In fact, some of the most effective collaborative efforts have been launched by poor and low-income Americans who have established community-based, self-help organizations to break the cycle of poverty. Your help can strengthen their activities.

Here are some simple steps you can take to join the effort.

GET ACTIVE
Connect with an anti-poverty organization already working in your community. Pay close attention to poverty-related stories in the local news, and make note of the leaders or organizations mentioned. Contact a group whose ideals and aims match yours.

Learn how a diverse group of organizations come together to promote change in low-income communities.

Work shoulder-to-shoulder with poor and low-income people by participating in a community-based, self-help project like those funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. To find a local group, visit www.usccb.org/cchd/02fund.htm.

Volunteer with and support a national organization, such as the Catholic Campaign for Human Development that promotes the development of workable, long-term strategies for the elimination of poverty. Or support an organization such as Catholic Charities (www.catholiccharitiesusa.org), whose agencies and institutions nationwide provide vital social services to people in need, regardless of their religious, social, or economic backgrounds.

Take part in a local program that provides after-school assistance to children of the "working poor," tutoring young kids in need. Or become a mentor to adolescents trying to construct productive lives out of poverty. Visit www.mentoring.org to find organizations to become a mentor in your own community.

Encourage your classmates, co-workers, civic club, church or synagogue members to participate in a local, state or national organization aimed at eliminating poverty.

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STAY INVOLVED
Make financial choices that help bring economic opportunity to low-income communities, such as buying products or services produced by local self-help organizations.

Read how one CCHD-funded group is working to secure living wages for farm laborers

If you are a business owner, pay a "living wage" to employees working in traditionally low-paying jobs. Search the Web for living-wage issues and ordinances in your state, and find how to help such campaigns in your local area.

Pursue a career that is directly involved in addressing or eliminating the root causes of poverty in America. Every day across our nation, tens of thousands of researchers, policy-makers and non-profit employees are working full-time to better understand the root causes of poverty. But you needn't be a social worker to join the effort; engineers, lawyers, doctors and developers can make a difference, too, by devoting their businesses to addressing the needs of America's poor.

Become a "virtual warrior" in the fight against poverty. Lend your talents for creating Web sites, developing databases, writing e-mail Letters-to-the Editor on justice-related issues, conducting online research or other "digital pursuits" to a self-help organization.

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For more information about the state of poverty in America or its residents, or to help support CCHD, send us an email or write to us at:

Catholic Campaign for Human Development
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20017-1194

To find out about or get involved with CCHD projects in your community, contact the CCHD director in your local Catholic diocese.