Diocesan Resources
CCHD Newsletter Helping People Help Themselves Issue 22.4 (2022)
CCHD Newsletter Helping People Help Themselves Issue 22.4
Renewing the Face of the Earth: Organizing for Sustainability and Economic Health on the Western Plains
This issue focuses on the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) and its efforts to help rural communities across the Western Plains respond to economic decline, environmental damage, and poverty through grassroots organizing and sustainable development.
Over recent decades, many Plains communities have been affected by:
- Large-scale fossil fuel extraction
- Industrialized agriculture
- Declining family farms and ranches
- Environmental contamination
- Population loss and economic hardship
CCHD awarded WORC a five-year Strategic National Grant to support economic diversification, environmental restoration, and community-led development.
WORC leaders say the grant enabled them to deepen community organizing efforts, strengthen relationships with low-income residents, broaden participation, and focus more intentionally on grassroots leadership. The funding also helped expand training programs and support communities navigating economic transitions away from extractive industries.
The newsletter emphasizes that strong communities grow through local leadership, environmental stewardship, and economic opportunity. By supporting WORC's grassroots organizing efforts, CCHD helps rural and Indigenous communities address the root causes of poverty, create sustainable jobs, restore damaged environments, and build a more resilient future.