FY 2020 MINISTRY TRUST GRANT MEMBER INITIATIVES

The Congregation Grants Committee experiencing domestic violence in Lenawee of the Adrian Dominican Ministry Trust County. The Ministry Trust funds will assist approved $761,300 for the following 32 clients in the development of individualized safety Member Initiatives for the fiscal year 2020. plans based on current and future relationship These projects reflect the Mission and needs. Survivors and their children will learn to Vision of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. build their resilience and re-establish violence-free households on the solid foundation of improved Angela House mental, social, and emotional well-being. Houston, Texas Participants will also deepen their understanding Maureen O’Connell, OP, Board Member of trauma and its effect on family dynamics. Angela House provides safe, drug- and violence-free transitional housing and holistic Catholic Committee of the South programs for women re-entering society after Decatur, Georgia incarceration. With the 2020 Ministry Trust Mary Priniski, OP, Staff and Board Member grant, the staff at Angela House will continue Gathering for Mission, a program of the Catholic their work. Participants will have access to Committee of the South, seeks to empower structured case management to help them church leadership, clerics, and lay leaders to address factors that can lead to homelessness embrace dialogue with voices often unheard and and recidivism. Angela House will also to address social justice issues that often cannot provide public transportation support to enable be resolved at the local level. The organization’s residents to obtain necessary services. purpose is to stand in solidarity with those who are struggling to claim respect and human Capuchin Soup Kitchen dignity. Gathering for Mission is patterned after , Pope Francis’ encouragement of the faithful to Nancyann Turner, OP, Staff Member be a church of the peripheries, a church listening Situated in a poverty-stricken area of Detroit, to the voices of those who are marginalized the Capuchin Soup Kitchen offers services and searching out perspectives beyond those to people in need. The Rosa Parks Children’s Peace Garden is in its courtyard. The Ministry of people who gather for Sunday worship. Trust grant will give youth the opportunity to deepen their sense of Earth community by Centro Santa Catalina emphasizing the nexus between gardening Juárez, Mexico Maureen Gallagher, OP, Director of Marketing and good nutrition. Participants will develop a The purpose of the Centro Santa Catalina sense of Earth community while simultaneously project is to lift women and children from strengthening human community. The project abject poverty and social marginalization will also teach and reinforce basic job skills by providing nutritional, entrepreneurial, such as teamwork, accountability, and mutual and life-skills activities that relieve severe respect for the young adult garden coordinators. economic hardships. Ministry Trust funds will be used to offer educational support Catherine Cobb Safe House, for women, to foster independence, and to Operation Safety Net maintain just wages for Centro staff. The funds Adrian, Michigan Aneesah McNamee, OP, Board Member will also help to expand the organic garden project and to employ a part-time Assistant Catherine Cobb Safe House is the only shelter Marketing Director. For information, see http:// and safe haven for women and their children centrosantacatalina.org/about/our-stories/ Continued on next page. 1 Ministry Trust Grants, continued. more Latinx families by connecting them with Child Advocacy Center, Catholic Charities professionals who help them meet their specific of Jackson, Lenawee, and needs. These programs deal with issues such Hillsdale Counties as management of family resources, child care, Adrian, Michigan school problems, landlord/tenant issues, wage Pam Millenbach, OP, Staff theft, domestic violence, and rape, and provide The Child Advocacy Center will continue a accompaniment to family court, immigration partnership that provides a collaborative, uniform court, and hospital emergency rooms. response to the investigation, prosecution, intervention, and management of child sexual Covenant Community Care abuse cases, with additional community Detroit, Michigan initiatives related to prevention. The Child Mary Jane Lubinski, OP, Board Member Advocacy Center provides a single forensic Detroit has one of the highest infant mortality interview at a child-friendly site, reducing trauma rates in the country. The Ministry Trust grant and preventing re-victimization of children this year will develop a Centering Pregnancy suspected to have suffered severe sexual and/ Program in southwest Detroit, providing services or physical abuse. Community prevention such as individual health check-ups. Medical initiatives are in initial stages of implementation, professionals will provide additional time and using an evidence-informed, internationally attention in a group setting with women who are acclaimed program, Darkness to Light. pregnant. In 2018, 100 healthy babies were born to mothers in this program. For more information, Con/Vida: Popular Arts of the Americas visit https://covenantcommunitycare.org/ Detroit, Michigan welcome/services-locations/pregnancy-care/. Barbara Cervenka, OP, Co-Director Con/Vida works primarily with Brazilian and Earth Law Education Initiative Peruvian artists with limited financial resources. New York, New York The goal is to give voice to the artists and to Elise García, OP, Board Member validate and popularize their work within the The Earth Law Center (ELC) is developing an North American culture. Con/Vida promotes Earth law curriculum to train a new generation traveling art exhibits to educate and inform of Earth law advocates. The organization will North American audiences about the history and publish the first-ever Earth Law textbook. culture of common people of and Brazil. The During the grant cycle, ELC will expand the directors estimate the programming reaches about number of law schools that give students the 10,000 people annually and the “Bandits and knowledge and skills to be effective Earth Law Heroes, Poets and Saints” traveling exhibit was practitioners through the newly published viewed by more than 75,000 people. The Ministry textbook. ELC will also empower young Trust grant provides rent for space to house the people to become effective advocates for the artists’ works in a central Detroit location. For an rights of nature by increasing their mock exhibit tour, see https://youtube/qramlgqyR5w. trial initiative in New York public schools.

Centro Latino of Shelbyville, Inc. Friends in Solidarity with South Sudan Shelbyville, Kentucky Washington, D.C. Durstyne Farnan, OP, Board Member Patricia Reno, OP, Executive Director Friends in Solidarity with South Sudan works in Centro Latino assists the vulnerable and voiceless Latinx community through life-sustaining collaboration with the Catholic Health Training and hope-enhancing programs and services. Institute to support the empowerment of citizens During the 2020 grant cycle, Centro Latino will in this newly established African nation. The expand the Advocacy Program and the Women’s Ministry Trust grant will provide full funding Meeting programs to directly assist 600 or to support six students for one year in a three- Continued on next page. 2 Ministry Trust Grants, continued. goal is to complete a safe, affordable, energy- year nursing program to train South Sudanese efficient home for a family in the community women as certified midwives and registered with the collaboration of five new faith nurses. The comprehensive training includes groups. Participation could include financial practical experience in hospitals and local clinics, contributions, volunteer construction workers, as well as trauma healing and peace-making. provision of lunches for workers, contributed skilled labor, and prayer. Watch a video of the Gianna House Faith Build of Habitat for Humanity in Nashville, Eastpointe, Michigan whose program is similar to the one planned Theresa Mayrand, OP, Co-Director by Habitat for Humanity of Lenawee County. Gianna House provides a safe residence for https://www.youtube.com/ pregnant teens and for teen mothers and their watch?v=2OQVEm_SoYs newborns. The house serves as a center of comfort and support for all pregnant women. HOPE Community Center Most women seeking services at Gianna House Adrian, Michigan do not experience freedom, equality, and Rosemary Abramovich, OP, Board Member full personhood because they were denied a HOPE Community Center offers members the nurturing environment and adequate education opportunity for holistic programs and projects as adolescents and now lack support from that promote health, wellness, and dignity in a the fathers of their newborns. At Gianna culture of caring and sharing. The center offers House, young mothers receive support, baby excellent programs and support for the life and items, referrals, and classes in prenatal care, dignity of marginalized people in Lenawee personal growth, and nutrition. The grant will County. Men and women who are challenged provide partial staff salaries to ensure the full emotionally, physically, or mentally have the implementation of the outreach program. opportunity to engage with each other, staff, and volunteers to build meaningful relationships and Grace House experience laughter, friendship, collaboration, and , a healthy lifestyle. The project makes each day worthwhile for HOPE members and their families Eunice Drazba, OP, Volunteer in the belief that the community is stronger Grace House, a component of St. Leonard’s when HOPE members lead meaningful lives. Ministries, provides safe, drug- and violence-free transitional housing and holistic programs for women re-entering society after incarceration. The Hotel Hope MLK Ministry Trust grant ensures that women receive New Orleans, Louisiana Judith Zynda, OP, Board Member case management services and opportunities for Supportive services at Hotel Hope MLK take job search and placement. Reuniting the women the form of intensive case management for with their families in a stable environment is the ultimate goal of the program. each homeless guest, linking her to services and opportunities with the aim of long-term residential sustainability. Supportive services Habitat for Humanity of Lenawee County include readiness assessments, individual Adrian, Michigan family counseling, goal setting, advocacy, Sharon Weber, OP, Board Member financial literacy and budgeting, workforce Lenawee County Habitat for Humanity will development, drug screening and prevention, coordinate its first “Faith Build” project since health screening, and transportation. During the 2013. Through the Ministry Trust support, the grant cycle, homeless women and their children Adrian Dominicans will serve as a leadership will develop skills that allow them to reach self- sponsor and as a catalyst to inspire tithing and volunteerism from the broader faith community sufficiency and obtain permanent housing. of Lenawee County. Habitat for Humanity’s Continued on next page.

3 Ministry Trust Grants, continued. to directly reduce human impact on climate Housing Help of Lenawee, change and ecological degradation by supporting Homeless Prevention ecotourism as an educational tool for conservation Adrian, Michigan and sustainable development for the Achuar Angela Susalla, OP, Board Member people in Ecuador’s Amazon Rainforest. Maketai Homeless Prevention in Lenawee County will conduct four ecotourism workshops led by provides support to families and individuals in the indigenous people of the region to promote housing crisis who need assistance to overcome engagement in environmental projects. Maketai barriers to housing and self-sufficiency. Through will also develop and implement a curriculum the Housing First and Transitional Housing that will allow 25 young Achuar men and Projects, Ministry Trust funds will provide women to learn ecotourism practices, including housing counseling, referrals, and financial hospitality, tour guide strategies, rainforest assistance to help families maintain their housing ecology, topography, and use of natural resources. or to provide families with minor children with safe, secure, and clean transitional housing units Mercy Housing Northwest in Adrian, Michigan. During this grant cycle, Seattle, Washington Housing Help of Lenawee will provide shelter for Judy Byron, OP, Board Member at least four families with minor children. This Mercy Housing Northwest (MHN) enables low- includes safe, quality housing and continuous income immigrant and refugee families to gain work with a case manager to ensure adults stable housing, to find employment, and to remain achieve benchmarks in their personal goals. healthy. The Ministry Trust grant will support educational programs and workshops, as well Lenawee County Community as a wide variety of job readiness and workforce Action Agency development programs in locations accessible to Adrian, Michigan three affordable housing properties in South King Joella Miller, OP, Board Member County, Washington. The Ministry Trust funds Lenawee County Community Action Agency will also support MHN in racial equity work at (LCCAA) offers Getting Ahead in a Just-Getting- statewide properties. MHN will engage in 560 By World, a program to help individuals in hours of Language Liaison work and translation poverty to build their resources in a productive services at property events to build an inclusive manner. With Ministry Trust funding, the community for immigrants and refugees, with the workshop will assist individuals to deepen their goal of promoting resident engagement. Staff will understanding of the causes of poverty and its provide one-on-one housing stability outreach impact on individuals and communities. By to all residents and provide eviction prevention investigating their own experiences, individuals coaching in language-appropriate service will have the opportunity to design plans for provision as identified and requested by residents. their own economic improvement. LCCAA has added a new component to its Ministry Trust Meta Peace Team grant for this grant cycle. For the first time, the Lansing, Michigan Ministry Trust, in collaboration with University Ellen Burkhardt, OP, Board Member of Michigan medical schools, will provide funds Meta Peace Team is a resurgence of the Michigan to assist in the provision of medical, dental and Peace Team, one of the first recipients of vision services, and prescriptions to seasonal Ministry Trust funds, which aims to train and workers in Lenawee County migrant camps. place peace teams throughout Michigan. The present project is wider in scope, planning to Maketai, Inc. fortify Meta Peace Team hubs with additional Tucson, Arizona/Amazon Rainforest training and team deployment education and Judith Bisignano, OP, Founder, Board Member equipment. It will also implement coordinated The Achuar Ecotourism Project is intended communication and feedback networks to develop Continued on next page. 4 Ministry Trust Grants, continued. During the grant cycle, resources will be used a strong connection between Meta Peace and to help participants to strengthen their Spanish the local peace sites as the program grows. literacy skills. Many participants will have completed the initial level exams and started the Northwest Detroit Youth Coalition intermediate level course work. Other courses Detroit, Michigan include sewing and basic computer skills. Ellen Schmitz, OP, Board Member The Northwest Detroit Youth Coalition sponsors PREPARES two month-long summer camps for youth ages Yakima, Washington 5 to 16. The Ministry Trust grant provides funds Sharon Park, OP, PREPARES Liaison for Diocese for a part-time staff person to coordinate and PREPARES, the Pregnancy and Parenting Support manage the summer camp programs for children Initiative, enables parishes in Washington living in Detroit neighborhoods that suffer from State to enter into relationships with women blight, drugs, and violence. Camp experiences and their families struggling to meet their offer participants the opportunity to learn skills children’s needs. PREPARES helps marginalized and experience the value of reverencing life households become more resilient through direct and respecting one another. During this grant service, vital support, and the opportunity for cycle, urban children will have the opportunity parents to strengthen their skills. The Ministry for supervised outdoor physical activity and Trust grant funds PREPARES en Español in for learning anti-bullying coping skills. the Yakima Diocese, which has a very large Hispanic community, disadvantaged by lack Peace Education Foundation of education, unemployment, and migrancy. Miami Shores, Florida Anne Liam Lees, OP, Board Member Resurrection Home, Inc. The Foundation’s Peace Education Initiative Beattyville, Kentucky Mary Katherine Drouin, OP, Board Member with Dominican Family in Latin America Through the Grandmothers Helping works in collaboration with the Confederation of Dominican Sisters in Latin America and the Grandmothers program offered by Resurrection Caribbean to teach conflict resolution techniques Home, Inc., grandmothers who are raising and violence prevention strategies to Dominican their grandchildren receive support and teachers and pastoral leaders in Argentina and encouragement from one another. The grant funds the . The skills include a monthly support group for the grandmothers community-building, anger management, that nurtures, assists, and enriches their lives communication, and peer mediation. During and the lives of those in their charge. Group this grant cycle the Peace Education Foundation activities for the children normalize their lives will train 200 teachers in conflict resolution/ and provide respite for their grandmothers. These mediation and provide a “Peace Works” activities include field trips for the grandchildren curriculum for implementation of the program. and opportunities for bonding among the grandparent caregivers and their young charges. Plaza Communitaria Adult Education Center River Raisin Institute Monroe, Michigan Mount Vernon, Washington Patricia Benson, OP, Board Member Judy Byron, OP, Volunteer Liaison with Northwest A goal of the River Raisin Institute’s Climate Collaboration of Religious Communities Literacy Program is to educate young people The Plaza Communitaria Adult Education regarding care of Earth. Support from the Center is a program of the Catholic Community Ministry Trust grant ensures that youth living Services Farmworker Center that provides basic adult education opportunities for Indigenous in the Great Lakes region will have educational and Latinx immigrant community members. resources to teach them to protect bird habitats, Continued on next page.

5 Ministry Trust Grants, continued. remove invasive species, preserve wildflowers grant, the parish supports two initiatives. One and prairie grasses, and maintain a healthy project will establish two additional women’s watershed region. Youth in southern Michigan banks. The other will strengthen the Seniors counties will learn positive responses to the Food Program by purchasing, storing, and challenges and needs of creation in crisis. The delivering nutritional food to remote locations funding for this grant cycle will ensure the where people live without refrigeration and employment of a sufficient staff to continue provide storage sites for bulk foods. During this teaching about sustainable living and climate grant cycle, the Haiti Project will establish a new change in Monroe and Lenawee County schools. women’s bank consisting of 20-25 members.

St. Ann Place Southwest Chicago Homeless Services West Palm Beach, Florida Chicago, Illinois Norine Burns, OP, Volunteer Patricia Leonard, OP, Associate Director Southwest Chicago Homeless Service is Staff members at St. Ann Place provide access committed to helping people who are homeless to safe and secure temporary housing for men and women who are homeless and preparing or housing-insecure and advocating on for or recovering from surgical procedures, or behalf of those who are homeless. A generous for those requiring emergency placement due to portion of the grant is allocated to female- injury. The Ministry Trust grant helps provide the headed households. During the grant cycle, accommodations and prescription medications Southwest Chicago Homeless Services will for those who are ill, as well as the assistance provide financial assistance to 20 individuals of a health advocate for uninsured clients with seeking rental assistance or housing prescriptions not covered by District Cares. application fees for permanent housing.

St. Kateri Center of Chicago Voices for Earth Justice Chicago, Illinois Detroit, Michigan Janet Stankowski, OP, Board Member JoAnn Fleischaker, OP, Leadership Circle Member Every year, humanity puts 1.3 billion tons of St. Kateri Center serves as a meeting place for a food in landfills. The Voices for Earth Justice Native American youth leadership group that (VEJ) project seeks to make people of faith aware comes together with a good mind, kahiwiyo, of the issue and show them how to eat for the to make a positive contribution to the urban good of people and planet. Since sharing a meal Native American community and to work for is one of the traditions all people of faith seem the betterment of all urban Native Americans. to hold in common, VEJ believes food also has Community members with expertise in beadwork the power to build good will among people of and traditional dance assist the youth in preparing for powwows and other cultural presentations. various faith traditions. During the grant cycle, Youth are also trained to educate non-Native VEJ plans to “reach and teach” 350 people who students and teachers about current Native topics. are residents of VEJ’s Hope House and Gardens, The Ministry Trust grant will allow St. Kateri and 350 from surrounding houses of worship, Center to maintain the part-time Native American religious organizations, and schools in Macomb, Youth Mentor position, and contribute to funding Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties. for the 2020 Urban Native Education Conference.

St. Margaret Mary Parish Winter Park, Florida Rosemary Finnegan, OP, Staff Member Sustainable Initiatives for Haiti is a project of St. Margaret Mary Parish. With the Ministry Trust Continued on next page.

6 FY 2020 MINISTRY TRUST GRANT CHAPTER INITIATIVE

A grant of $15,600 was approved court watching and peaceful prayer outside for the following Chapter Initiative Broadview Detention Center. The Ministry for the fiscal year 2020. Trust grant makes one month’s rent available to houses of hospitality where immigrant Dominican Midwest Mission Chapter people are welcomed and where Chapter Chicagoland is home to more than 511,000 members often volunteer. The ministry has undocumented immigrants. Members of the expanded to include a new migrant ministry Dominican Midwest Mission Chapter retain their at St. Joseph Church in Adrian, Michigan. commitment to walk with immigrants through

7