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Catholic Campaign for Human Development

As Hawaii’s Bishop Larry Silva said in his letter promoting the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) – “CCHD was founded as a domestic anti-poverty program in 1970 by the U.S. Catholic Bishops because they realized that existing charitable services were not creating the changes needed to keep people out of poverty. CCHD’s motto is “Fight Poverty, Defend Human Dignity.” CCHD funds community and economic development programs across the United States that help poor and marginalized people join together to make decisions, seek solutions to local problems and find ways to improve their lives and communities in alignment with Catholic Social Teaching. CCHD funds self-help community programs based on defending human dignity. CCHD also provides educational opportunities for Catholics to learn about poverty, interact with those affected by it, and reflect on our faith response to it.  As such, CCHD is a vital partner in our Diocese efforts to implement our Roadmap Witness to Jesus and our efforts to follow in the footsteps of St. Peter Damien and Blessed Mother Marianne.”

As diocese directors for Catholic Campaign for Human Development The Office for Social Ministry is responsible to manage the full range of CCHD’s activities at the local level. These responsibilities include reviewing and evaluating national and local funding applications, monitoring funded programs, supporting seedling organizations, providing educational resources, and promoting the diocesan fund-raising campaign to support the annual collection. By doing this, we join CCHD in continuing a tradition of strong local-national collaboration. Supported solely by private donations, the program owes its success to Catholic parishioners whose contributions to the annual parish appeal have made meeting CCHD’s objectives possible over the years. Most funds come from the once-a-year CCHD collection, scheduled in most dioceses for the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Eighty-nine cents out of every dollar received by CCHD goes directly to community empowerment, economic development, and education programs that work to break the cycle of poverty. For more about Catholic Campaign for Human Development http://www.usccb.org/cchd/

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