Story - May 2, 2022 - At its heart, the Healthy Housing Initiative (HHI) is about seeing the dignity of every person. A person-centered, comprehensive approach to chronic homelessness, the program meets people where they are and moves them into permanent supportive housing that provides critical social services. A five-year pilot, HHI works in collaboration with Catholic healthcare entities and includes…

Story - February 11, 2022 - By Ben Wortham, Vice President of Behavioral Health Integration, CCUSA  In the six months before New Orleans Emergency Medical Services (EMS) referred Jose to Catholic Charities New Orleans (CCANO), he called 911 a total of 55 times, making him the service’s number-one caller. At 46, Jose was a jokester who spoke broken English and had…

Story - November 3, 2021 - When lockdown began in March 2020, Catholic Charities’ Hispanic Senior Center—which provides recreational and socialization activities for older Hispanic adults through the St. Augustine Towers—was forced to close its doors. “Like other Catholic Charities staff, the HSC staff was confused and nervous with the information flowing in about COVID-19 and its effects, especially on older…

Story - October 5, 2021 - HOLLISTER, Calif. (courtesy of KSBW8) — Farmworker families in Hollister have food, new clothes, and other household supplies. Dozens of cars drove from San Jose to deliver donations to hundreds of families. “It’s really important we not forget the farmworkers,” said Darlene Tenes, the Farmworker Caravan founder. The Farmworker Caravan, a nonprofit group based in…

Story - September 13, 2021 - A new archdiocesan senior apartment complex hosted a major announcement yesterday from the Biden-Harris Administration in regard to the nation’s “severe shortage of affordable housing.” On Wednesday, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge toured St. Rita Place, which will provide 46 one-bedroom apartments for income-eligible adults aged 62 and older. The $18.3 million…

Story - September 2, 2021 - [This article is reprinted by permission of NCR Publishing Company, www.NCROnline.org.] At the Aug. 30 groundbreaking ceremony for the first homeless day center in Imperial County in Southern California, by 11 a.m. the temperature had already reached 104 degrees. Such heat is often deadly to those without proper shelter and food, according to Monica Enríquez,…

Story - September 2, 2021 - A scattering of Hurricane Ida evacuees from storm-battered Louisiana to neighboring states across the south is presenting a familiar crisis for regional Catholic Charities agencies following Hurricane Ida’s Aug. 29 landfall. “Our experience here is similar to that of Hurricane Katrina in that the real need is coming from the damaged infrastructure and failed power…

Story - August 27, 2021 - A national eviction moratorium that protected millions of Americans who have fallen behind on rent payments is unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled. In a 6-3 opinion announced late Aug. 26, the court’s conservative majority agreed with a coalition of landlords and real estate groups who challenged the extension of a moratorium put in place…

Story - August 19, 2021 - Launched Aug. 16, the Archdiocese of Washington’s action plan to promote “an integral ecology” includes practical ways that parishes, Catholic schools and institutions, and individuals and families can care for creation, drawing on environmental science and inspired by Catholic social teaching. After Pope Francis issued his landmark 2015 encyclical on the environment, “Laudato Si’, on…

Story - August 18, 2021 - Saying that a humanitarian crisis is developing in Afghanistan, the chairmen of two U.S. bishops’ committees called on the U.S. government to “act with utmost urgency” to resettle thousands of Afghan citizens entering the country under special immigrant visas. The U.S. government has said it would resettle up to 30,000 people who have applied for…

Story - August 17, 2021 - The “human dignity” of Afghanistan’s people “must be respected” amid the chaos in the country, the head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services said Aug. 17. “The fall of Afghanistan and the departure of its elected leaders are a cause for concern, because of the possible denial of human rights, particularly for women…

Story - July 27, 2021 - With a surge in the first few months of 2021 of minors entering the United States without a parent or guardian, figures from fiscal year 2020 already have surpassed the total of unaccompanied minors who made border entries during the previous fiscal year. Statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show that over 76,000 minors…