by Rebekah Davidson

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) “is an anti-poverty initiative that’s designed to root out the causes of systemic poverty,” said Glen Glenn, the Program Coordinator of CCHD. “We fund initiatives that work toward that end.”

CCHD offers grants to organizations targeting issues that can lead to poverty, such as unemployment, lack of education and language barriers. Through these organizations, CCHD enabled 2,677 low-income people to overcome poverty in the past year.

“The money is being spent in a way that is consistent with Catholicism,” said Glenn. “The organization [receiving a grant] has to be consistent with Catholic social teaching.” It must also be non-partisan and have a 501(c)(3) status.

Local organizations currently receiving grants for the 2023-2024 cycle include: Churches Active in Northside (Cincinnati), Communities United for Action (Cincinnati), Community Matters (Cincinnati), Drive to Thrive (Cincinnati), El Puente Educational Center (Dayton), Mission of Mary Cooperative (Dayton), Oasis House (Dayton) and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (Springfield).

“We have a CCHD committee that is comprised of both priests and laypeople … who actually do the work [by] reviewing the applications,” said Glenn. “They [also] talk to the organizations to make sure the organizations are being good guardians of the funds entrusted to them.”

Embedded into Catholic Social Action, CCHD was founded by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1969. Seventy-five percent of funds go toward national work, while 25% goes to local organizations. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati previously brought in some of the largest donations in the U.S.

“On our [local] level, the grants are no more than $10,000,” said Glenn. “On a national level, the grants can be up to $75,000.”

For its national anti-poverty campaign over the weekend of November 18 and 19, CCHD will primarily collect in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati through the Church, but donations can also be mailed-in and submitted online.

“Our theme locally is ‘Your dollars make a change,’” said Glenn. “We’re trying to tell the story of how the money is used so they can actually see their dollars in the works. In the past year, 2,600 [people] directly benefited … . That is a small fraction of the ancillary benefit of those skills that people are taking forward: Twenty people went to an advocacy training program, but now they’re able to train hundreds because they have that skill set. It’s planting seeds. They don’t want to just give someone the fish to eat with. They want to make sure they can eat for the rest of their lives and have the tools to fish.”

CCHD welcomes assistance in promoting the campaign, and are always glad to have on board those passionate about this initiative, Glen said. “We can never get enough legwork to get this message out and let people know about the good works CCHD has done and will continue to do. We need more promoters.”

An information packet explaining CCHD and the campaign are being sent to the community. To learn more about the CCHD and its campaign, call Catholic Social Action at 513-263-6690, or visit www.resources.catholicaoc.org/offices, click on the “Catholic Social Action” button, and scroll down on that page to find CCHD under Task Forces and Committees.