The evening will begin with a social at 6 p.m. Let Us Pray, an original play that highlights themes of diversity, community and equality, will be presented by Encore Studio for the Performing Arts at 6:30 p.m. Encore Studio for the Performing Arts is a non-profit organization whose mission is to offer a professional path to the performing arts for people with disabilities.

Rev. Bob Vitillo, national executive director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, will be a featured guest. CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty, social justice program of the U.S. Catholic bishops. Its mission is to address the root causes of poverty in the United States through promotion and support of community-controlled, self-help organizations and through transformative education.

Twenty-two parishes and two schools will be honored for outstanding service and justice achievements. Nineteen organizations from across southeastern Wisconsin will receive grants from CCHD. A total of $130,000 will be distributed to the organizations.

Project Connect, an archdiocesan program that recruits, trains, and places reading tutors will recognize its volunteers. Now in its third year, Project Connect tutors have given more an 4,000 hours of their time to children in public and Catholic elementary schools in Milwaukee.

The Justice Celebration is sponsored by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Department for Parishes, Department for Community Services and Catholic Charities.

All Saints Parish, Milwaukee, will be recognized for its support of children in Uganda impacted by AIDS. The All Saints choir performed in Uganda in the summer of 2001 and brought donations for Our Lady of Fatima in Kayunga, an orphanage that serves children with AIDS. This pilgrimage heightened awareness locally and provided direct assistance to the school children.

District 12 Cluster Diversity Council representing Mother of Good Counsel Parish, Milwaukee; St. Catherine Parish, Milwaukee; St. Margaret Mary Parish, Milwaukee; and St. Sebastian Parish, Milwaukee, will be recognized for their educational efforts to value diversity and address racism. The Diversity Council also has been awarded a Catholic Charities USA Seed Grant for Community Models.

Gesu Parish, Milwaukee, will be recognized for the Gesu Parish Women's Overflow Shelter Ministry. Seventy five parishioners work in teams for 84 nights a year, serving snacks, making conversation, and assisting guests in various ways. Presently, the overflow shelter serves 30-40 women nightly.

Good Shepherd Parish, Menomonee Falls; St. Therese Parish Milwaukee; St. Sebastian Parish, Milwaukee, will be recognized for their twinning relationships in El Salvador facilitated by the organization SHARE. The parishes are recognized for holding an all-day event in May to celebrate SHARE'S 20th anniversary and to acknowledge how their partnering commitments have grown from charity to solidarity.

St. Agnes Parish, Butler, will be recognized for its collaborative efforts with All Peoples Church (ELCA) to assist the town of Rutilio Grande in El Salvador build a Catholic chapel. The outreach committee also provided funds to enable a child in India to have eye surgery.

St. Dominic Parish, Brookfield, will be recognized for a Lenten outreach program for St. Dominic Parish in Bahawalpur in Pakistan. This parish was the focus of a terrorist attack on October 28 that killed 15 people and injured 20 people. St. Dominic in Brookfield responded by providing financial help to the children who lost their families and to the widows who lost their husbands in this attack.

St. Frances Cabrini Parish, West Bend, will be recognized for the St. Frances Cabrini Hispanic Outreach and Hispanic Core Committee that began in 1995 as an English as a Second Language Program. The program now provides many services, such as Spanish Mass, translation, transportation, assistance filing applications and forms, assistance with obtaining checking and savings accounts, food collection and distribution, home ownership and loan information, to Hispanics in Washington County.

St. Leonard School Student Council, Muskego, will be recognized for its Holiday Help-Out project. The student council developed a project that would make direct connections between St. Leonard families and the people who lost loved ones in the attack at the World Trade Center. The school sought out St. Mary Catholic Church in New Monmouth, New Jersey. Fourteen parishioners from this parish were killed on September 11. The students planned a project that would provide emotional and financial support to the families.

St. Margaret Mary Parish, Milwaukee, will be recognized for S.A.V.E. (Stop All Violence Effectively). The human concerns committee of the parish leads a prayer service every first Saturday of the month with educational themes such as domestic abuse, abortion, and community violence. The hope is to create an awareness of societal problems and the importance of respect for all of life.

St. Matthew School and Youth Ministry, Oak Creek, is recognized for several efforts that include organizing a Walk Against Violence, creating an Alternative to Violence quilt, working in an intergenerational fashion to provide lunches for Guest House Shelter, the Warm Our Hearts program, intergenerational outreach with Franciscan Villa, letters and prayer cards to men and women in the service, and raising funds for books and supplies needed in other parts of the world.

SS. Peter and Paul Parish, Milwaukee, will be recognized for helping to raise awareness and recovery funds by hosting the pastor and associate pastor from Holy Name of Mary Parish in New York to talk about their experience of September 11, 2001.

St. Rafael the Archangel Parish, Milwaukee, and Prince of Peace/Principe de Paz Parish, Milwaukee, will be recognized for their Good Neighbor collaboration with Faith Lutheran and Ascension Lutheran. They have joined forces to offer assistance to first-time home buyers on Milwaukee's near south side. Assistance is provided at no cost to help people in the process of getting a mortgage loan and understanding the transaction. These congregations provide an example of ecumenical collaboration with a strong, positive impact for the community.

The following parishes will be highlighted for their work to organize and host focus group discussions that led to recommendations for improving rural life ministry in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. In turn, this input was used to create a three-year campaign entitled, Toward Living Shalom: Land, Food, and Community. The focus groups provided the impetus for more active involvement across the archdiocese on issues related to family farms, land use and food supplies.

Resurrection, Allenton
Sons of Zebedee: SS. James and John, Byron
Our Lady of the Lakes, Random Lake
St. Alphonsus, New Munster
St. Andrew, Le Roy
St. Peter, Slinger
St. Boniface, Germantown


2002 CATHOLIC CAMPAIGN FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT GRANT RECIPIENTS

ACTS (Allied Churches Teaching Self Empowerment), Milwaukee, a community development initiative of St. Michael, St. Francis and St. Rose parishes receives funds for the Good Samaritan Program for affordable home ownership. This project seeks to aid low-income Latino families. With resources from CCHD, ACTS will be able to expand this successful program to families in south side parishes.

Adult Learning Center, Milwaukee, is an outreach ministry program of the Milwaukee Central City Parishes. The program is housed at the former St. Gall Parish and offers a variety of educational opportunities to improve basic academic skills, along with job readiness and life skills. The program collaborates with St. Vincent de Paul and Milwaukee Area Technical College. They work throughout the archdiocese and have over 90 volunteers from 30 parishes.

C.U.S.H. (Congregations United to Serve Humanity), Kenosha, is a grassroots, multi-ethnic, multi-racial coalition of faith communities joined together to educate, advocate, and empower people of low to moderate income. CUSH promotes social justice and addresses community concerns. The Economic Justice Campaign seeks to address transportation needs in the city of Kenosha through advocating for a Transportation Management Association.

Daystar, Inc., Milwaukee, is a transitional shelter for women. It has programs that enable and empower formerly battered women to establish economic and emotional stability in a long term, secure residential setting. The staff works with female residents to assist them in becoming independent, contributing members of society by breaking the battering cycle and enhancing their self image.

The Dominican Center for Women, Milwaukee, operates three programs for economically challenged women and men. The programs concentrate on education, employment and housing.

The housing program collaborates with ACTS and aims to procure 10 houses a year to be renovated for home ownership. Employment counseling offers applicants assistance when they are prepared to step into the marketplace.

Esperanza Unida, Milwaukee, is centered on empowering Milwaukee's low income and minority populations. The organization works toward bringing them into the economic mainstream via vocational skills, job placement, education and organizing. The Youth Pathways project is designed to empower at risk youth from the central city. It is an after-school program that combines paid vocation training and hands on work experience with a weekly group forum.

HOSEA (Hope Offered through Shared Ecumenical Action), Milwaukee area, is a church-based organization representing the southern Milwaukee suburbs. The Common Ground project will work with suburban and urban parents to help educate them and discuss issues of public education. The intention is to bring small groups together for a deeper understanding of the system and to explore alternatives.

L.A.N.D. (Lisbon Avenue Neighborhood Development), Milwaukee, is a community development corporation dedicated to the renewal of Milwaukee's west side. It works in collaboration with residents and institutions to foster economic development, community organizing and development. The Youth Entrepreneurship program introduces low-income teens to the concept of business and enterprise. The program focuses on teaching youth how to develop their own business and the necessary tools for job readiness.

LBWN (Layton Boulevard West Neighbors), Milwaukee, operates in cooperation with the School Sisters of St. Francis. The project is dedicated to promoting leadership and self empowerment by establishing powerful collaborations among various sectors of the community. The organization involves area residents in positive neighborhood activities and provides hands on opportunities to work on problem solving, critical thinking, group facilitation, communication and other skills to effect change.

Matthew 25, Racine, operates the Gang Diversion Activities Program at Cesar Chavez House. The goal of the program is to provide cultural, social, educational and faith development to at risk youth. The educational project focuses on middle school youth with after-school activities. The intention is to aim programs at younger children to deter them from engaging in gang activity.

MICAH (Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope), Milwaukee, is a multi-racial, multi-cultural, interfaith organization committed to bringing together people of faith to work for justice. It consists of over 40 congregations including 15 different religious denominations. The Justice for Immigrants project is designed to raise awareness of immigration by educating and organizing immigrants to build collective interest for change; building relationship with the community to organize for change; and organizing an effective campaign to change legislation.

Milwaukee Jobs Task Force, Milwaukee, works in cooperation with the Women and Poverty Public Education Initiative. They will take momentum from the People's Economic Summit and create a center where unemployed people can be trained to plan strategies and take action around job creation.

People First Wisconsin, Milwaukee County, seeks to organize and support people with developmental and other disabilities in Milwaukee County. The group intends to assist a group of leaders with disabilities to form their own self advocacy group and empower themselves to work for positive change.

Project Return, Milwaukee, through its Jobs Task Force, a Milwaukee-based program, assists ex-offenders in finding jobs to help them support themselves and their families. Jobs are a critical factor in the return to the community. The program helps with job preparation, job readiness and job opportunities, which are important factors with the transition into the community.

Racine County Clubhouse, Racine County, is a nonprofit organization that integrates people with mental illnesses into the economic and social community by expanding employment opportunities. The goal is to increase each participant's self-reliance and self-esteem to reduce incidents of relapse and additional hospitalization. The organization seeks to obtain funding to support the employment department in finding and maintaining jobs for their clients.

RIC (Racine Interfaith Coalition), Racine, is an interfaith coalition founded to address the issues of racism, poverty and economic injustices in the Racine community. The organization seeks to empower leaders to act in the interest of their communities. The Alternative to Prison project is a campaign designed to encourage treatment rather than prison for nonviolent drug offenders. The organization will address substance abuse as a public health issue with healthcare alternatives rather than only looking at the criminal justice system and punitive measures.

Sheboygan County Interfaith Housing, Sheboygan County, works with eight faith congregations to address issues of social justice. The Living Wage Campaign is a project that will educate the community about income inequities; empower low-income people; encourage leadership and development from within low-income groups; and develop an annual legislator forum for their voices to be heard.

WCC (Wisconsin Clubhouse Coalition), state of Wisconsin, is a coalition of clubhouses throughout Wisconsin set up to strengthen existing clubhouses. The clubhouse is a new citizenry for adults with severe and persistent mental illness. It is intended to provide a set of opportunities to help transform the lives of those who struggle with mental illness. The Sharing what WORKS program is designed to plan an educational conference that will enable up to 80 individuals to learn how to develop jobs within the private sector, attend school and obtain affordable housing.

Women and Poverty Public Education Initiative, Milwaukee, addresses the issues of poverty, especially the barriers that keep poor women from getting out of poverty. The Poor Women Speak project aims to expand the empowerment of poor women in Milwaukee and to have a voice and presence in affecting public policy around several key issues including: TANF reauthorization, public service job creation, solutions to time limits crisis, access to better educational training opportunities and promotion of housing subsidies.