Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)

Through the Church's Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), you can give hope to poor and low-income Americans struggling to build a better life. CCHD funds self-help programs that give community members the chance to help them help themselves and to create long-term systemic change in their communities.

Since 1970, the Campaign has made over $270 million in grants to over 4,000 grassroots programs that have enabled communities, strengthened families, assisted youth, helped create jobs, promoted affordable housing, fought environmental pollution, empowered the developmentally disabled and cleaned up neighborhoods. Give hope to those in need - please give generously to your parish CCHD collection in November.

For more information call Mary McGinnity, local CCHD director, at 301-853-5339.

How to Apply for a Grant

Grant applications are received and reviewed by national CCHD staff, who also refer the proposals to a CCHD advisory committee and to diocesan directors. Bishops are informed of projects within their diocese that have submitted proposals. Diocesan directors, with local committees, conduct evaluations, do on-site visits and make recommendations. The National CCHD Advisory Committee meets to review staff and diocesan evaluations of each project and to make funding recommendations to USCCB-CCHD Committee. Bishops again are consulted regarding projects seeking funding in their diocese. USCCB-CCHD Committee meets to act on Advisory Committee funding recommendations and, finally, projects are notified of funding decisions.

Grant proposals are evaluated by a Local Advisory Committee, comprised of parishioners representing parishes around the Archdiocese, as to how well the projects meet CCHD criteria:

• Projects must benefit a poverty group, with at least 50% of those benefiting from the project coming from the low-income community.
• Members of the poverty group must have a dominant voice in the project.
• Projects should innovatively address the basic causes of poverty and effect institutional change.
• Projects should generate cooperation and leadership among and within diverse groups in the interest of a more integrated and mutually understanding society.
• All organizations requesting funds, their sponsoring organizations, and all their projects must conform to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church.

Since 25% of the collected monies are kept in the (arch)diocese where they are collected, the local CCHD advisory committee, with representatives from all parts of the (arch)diocese, helps decide the distribution of the local monies using the same criteria.

• National Grant Application
• Local Grant Application (PDF)

CCHD Collection
The CCHD collection takes place in the parishes of the Archdiocese of Washington in November. Please be as generous as you can: 75% of the collection goes to the National CCHD for grants to local community-based organizations all over the country, including here in the Archdiocese while 25% stays here in the Archdiocese of Washington to be used for smaller grants to help organizations of people help themselves.