New Poverty USA website offers statistics, stories, resources to Catholics

Catholics can learn about the state of poverty in the United States and concrete ways they can make a difference at a new website from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The site, www.povertyusa.org, was launched Aug. 15 and offers tools and resources to spread the word about poverty in America. Resources include an interactive poverty map with state and county level poverty statistics, a Poverty Tour video which gives viewers a sense of what it is like to live at the federal poverty line, videos and links to PovertyUSA's social media sites, including www.facebook.com/povertyusa.

The website, which is an initiative of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) and USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, will feature selected news stories related to the state of poverty in the United States. Also, on the county-level view of poverty statistics, visitors will be able to find examples of local organizations working to alleviate poverty in their communities.

We are committed to providing educational content related to poverty as well as hopeful examples of what we can do to make the state of poverty better," said Ralph McCloud, national director of CCHD. "We welcome comments regarding the new site or suggestions for future feature articles or guest editorials."

Bishop Jaime Soto is chairman of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty program of the USCCB and works to break the cycle of poverty by helping low-income people participate in decisions that affect their lives, families and communities. It has a complementary mission of educating on poverty and its causes. This dual pastoral strategy of education for justice and helping people who are poor speak and act for themselves reflects the mandate of the Scriptures and the principles of Catholic social teaching.

CCHD is made possible by the generous support of Catholics in the United States, especially through an annual parish collection. CCHD's grants to local anti-poverty efforts are screened, awarded and monitored in close partnership with local Catholic dioceses. CCHD grants to groups in a local community require the explicit approval of the bishop of that diocese.