobs. Their research led them to federal legislation that provides states with funds for summer employment. HSYD members met with city, state, and federal officials, including the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas, over a three-year period to create a summer employment program for fifteen- to seventeen-year old youth. In summer 2003, with the support of CCHD funding, they realized their goal of obtaining summer jobs for thirty youth, securing jobs in a hospital, an advertising agency, a diner, and a social service agency. HSYD hopes to turn this pilot project into an annual summer success story.

In the spirit of those great Christian women who have enlightened the life of the Church throughout the centuries and who have often called the Church back to her essential mission and service, I make an appeal to women of the Church today to assume new forms of leadership in service, and I appeal to all the institutions of the Church to welcome this contribution of women.
—Pope John Paul II in his Letter to Mary Ann Glendon and the Holy See's Delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women (August 29, 1995)

Justice for Women
“If you stick with the process, change will come," says Chris Hillman of the Seattle-based Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center (IPJC) which is helping low-income women take action on poverty issues. With the help of funding from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, IPJC's Justice for Women project has held nearly 50 Women's Justice Circles, bringing together low-income and homeless women with "collaborators" from churches, hospitals, colleges, and community organizations. Women in the circles identify the issues to be addressed, talk about solutions, and develop action plans that are transforming their communities. The circles have addressed such disparate topics as inequities in the local housing authority application process, dispute mediation and landlord/tenant rights, and screening and treatment for depression in homeless people. Click here for the full story.

Courageous Vibrant Woman Takes Charge in Her Community

Mary Lou Symmes is the chairperson of the Anti-Displacement Project, a community group in Springfield, MA, that has received funding from CCHD.

Paving a New Road in the African-American Community

Many African-American and multi-ethnic community organizing and economic development projects funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development have succeeded in transforming run-down and crime-ridden neighborhoods, in training leaders among low-income people, and in developing and implementing plans to improve the quality of education made available to their children.

One successful community group is the New Road Community Development Group of Exmore, in southern Virginia, which changed the lives of over 250 African-American residents. Poor African-Americans who work in the poultry, agricultural, service and seafood industries make up the leadership and members of New Road.

It is difficult to imagine that today in America residents are living without indoor plumbing. But that was the case in Exmore, Virginia. By banding together around a common concern and lifting up a unified voice, the members of New Road convinced the town to install a community-wide sewer system. Spurred on by that accomplishment and the realization of other systemic issues, the group set its sights on increasing homeownership. Over 20 new families now have keys to their own homes because of New Road’s efforts to eliminate substandard housing and replace it with decent, affordable housing that contains indoor plumbing and heating. Beyond housing, there is a need for cash assistance. Through their Emergency/Revolving Loan Fund, many low-income families have received small, low-interest loans to prevent the disconnection of utilities and services.

Facts*:

• Most African-Americans are not poor.
• Most poor people are not African-American or black.
• In sheer numbers, there are significantly more white/Caucasian people who are living in poverty.
• However, there is an over-representation of African-Americans in poverty based on size of the population.

Over 2 million Catholics in the U.S. are African American. Visit the Secretariat for African American Catholics

*U.S. Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2002, Current Population Reports, Sept. 2003.

Read more about African-American and multi-ethnic projects funded by CCHD, such as

• Blocks Together, a neighborhood group working with residents to improve the community by ridding the streets of drug dealers, prostitutes, and the violence they bring.
• ICARE, a faith-based organization in Jacksonville, Florida, made up of 35 diverse congregations working together with low-income residents to address education, public transportation, crime and drugs.

Focus your attention on Poverty this month!

Poverty can be ended and each of us can do something to help. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Every bit helps. Even small actions remind us that many of our neighbors are living very close to the edge. Here are three ideas to get started – more can be found by clicking on the subheadings below.

You’ll notice that the ideas reflect the “Two Feet of Social Action”, which are Works of Charity (helping people address present needs) and Works of Justice (removing the causes of social problems).

As a Family:
When the family complains about having chicken for dinner again, ask them how they think it gets from the egg to their plates and why it costs so little. Check out the Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance, a group that represents chicken farmers.

As a Parish:
Harness the language skills of your parishioners to help local immigrants translate paperwork that would help them apply for legitimate benefits and register to vote. Advertise this once-a-month service at local bodegas and laundromats.

As a Youth Group:
Use money raised at a car wash to buy gloves, socks, and sandwich materials. One day before school, bring lunches, socks and gloves to a local day-worker hiring site. Invite the worker-site coordinator to visit your group and describe the daily challenges faced by the job-seekers.

Chronic poverty can erode the spirit and isolate individuals. It can drive a wedge between family members and separate communities. In the United States, 36 million people live in poverty. Many poor and low-income people live in families with at least one member working full time.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) helps people to overcome hopelessness, renew spirit and build a sense of community through its support of community-based projects that work together to break the bonds of poverty. Through neighborhood empowerment and economic development projects, CCHD fights poverty promotes self-sufficiency.

For example, in Chicago, the Greater Washington Park Community Development Corporation and the Partnership for a Southside Community Federal Credit Union work together to prepare applicants for apprenticeships in the building trades. The Development Corporation helps workers meet the job requirements and the Credit Union finances the fees and tools for them to get started.

CCHD gets its support from Catholic parishioners whose financial gifts become the tools of self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and self-determination for people who are motivated to break out of the cycle of poverty. You can help by giving generously to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development appeal in your parish.

Click on the image to see one young person’s generosity.

Cynthia Jerry went looking for a few good women to fill retail jobs in the Virgin Islands and ended up developing a hugely successful training program with 225 graduates to date. Cynthia and her New Image Foundation (NIF), with support from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, turned a labor shortage into an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty for hundreds of low-income women.

The first group of 25 trainees were moving from welfare to work in the retail and hospitality industries. Their program covered topics as diverse as computer basics, building a business wardrobe on a limited budget and relating to peers in the workplace. “We integrated many issues in the first 120-hour course and helped the women develop confidence that they could determine their future,” says Cynthia. “We let them take time to envision themselves as professionals.”

New Image has modified the program to reflect its experience and meet the changing needs of its clients. With CCHD funding, the Excel Core is a basic 72-hour course and other New Image programs focus on upgrading current employment and getting started in entrepreneurship. Potential trainees sign a document committing themselves to the program.

The New Image Foundation is a dynamic example of CCHD’s efforts to help women empower themselves and improve their economic situations.

Nearly 36 million Americans have fallen into poverty -- more people than a year ago, the highest number in years. What does it mean to the life of our nation to have so many people lost in a shadowy state of uncertainty and need? What does it mean to be poor in America -- to be a resident of the forgotten state of poverty?

Each year the Catholic Campaign for Human Development conducts public opinion research to assess the awareness and attitudes of the general public regarding poverty in America. The results have been quite revealing; we found that most Americans deny the importance of poverty as a major social problem and yet greatly fear the effects of poverty in our nation, including community violence, poor-quality education, and drug sales and trafficking.

The Campaign also surveyed low-income people directly. Listen to the way they describe their lives in poverty:

Being poor means "not getting the same chances" and "needing to fight for everything."

Being poor means, "living is harder and quitting is easier." "It's being almost invisible to almost everyone."

Being poor in America is like "going hungry at a banquet; it shouldn't happen, but it does."

Being poor in America means "working till you hurt and always coming up short." "It's being scared and afraid, not knowing what tomorrow will be like."

In our land of tremendous opportunity, lifelong poverty is sadly common -- though rarely chosen. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) helps break the cycle of poverty by encouraging individuals to work together to strengthen their neighborhoods and create new economic opportunities for themselves, their families, and their neighbors. By supporting the grassroots efforts of community groups, CCHD brings hope, fosters self-sufficiency, and provides tools for permanent improvement.

Business education + life skills = bright futures
Young adults in a New Orleans neighborhood which last tasted commercial success in the 1950s, now learn food service and hospitality skills at Café Reconcile, a CCHD-funded restaurant. Café Reconcile president Craig Cuccia says, "We started in a building with no roof, built relationships with different people and ministries in the neighborhood and have now helped revitalize and reintroduce the area to people who were alienated from it." Café Reconcile serves lunch to 120 diners a day and has two small catering contracts. Staff comes from the neighborhood and from the training program which mixes business education with life skills.

CCHD gets most of its support from Catholic parishioners whose financial gifts become the tools of self-reliance, self-sufficiency and self-determination for people who are motivated to break out of the cycle of poverty.

You can help others know successes like those of Café Reconcile by giving generously to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development appeal in your parish. Most parishes will take up our collection the weekend of November 23-24, 2002. For more information, email cchdpromo@usccb.org.

The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round...All Through the Town
But not quite the entire town. . .
Members of People Acting for Community Together (PACT) told of long waits, overcrowding, frequent breakdowns, and inconsistent scheduling on Miami-Dade County buses. In fact, while researching the issue, PACT learned that a 2-hour commute was commonplace for those who rely on the bus. PACT member Andre Bony shared, "People are losing their jobs because the bus is not on time and making them late to work."

Community residents learned that the county had not expanded its bus fleet in over 20 years, despite rapid population growth. Roads and bridges continued to be built while improvements for those without cars were ignored.

Recently, about 200 PACT members joined 1,000 other concerned citizens at a "Transportation Summit" organized by the Mayor of Miami. Each member wore a T-shirt that read "Make the ride complete. In three years double the bus fleet!" Their efforts paid off. The county included the community's request in its proposed plan.

PACT is an interfaith coalition of diverse congregations working together for social and economic justice in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1988, PACT members come together to make systemic changes on the issues that affect their lives, including education, public transportation, and city services. Currently, PACT is comprised of 25 congregations representing more than 50,000 people -- making it the largest grassroots organization in South Florida.

When your neighborhood houses more than meets the eye. . .

Members of Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles discovered that a local middle school was built adjacent to a contaminated Superfund* site. The health risks to their children prompted neighbors into action. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is supporting the group's environmental justice campaign that will pressure the local school district to address environmental concerns as it builds 16 new schools in the community of South Central Los Angeles.

Formed in 1985, CCSCLA members initially came together to speak up against the development of a mass waste incinerator which was planned for construction in their neighborhood. After winning that battle, the members stayed together to work on other issues impacting their community, including affordable housing and other environmental issues.

The group's 700 members from the Vernon-Central neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles have made significant progress on their goals of educating the community and exposing brownfields and other toxic waste sites.

One of their popular educational tools is a comic-book account of teen involvement in the middle school project. It chronicles the experiences of three young students as they become aware of the problem in their community, learn about the issue, and end up testifying before a congressional committee on behalf of their community.

*The Superfund Program locates, investigates, and cleans up the worst environmental sites nationwide. The US Environmental Protection Agency administers the Superfund program in cooperation with individual states and tribal governments.

Contact CCHD for more information about this and other funded projects.

A weekend encounter leads to a ten-year relationship . . .
Ten years ago at St. Jude's Parish in Boca Raton, Florida, a CCHD Journey to Justice retreat became a parish ministry. The Journey to Justice process, which begins with a parish weekend retreat, is a CCHD justice education-action initiative that provides a context for parishioners to examine their beliefs about people living in poverty in the United States and to learn about Catholic social teaching. Parishioners also spend time with members of a CCHD-funded project or similar group of empowered low-income persons to view poverty through the eyes of those who experience it.

For ten years after their retreat, members of St. Jude's Journey to Justice ministry and their neighbors who live in an area called "In the Pines" have sustained a commitment to walk together in solidarity. St. Jude's is a middle-class parish. "In the Pines" is a community of impoverished farmworkers from Mexico and Central America. Their association has enriched both communities.

In the beginning, the two were engaged in adult English classes, and later in immigration support, translation assistance, after-school care, and establishment of a children's day care center. As a result, some adults in the community went into other kinds of work, such as landscaping and day care services. Meanwhile, the parishioners gained deeper insight about poverty in their community.

In the fall of 2001, the first child from the original group of farmworker families left for college. Recently, the partners embarked on a journey of home ownership, which in three years resulted in nineteen families moving out of employer-owned housing to realize their dream of private home ownership. Other families are now preparing to purchase their first homes.

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty–for a Lifetime   Federal and state welfare reform efforts continue to have an impact on the economy. Welfare recipients seek dignity while wrestling with job training, transportation difficulties, dependable and affordable child care, and an impending time limit to receive welfare benefits. Low-wage workers seek better wages and working conditions.

• The Michigan Organizing Project is bringing together Black, White, and Latino workers and congregations to address economic issues in Western Michigan.
  
  
• The Childspace Cooperative Development project in Philadelphia is organizing childcare workers for improved wages and benefits.
  
  
• In Pittsburgh, the Mon Valley Unemployment Committee's project is working to improve access to food stamps and health insurance.

Strengthening local economies – With CCHD's help, the Norris Square Civic Association of Philadelphia is working for self-sufficiency. The organization has developed a worker-owned construction company, has built townhouses for low- and moderate-income families, administers a training program for neighborhood businesses, and has created a neighborhood market, El Mercado. Norris Square members plan to expand El Mercado to house ten vendors and two commercial kitchens. The members will sell fresh food, help incubate businesses, and develop their own line of healthy food products.

The CCHD Economic Development Program (EDP) is focused on job creation and business development. The EDP builds upon the Catholic social teaching principles of life and dignity of the human person, the right and duty to participate in society, the dignity of work and the rights of workers, and the preferential option for the poor. From these roots, and CCHD's founding resolution for organized groups of poor persons "to develop economic strength in their own communities," the EDP supports projects that create jobs for low-income persons that offer just wages and benefits, as well as opportunities for business decision-making and ownership.

No chips needed – SALSA (Student Advocacy, Leadership and Service Association) is a Catholic high school organization that grew out of one young man's belief that the required senior year two-week service project was insufficient. His high school, Reicher Catholic, sits in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Waco, Texas, but most of the student body comes from outside the neighborhood. The young man saw the poverty around the school and determined that the school could and should be more involved, so he started SALSA. Twenty-five percent of the school's 250 students have joined. SALSA members have met with:

• the city manager to find out more about the neighborhood and what the city was doing,
  
• the nearby public middle school where they threw a block party to begin building relationships with the neighborhood kids,
  
• the public high school in order to develop a partnership with the public high school students, and
  
• neighborhood associations to see what service the students could do for and with the community.

A neighborhood coalition of Bronx residents and religious leaders, the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition has worked since 1974 to address a multitude of community issues that effect 380,000 low- to moderate-income residents. Local leadership has successfully addressed tenant issues, school overcrowding and environmental concerns. Recently, the Coalition convinced the City of New York to relocate a planned water filtration plant from the site of a local park and successfully urged banks to reopen branches in the neighborhood. As one member said, "When people talk about their problems, they'll find solutions by working together. No one can do it alone."

Email us at cchdpromo@usccb.org
Catholic Campaign for Human Development | 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington DC 20017-1194 | (202) 541-3000 © USCCB. All rights reserved.