Farmworkers, homeless aided by CCHD grants

Thanks to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the plight of farmworkers in New York State could be improving.

Among other projects, the annual collection helps fund the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign (JFW), an effort that's enabling farmworkers to organize for such basic rights as water and sanitation while working in the fields, minimum wage, disability benefits and a day of rest.

Its efforts are being supported by major unions and the state attorney general's office, and groups involved in JFW -- such as Rural and Migrant Ministry and Farmworker Legal Services -- have become more active in creating a statewide farmworker organization.

Millions for poor

Since 1970, when CCHD was begun by the United States bishops, more than $250 million in grants has been distributed to 3,500-plus self-help initiatives nationwide.

CCHD is the largest private funder of projects that empower the poor, and work to eliminate poverty and injustice in the U.S. Each year, more than 300 CCHD-funded projects throughout the U.S. help create jobs, provide affordable housing, ensure decent wages, fight crime and encourage self-sufficiency.

The theme of CCHD is "Helping People Help Themselves," and this year's collection will be taken up Nov. 20-21 in parishes.

Helping here

One-quarter of the amount raised from Catholics remains in the Diocese. More than $2 million has gone to 42 different projects in the 14 counties of the Diocese during the years of CCHD.

Last year's collection increased by 11 percent locally compared to 1997, a sign of Catholics' generosity, according to Joseph Buttigieg, associate executive director of Catholic Charities.

"The people in this Diocese are very, very generous," he said. "The collection is designed for people to help themselves, and it hits a resonant chord in people."

Organizing

CCHD funds organizing projects, in which people work together to address community needs; and poor and marginalized people are empowered to make decisions, seek solutions to local problems, and find ways to improve their lives and neighborhoods.

The collection also funds economic development projects, which assist poor and low-income people to develop new businesses and create new jobs.

Grants are awarded on the basis of need, not religious affiliation, and they often serve as seed money to help low-income organizations attract support from other sources, such as churches, foundations, businesses and individuals.

Examples

Currently, two projects are being funded in the Albany Diocese through CCHD:

* the New York State Tenant and Neighborhood Information Services, which empowers communities in Albany, Schenectady and Troy to preserve public housing; and

* the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign.

In recent months, JFW has worked with the New York State AFL-CIO to help initiate a series of newspaper editorials on the mistreatment of farmworkers; consequently, such major unions as the Transport Workers and the New York Federation of Teachers have committed their support and involvement in efforts to organize farmworkers.

Farmworkers

The new president of the New York State AFL-CIO has repeatedly focused his speeches on the need for farmworker justice and removal of the exclusion that denies the right for farmworker collective bargaining.

Support also has come from the state attorney general, who has indicated willingness to be involved in efforts for the just treatment of farmworkers in New York.

CCHD gives JFW and other groups opportunities to make changes locally, and grants are awarded to people working at the grassroots level, Mr. Buttigieg pointed out.

"It really is people coming together, articulating their needs and working to meet those needs," he said. "CCHD has been a wonderful program -- the Church's anti-poverty ethic of helping people take control of their communities and neighborhoods."

Effective effort

In a letter to parishes, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard said the CCHD "has been enormously effective because it targets its resources to long-term solutions devised and sustained by local leadership.

"Working at the grassroots level has enabled the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to respond to changing needs."

(11-18-99)