By Madeline Shea
For The Messenger

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) was founded in the late 1960s, and it focuses on providing grants for local grassroots initiatives that work to address the structures that create poverty, as well as educating about Catholic social teachings and the systemic causes of poverty.

One of the grassroots initiatives CCHD works with is Parents United for Change (PUFC) in East St. Louis and Fairmont City. The community-led organization puts parents in positions of leadership as they organize to fight for issues the community needs to have addressed. PUFC in East St. Louis is an affiliate of Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI).

Last year, PUFC worked with parent leaders in East St. Louis to advocate for more reliable bus systems for community school children. Previously, families struggled because of a lack of bus drivers, buses running behind schedule and general safety concerns for their children as they rode the bus.

Parent leaders created a district-wide survey about the bus system to identify problems that needed to be addressed. After that, PUFC leaders met monthly with the district and busing companies to communicate the needs of the community. Ultimatelty, more bus drivers were hired and a grant enabled a switch from diesel to electric buses.

Simultaneously, parent leaders at PUFC also advocated for improved school lunch programs in the district. A food survey was conducted, drawing responses from about 200 families.

Through the survey, PUFC was able to work with the district to remove problematic food items and create new, improved options desired by many people. Kitchens and salad bars in the school cafeterias also underwent cosmetic alterations to make school lunches a better experience for the children. Currently, PUFC is working to add a vegan/vegetarian option to the lunches after several families voiced concern about a lack of options.

This year, PUFC parent leaders have lobbied in Springfield for SNAP protection and also have worked with utility companies to create discounted options for the community. For example, a large number of community residents now use solar energy. A candidate forum helped the community build relationships with local decision-makers.

In addition to supporting grassroots initiatives, CCHD focuses on educating others about Catholic social teaching and reaching out to Catholic youth with a summer intership program.

As this summer’s intern, Madeline Shea worked with PUFC. She shared the following about her experience.

As a student of Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., I had a strong Catholic education; however, the hands-on experience and PUFC’s care for those in poverty provided a new perspective on Catholic social teaching.

I accepted the internship, in part, because I wanted to grow in my faith.

During the interview process, I was presented with the river analogy. Imagine you see a child floating down a river. You would jump in to save it! But then, you see two children, three children, 20 children, bobbing down the river. There would be a team sent to save the children from the river, but another team should be sent upstream to see why so many children ended up in the river.

Upstream, the team may find the children were falling through a hole in a broken bridge.

In order to prevent more children from falling into the river, a team is needed to fix the bridge.

CCHD’s role is the team sent upstream — a new form of social work I had not yet experienced. I was intrigued.

In addition to regular CCHD intern tasks like administrative work, replying to emails, contacting parishes about the CCHD, and reading and reflecting on Magnifica Humanitas, I also worked with PUFC to reach into the Fairmont City community.

While PUFC initially focused on East St. Louis, a majority African-American city, it wanted to reach out to the majority Latino community in Fairmont City.

My background in high school and college-level Spanish education provided PUFC with a translator.

My supervisor, Jalen Williams, a COFI organizer, and I spoke to the majority Spanish-speaking community in their native tongue.

This type of inclusion empowers the community to take organizing into their own hands, allowing them to make their own decisions and changes. This values the principle of subsidiarity in Catholic social teaching.

While they might not have been part of the team that metaphorically saved the children from the river, PUFC helped Fairmont City get organized.

PUFC is part of the team that went upstream, empowering the community to make changes to systemic issues that keep people in poverty.

“Working on the Margins” is the theme for the CCHD’s annual campaign, held in diocese parishes on Nov. 14 and 15.

For more information, visit www.usccb.org/cchd.