The Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s mission is to address the root causes of poverty in America through community-led organizations and education on the realities of poverty. Founded in 1969, CCHD seeks to empower those living in poverty, and to encourage all Catholics to act on the principles of solidarity, subsidiarity and the option for the poor and vulnerable that are at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching.

Social Concerns serves as the local leaders for CCHD activities within the Diocese of St. Cloud. Our team provides resources or presentations to bring awareness to the complex issues surrounding those experiencing poverty in our communities. We are proud to partner with parishes, individuals and groups willing to learn, share their stories and mobilize around support for those experiencing poverty and finding long-term solutions where all our community members, especially the poor and marginalized, can thrive!

Additionally, our role includes promotion of the annual CCHD collection to support the work of CCHD and their grant organizations. 75% of funds collected annually are sent to the national CCHD office for large-scale grants to organizations combatting poverty and working towards institutional change; while 25% of what our diocese raises stays local, given out in smaller scale grants to organizations fighting poverty and marginalization within our diocese. We do administration of local grant funds to organizations striving to alleviate poverty (*must meet certain requirements), and oversee the application process for national grant applicants located within our 16 counties, with the help of a local grant review committee.