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2008 Justice Grant Recipients: Please click on the links below to learn more about each recipient and what they are doing in our community. Grant Recipient Name Grant Amount
St. Stephen’s $50,000
Human Services
Cristo Rey $40,000
High School
Risen Christ $40,000
Elementary School
East Side $25,000
Learning Center
Cabrini Partnership $20,000
Loaves and Fishes $16,000
PROP $12,000
Meals on Wheels $ 8,000
Eden Prairie
Honduras - Hope for a $15,000
Healthier Community
Total Grants $216,000
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Justice Grants Program
Welcome to the Pax Christi Catholic Community
Justice Grants Program site.
History
Since Pax Christi Catholic Community was founded just over 25 years ago, the community has set aside a portion of its weekly Sunday collection, which now stands at 10%. These funds support works of mercy and justice in the wider Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area and beyond. The majority of the Justice Tithe is distributed through the Pax Christi Justice Grants Program. $2 million in grants have been made to nonprofit organizations since 1995. All Justice Grants are made for purposes that reflect Roman Catholic social teaching and moral standards.
Click here to view the Justice Grants Board Charter.
Current Program
This year the Justice Grants Board has worked to incorporate principles of stewardship, adding time and talent efforts to the relationships we seek with the groups and organizations we fund. Also, the committee moved to make fewer grants with larger amounts to make a larger 'impact' on the mission of the grantees (including the possibility of financial commitments over multiple years). Finally, we decided to bring more focus to poverty in the United States, especially efforts to combat long-term generational poverty, strengthen inner city education, and promote stabilization of communities.
This year in conjunction with the Justice Ministry Council, strategic priorities of affordable housing and education have been established to guide the grant process. The committee knows there are many worthy issues, concerns, and organizations, and we continue to set aside dollars to address programs specific to Eden Prairie, i.e. PROP and Meals on Wheels specifically. Our commitment to providing meals at multiple sites through Loaves and Fishes remains, as well, a top priority to be funded.
The committee's interest in funding education rises from an understanding that our Catholic roots in social justice teachings direct us to concern for social life. Two especially important aspects of social life from Catholic social teaching are common good and participation.
Concern for the social life prompted the committee to learn more about the ramifications of long-term generational poverty. The group of parishioners began to understand that education for the now permanent underclass was paramount to any social change or improvement in poor people's circumstances. Information from the 2005 Brookings Institute study on race, class, and place disparities in the Twin Cities, and the Wilder Research indicating that the education gap was profound when paired with race and class. For example, 89% of white eighth graders passed the Basic Skills Test in reading while only 48% of African Americans and 43% Native Americans passed. The Itasca Project study and recommendations in "Minding the Gap" all helped shape these parish priorities. They clearly stated that if we ignore growing race, class, and place disparities, it will hamper the Twin Cities region's future workforce and overall economic health. In other words we will pay for this one way or the other . . . how
do we want to do it?
Granting Process
Last year we notified all grantees that we were examining the application and grants process and were moving toward a focused granting. For 2008 we are continuing to experiment in order to grow in our effectiveness with our grants process.
We will not be seeking or taking grant applications as we have in the past. We will primarily be looking at previously funded programs and selecting those that address our strategic goals of alleviating poverty through education and affordable housing. Eligible groups will then be asked to submit an application for discussion and funding consideration. We will also be looking at programs that affect the immediate community where Pax Christi is located.
For additional information about the Justice Grants Program, contact Allison Boisvert, Pax Christi's Social Justice Minister, 952-405-7225, or aboisvert@paxchristi.com.
To Volunteer:
• Send an email to justice@paxchristi.com and someone will contact you.
• For other Pax Christi Social Justice volunteer opportunities, follow the link: www.paxchristi.com/justicevolunteerops.aspx to see current opportunities available, or check the bulletin board at the back of the church.
• Join an e-mail group of like-minded Social Justice Pax Christi members so you will receive periodic e-mails regarding upcoming Justice related events and volunteer opportunities. We hope everyone will get involved and feel the satisfaction of helping another with a hand-up, not a hand-out. To join, e-mail justice@paxchristi.com, indicate interest in joining the e-mail group, and provide the e-mail address you'd like added to the group list.
• If none of the organizations or opportunities you see fit your needs, call or email Allison Boisvert, Social Justice Minister, 952-405-7225, or aboisvert@paxchristi.com, for additional ideas.
• For alternative volunteer opportunities, contact Mary Kennedy, Director of Stewardship, 952-405-7220, or mkennedy@paxchristi.com.
