CCHD Previous Grant Recipients

2011 Local Grants

1. Prison Ministry Outreach
The Prison Outreach Ministry and its Welcome Home Reentry Program live the Gospel Mandate to serve men and women returning to their communities after incarceration. We seek to reduce recidivism, educate the community and develop strong systems of support, by building relationships and by matching returning individuals with compassionate volunteer mentors from communities of faith and civic organizations.

Learn more here.

2. DC Jail Visitors’ Service Center
Visitors' Services Center (VSC) is an essential safety net for offenders and their families, who are most likely to be among the most marginalized members of our society. We continue to be the only organization in our Nation's Capital providing vital services to some of our neediest citizens. Our goal is to reduce the recidivism rate in the District. We know from direct experience that returning citizens who are given services pre-and-post release from incarceration make a successful transition to become positive contributing citizens to our economy and community. We remain committed to our long history of providing basic human services to meet basic human needs.

Learn more here.

3. PeaceMeal at St. Aloysius Church (DC)
At PeaceMeal, we use the setting of a friendly dinner with nutritious food to provide comfort to those on the fringes of society. The anonymous people of our streets are greeted as friends and given a place of honor, as Jesus would have. PeaceMeal is served on Wednesday evenings. Volunteers from St Aloysius and other parishes and organizations, give their time on Tuesday evenings to prepare the meal and Wednesday evening to serve over 300 guests a week.

Learn more here.

4. A Simple House
A Simple House of Sts. Francis and Alphonsus is a lay missionary apostolate serving the poorest neighborhoods of Washington, DC and Kansas City, MO. All Simple House work is done by full-time and part-time volunteers. A Simple House serves project and Section 8 neighborhoods in southeast Washington, DC. Our work involves meeting people in their neighborhoods and in their homes, and it is focused on the parents instead of the children.

Learn more here.

5. Mary House
Mary House is a community based organization that provides transitional housing services, shelter and support programs to homeless and struggling families, and was founded on the concept that "smaller is better." The philosophy at Mary House has always been to help others as we ourselves would want to be helped, while providing a safe haven that allows families to reclaim their dignity. Mary House is on the verge of celebrating 30 years of serving immigrant and refugee parents and children in Washington, D.C. Mary House works with low-income Latin American families and recently expanded services to resettling Eastern European and Iraqi families. With thirteen sites in Northeast Washington D.C. and Takoma Park, Maryland, Mary House can serve up to 50 families with housing. Expanded support services of Mary House serve an additional hundred families every month. During its twenty eight year history, Mary House has sheltered and cared for hundreds of families.

Learn more here.

6. Isaiah’s Promise
Isaiah’s Promise was founded in 1995 to provide support to families who decide to continue their pregnancy despite a poor or lethal prenatal diagnosis. Isaiah’s Promise is a free service of practical support and compassionate care. The focus is on meeting the needs of expectant parents as they seek to honor the life of their baby no matter how frail or how brief. Isaiah’s Promise provides direct support, resource materials, assistance with writing birth plans, birth support personas, as requested, and referrals to other community based services and support groups.

7. Restoration Ministries
Restoration Ministries seeks to bring healing to men, women and children who are caught in the trap of sex trafficking and lead them to the freedom of Jesus Christ. RM is an organization that bases its identity in Christ, focusing on the intimacy of a personal relationship with Jesus to transform lives. From this identity, our mission is to develop loving, long-term relationships with women and girls who have survived sex trafficking and to empower them by providing and advocating for appropriate aftercare services.

Learn more here.

8. Living Wages
Living Wages is a community of adult learners, educators, tutors, volunteers and supporters located in Southeast Washington, D.C. We believe that all men and women are entitled to opportunities to learn throughout their lives. In our adult education centers, we promote justice, democracy, social and economic development, and a world in which violent conflict is replaced by diaglogue and a culture of peace. Our mission is to prepare participants to become lifelong learners, to compete successfully in the job market, to become competent parents and family members, and to exercise their rights and responsibilities as citizens through active community involvement.

Learn more here.

9. Youth Change (Holy Name Catholic Church)
The Purpose of Youth Change is to educate youth, ages 5-24 years about: gun safety: causes, effects and consequences; street law: knowing about your legal rights, penalties and compliances of both city and state laws; crisis response for peer intervention and mediation, and proper etiquette behavior and dress code for success.

10. Lay Leadership Institute
Lay Leadership Institute offers faith formation, leadership, and computer classes to Hispanic adults in the Archdiocese of Washington.

11. L’Arche
Since 1983, L’Arche Greater Washington, DC, has provided safe housing, compassionate support services, and the opportunity for people with intellectual disabilities to become integrated into their neighborhoods. The organization was begun by a group of people who were inspired by the vision of Jean Vanier – the best way to reveal the gifts and abilities of people with intellectual disabilities is to create a caring community in which people with and without disabilities can share their lives.

Learn more here.

12. Bethlehem House
Bethlehem House provides a Christian home-based community to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IADD). Dolores Wilson, then principal at the Lt. Joseph Kennedy School, opened BH in response to parents’ fears for the care of their adult children with IADD. The BH ministry includes two homes, in Brookland, in Northwest DC and in Riverdale, MD. Some thirty residents have lived at BH, since it opened its doors in 1986. Dolores Wilson and Bethlehem House residents and staff are closely involved with the regional Faith and Light communities, a collegiate training program for interns and volunteers, catechetical training, family counseling, diocesan activities, L’Arche, Best Buddies, new parish-based organizations such as the Brookland Community Resources Program and other inclusion programs.

Learn more here.

13. Franciscan Action Network
The Franciscan Action Network (FAN) is a growing movement among over 50 Franciscan entities in the US committed to transforming the world in the Spirit of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. The network is made up of friars, religious sisters, members of the Third Order Secular Franciscans, and mostly lay people. Franciscan Action Network is a leading Franciscan voice in the US for social justice, constituent ethics of life, and environmental justice. The network assists people in developing a deep Franciscan spirituality while, at the same time, helping to reach outward through advocacy and other local and global solidarity efforts.

Learn more here.