For further information, contact: Nancy Jackson 410-254-2270

The Catholic Campaign will award a total of $173,775 in grants to seven self-help low-income groups in Baltimore that are working to change the root causes of poverty.

Bishop Gordon Bennett will award the grants, which range from $5,000 to $72,000, at a luncheon on Thursday, Aug. 26 at St. Francis of Assisi Church. The luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with the grants presentation at 12:45.

The low income groups to be announced that day qualified for the grants by identifying the root causes of poverty in their community and establishing projects that would attempt to change the institutions that perpetuate poverty.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, now in its 29th year, was founded by the Catholic bishops in American to educate Catholics about the principles of social justice, and to allow low-income communities to help themselves, rather than looking for a handout.

Money for the grants, a mix of local and national funding, comes from one collection taken every November in the nation's Catholic churches. Last year in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Catholics generously donated $177,026, the best ever local in local CCHD history.

More than 90 area community groups have received funding from CCHD in the last three decades. Past grant recipients include BUILD (Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development), the Western Maryland Interfaith Housing Coalition, and Tri-Churches Housing.

For further information about the luncheon or about CCHD, please contact Monsignor William Burke at 410-235-5136.