The 2008 Catholic Campaign for Human Development Parish Collection: November 22-23rd

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)

www.usccb.org/cchd

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is the domestic

anti-poverty, social justice program of the U.S. Catholic bishops. Its mission is to address the root causes of poverty in America through promotion and support of community-controlled, self-help organizations and through transformative education.

Founded in 1969, CCHD's pastoral strategy is empowerment of the poor through a methodology of participation and education for justice, leading toward solidarity between poor and non-poor as impelled by the Church's biblical tradition, modern Catholic social teaching, and the pervasive presence of poverty in the United States. This ministry for justice is rooted in our baptism and faith commitment.

The grants, economic development, and education for justice programs of the Campaign, implemented in collaboration with local dioceses, are supported from an annual collection in U.S. Catholic parishes. For parish resources to promote the annual collection visit www.usccb.org/cchd.

The Office of Peace and Justice can provide speakers to address parish communities prior to the collection in November. If you would like to arrange for someone to speak at masses or to other groups, contact the Office of Peace and Justice at 602.650.7832 or email phoyt@cc-az.org

Thanks to the generosity of parishioners and the energetic support of pastors and their teams, the Diocese of Phoenix has sent more than $2 million to the national CCHD campaign over the past decades. In return, we have received an
estimated $2 million to fund more than 70 projects, ranging from housing and just wages to health care and education. These are just a few stories from our CCHD funded groups.

CCHD Collection Resources

Some Success Stories.....

Valley Interfaith Project
This highly-organized, successful, and powerfully articulate group has a long history of Phoenix community organizing. But what is particularly exciting is that the new Valley Interfaith Project (VIP) plan for long-term job training could be its best work yet. The project, modeled on a successful CCHD-funded job training program in Texas, weds community college training with living wage jobs guaranteed with business partners in the community. In the Texas model, 90 percent of students completed the program and scored jobs. The planned scope is massive, with 400-500 people initially being trained and later 1,500 in training at any given time.

West Valley Sponsoring Committee

Surely one of the most difficult and frustrating community organizing tasks is creating a shared sense of community in places where none exists. West Valley Sponsoring Committee, now in its third year of CCHD funding, is determined to provide community advocacy and infrastructure in this area which developers have morphed from farmland to sprawling neighborhoods. One of the recent success for the West Valley Sponsoring Committee was the approval by the Dysart school board for the construction of Las Brisas Elementary School. This comes after a year of house meetings and research actions with the Dysart District, Luke Air Force Base, the Attorney General's office, and the City of El Mirage.  Families have been waiting for over eight years to see a neighborhood school built, while their children have been bused north to schools in Surprise (sometimes a ride of 45 minutes to an hour each way).

Tonatierra-Macehualli Day Labor Center

This North Phoenix day labor center, now in its second year of CCHD funding, is the only such center in the country that is completely worker-run. Its uniqueness doesn’t stop there. Instead of a hierarchical board, all decisions are made on what organizers call an “Aztec” model of rotating leadership in which the entire membership makes all decisions and sets all policies.

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