Why Your Support for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development Collection Matters

The annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Collection will be taken the weekend of November 21-22. Over 40 million people in the United States live in poverty, and there are estimates that over 8 million more people have fallen into poverty since the pandemic began last spring. This collection supports organizations that empower people to identify and address the obstacles they face as they work to bring permanent and positive change to their communities. This year, CCHD awarded $187,500 to 10 of these organizations in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

One of the groups funded in 2020 is Berkeley-based Youth Spirit Artworks. Founded in 2007, YSA works with more than 150 homeless and underserved youth to build skills in sales and entrepreneurship, media and communication, journalism, non-profit management, community organizing, and social services. Program participants helped raise funds and advocated with city and county officials to build a village of 26 tiny houses in Oakland for homeless youth as part of the organization’s 100 Homes for Homeless Youth Campaign. A short video about YSA that can be shown to your parishioners and linked to your parish’s Facebook page can be found on the CCHD Oakland Diocese Facebook page.

For more information about the organizations in our diocese funded by CCHD in 2020, please see the list of grant recipients here.