General
CCHD Newsletter Issue 19.1 (2019)
Catholic Campaign for Human Development Newsletter 19 Issue 1, 2019
Helping People Help Themselves
Recognizing the Stranger: National Strategic Grant Interfaith Education Fund by Beth Griffin
Joe Rubio is a senior organizer of the west/southwest region of the Industrial Areas Foundation and a leader of the Interfaith Education Fund (IEF). With a grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the IEF piloted a program in fall of 2016 called Recognizing the Stranger, a multiyear regional approach to the immigration issue, in seven southwestern dioceses.
The Recognizing the Stranger strategy works with local parishes to identify, train, and mentor immigrant leaders to build connections among themselves and with nonimmigrant allies in their parishes and the broader community,” Joe says. “It’s a collaborative effort among clergy, leaders, and organizers to develop capacity to tackle tough issues.” The Recognizing the Stranger process has three phases, or parts. The first phase employs advanced training, conducted in Spanish, to build immigrant leaders’ abilities to conduct listening campaigns and specialized workshops in their home parishes. Then, the leaders learn how to impact parish, school, and community life through alliances with nonimmigrants.