Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) was established in 1970 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to combat poverty. CCHD’s main goals are: (1) to raise funds to support organized groups of poor and low-income people in developing economic strength and political power, and (2) to educate Catholics about the Church’s social teaching and the realities of poverty in the U.S.

CCHD funds projects controlled by poor and low-income people, giving them the power to help themselves. This self-determination changes the attitudes, habits, and structures that perpetuate the cycle of poverty. CCHD also aims to build solidarity among people of different social and economic backgrounds.

CCHD has supported over 4,000 community programs with funds raised from an annual collection in Catholic parishes across the nation. The most recent grants were distributed as follows:

• 60% for housing and community development
• 20% for jobs and economic development
• 20% for family issues (i.e. homelessness, youth issues, child care, etc…)

Twenty-five percent (25%) of the funds collected are retained by each diocese to help fight poverty at the local level. For information about the Catholic Campaign for Human Development at work in southern Illinois, contact charitiesinfo@ccsil.org.

Visit the national web site Campaign for Human Development.

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