ELEVEN CENTRAL & WEST SIDE ANTI-POVERTY & SOCIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS AWARDED $235,000

2006 Catholic Campaign For Human Development Funds Disbursed
Chicago, IL, (November 3, 2006)—Eleven Chicago area community organizations that work in the Loop, Forest Park, Cicero and Chicago’s near West side, lower East side and the East Garfield Park and South Lawndale neighborhoods, will share $235,000 in grant money from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

The monies are part of a record $830,000 collected in the Archdiocese of Chicago’s 2005 CCHD annual appeal. The following grant recipients—Access Living, Community Organizing and Family Issues, The Community Renewal Society, The Illinois Hunger Coalition, The Latino Union of Chicago, The Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, The Progress Center for Independent Living, The Chicago Worker’s Collaborative, The Resurrection Project, Woman Craft and The Interfaith Leadership Project—received the funds to restore and create economic opportunities in their neighborhoods and towns.

With the support of Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, and coordinated with a series of public-service and internal parish announcements, this year’s collection is set to take place the weekend of November 18 and 19 at 366 parishes in Cook and Lake counties.

The funds will be awarded in Fall 2007, with recipients chosen from dozens of eligible organizations committed to social justice issues such as affordable housing, immigrant and worker issues, and improved
care for the elderly and disabled.

After raising nearly $1 million in 2000, a downturn in contributions occurred following September 11, 2001. However, since 2003, Chicago-area Catholics have generously responded to the campaign, with more than 98 percent of parishes participating in 2005. More
than 60 percvent of last year’s grant money is targeted for immigrant-related issues, reflecting the church’s ongoing support for immigration reform.

Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago (ALMC) is a cross-disability organization whose purpose is to foster the dignity, self-esteem and pride of the disabled who reside on Chicago’s near West side. With their $15,000 grant, ALMC will continue to see that the disabled are
given assistance when transitioning their living arrangements from nursing homes into the community.

The Community Organizing and Family Issue POWER PAC (COFI), which works in the Austin, Englewood, Westtown and Uptown neighborhoods, will use its $20,000 grant to impact public policies that affect low-income children in areas such as in-school discipline and mandatory recess programs. Nellie Torres, COFI Co-chair and mother of four likes that the new discipline code “stresses corrective, not punitive measures, and lets our kids learn from their mistakes.” Louise Evans, COFI Steering Committee member and grandmother of thirteen, was “thrilled to see that recess was reinstated.”

The Community Renewal Society (CRS) will use its $15,000 grant to aid seniors in understanding the need to use prescribed medications as directed, and not less often in hopes they will last longer. Additionally, the CRS aims to improve the overall quality of life of the elderly through their Seniors Ministries Network, a 1,000-strong interfaith network from 22 Latino and African-American congregations in Chicago’s South and West sides.

From its Loop-based offices, The Illinois Hunger Coalition (IHC) will apply its $10,000 grant to develop relationships to eliminate hunger
by reducing poverty in the Latino community. The IHC teaches Latino leaders how to work within the legislative process, the effects of which recently resulted in an in-school breakfast program and the restoration of $1.4 million in federal funds for immigrants’ food stamps.

Albany Park’s Latino Union of Chicago (LU) will use its $15,000 grant to collaborate with low-income, immigrant workers to develop the needed tools to collectively improve social and economic conditions. The LU’s Albany Park Worker’s Center, an alternative to street corner hiring sites for day laborers on the Northwest side, generated over $400,000 in direct wages in its first year of operation.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Chicago’s Little Village is one of the country’s most industrialized communities, and
has with the third-worst air-quality level in metropolitan Chicago. To combat these realities, The Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) will use its $15,000 grant to add to the 40-plus communal vegetable gardens that were established in 2005, as well as restore mandatory recess, gym class and healthy eating programs in the neighborhood’s schools.

Established in 1843, the Archdiocese of Chicago serves 2.4 million Catholics throughout Cook and Lake counties through its 366 parishes, and its numerous apostolates, missions, shrines, oratories and chaplaincies.

Forest Park’s Progress Center for Independent Living (PCIL) will use its $10,000 grant to increase the amount of affordable and/or accessible housing for the disabled. In the future, the oprganization hopes to implement its successes across area townships.

The Chicago Worker’s Collaborative (CWC) is a coalition of workers and organizations that will use its $30,000 grant to continue to work to raise the standards for Illinois’ low-wage workers, most who have annual incomes around $10,000.

The Resurrection Project (TRP) is a near West-side coalition of thirteen Catholic parishes that will use its $35,000 grant to help the Latino populations of Pilsen, Little Village and Back-of-the-Yards advocate for change through living wage and affordable retail space and open space programs.

WomanCraft will use its $40,000 grant to employ East Garfield Park’s female homeless to produce wedding invitations, handmade paper and jewelry and other special-event needs of Chicago’s corporations.

Cicero’s Interfaith Leadership Project (ILP) received a $30,000 grant to help a growing Latino population in Cicero (80%) and Berwyn (50%) strengthen local institutions by fostering relationships, developing leaders and deepening civic engagement. The ILP seeks policy changes in immigration reforms, financial aid for undocumented high school graduates and increase access to health-care for the area’s low-income population.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is the domestic anti-poverty, social justice program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Their mission is to address the root causes of poverty in America through promotion and support of community-controlled, self-help organizations and transformative education. Since its
founding in 1970, the CCHD has supported more than 4,000 self-help projects developed by grass roots groups of poor persons in the US.

# Established in 1843, the Archdiocese of Chicago serves 2.4 million Catholics throughout Cook and Lake counties through its 366 parishes, and its numerous apostolates, missions, shrines, oratories and chaplaincies.

Visit the Archdiocese of Chicago’s official website:
www.archchicago.org