Bishop Soto Announces Half A Million Dollars To Victims Of Hurricane Sandy, New National Strategic Grant Program

WASHINGTON—The Catholic Campaignfor Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S.bishops, has approved a grant of half a million dollars to assist victims ofHurricane Sandy along the East Coast of the United States. CCHD will alsolaunch a national strategic grant program to address poverty-related issuesacross the country.

Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento,California, chairman of the bishops' CCHD subcommittee, announced the movesNovember 13, during the annual Fall General Assembly of the U.S. Conference ofCatholic Bishops (USCCB) in Baltimore.

The grant to Hurricane Sandy victimswill support "people coming together to reorganize the fabric of theircommunities" and to "build a resilient support system for those most vulnerableto natural calamities, the poor," Bishop Soto said.

The national strategic grant programis an "innovative approach to poverty" that will complement CCHD's regular,diocesan-oriented support to community initiatives across the country. The CCHDsubcommittee approved more than $2 million over the next few years to addresssystemic causes of poverty and empower communities to implement lastingsolutions.

"Before our eyes today, immigrantsare exploited, the criminal justice system sucks our youth into its steely andbroken logic, labor is weakened, families are torn apart by poverty andchildren bear the consequences, women without hope are tempted to abortion,homes are foreclosed, pensions robbed, the poor are denied access to credit andour natural resources are exploited. This is real poverty," Bishop Soto said onthe need for the new national focus.

More information on CCHD is available online.

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Keywords: Hurricane Sandy, Bishop Jaime Soto, CatholicCampaign for Human Development, USCCB, U.S. bishops, anti-poverty, nationalstrategic grants

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