Catholic Charities of Dallas

Refugee resettlement - Catholic Charities Dallas began resettling refugees in the late 1970s and continues to help those fleeing their homes and communities to escape war, persecution, or death. We are first responders to these refugees. Welcoming and orienting them to their new community, finding suitable housing providing food, clothing, household goods and other necessities, and aiding in locating employment. We also provide english language and other skills training. Along with ongoing case management services to promote self-sufficiency and cultural adjustment and assimilation. This past year, we provided support to 3,702 refugees.

Disaster services - Catholic Charities Dallas disaster response team mobilizes quickly and are often the first responders in the area. One of the benefits of ccd disaster relief services is that we have the advantage of knowing our communities very well. Therefore, we can especially minister to individuals and communities' specific needs. Ccd is committed to providing immediate and long-term relief. We work hard to help individuals, families, and communities rebuild and restore their homes and lives. Our goal is to provide immediate and stabilizing support (short-term housing vouchers, emergency financial assistance, access to our food pantries and cards) to families in need. We then work over the long-term to help them get back on their feet.

Children services - at Catholic Charities Dallas, we provide an array of services to support unaccompanied refugee minors. These are minors who have been designated as a refugee, an asylee, a victim of human trafficking, or a special immigrant juvenile, and are referred to us through the united sates conference of Catholic bishops and office of refugee resettlement. We also serve unaccompanied children who are minors who have entered the usa without proper documentation and who were subsequently apprehended by the department of homeland security but are eligible for care. Our top priority is creating safe, welcoming environments where we can ensure their well-being, while we help return them to their families. This past year, we provided support to 234 children.

Immigration services - Catholic Charities Dallas provides legal andsupport services for the immigrant community, helping with naturalization/citizenship applications, family visa petitions, applications for deferred action for childhood approvals (daca), document renewals and replacements, and permanent resident applications. For refugees and asylees. We proactively reach out to the immigrantcommunity offering regular know your rights workshops and work directly with immigrant victims of crimes in securing visas. We provide pathways to citizenship and strive to serve as a one-stop resource for those working to stay in the country legally.financial stability and career services - helping those seeking to escape the cycle of poverty and achieve self-sufficiency is a primary mission area for Catholic Charities Dallas. We utilitize the working families success model, an integrated approach encompassing income supports, financial coaching and employment services. Through community-based food pantries, we offer nutritionally balanced food boxes and we offer fresh produce through our choice pantry; we also provide short-term financial assistance to stabilize families in need of support with their rent/mortgage or utility payments. We work with clients one-on-one to develop reasonable budgets and utilize fiscal management "best practices and financial technology tools to help them build their savings, reduce their debts and increase their overall credit scores. Additional support in the form of vocational or skills training, career counseling and job placement services help clients reach their potential in the job market and further stabilize their families.as one of the leading social services providers in north Texas, Catholic Charities Dallas offers a continuum of services spanning from early childhood through the elderly. We offer pregnancy, adoption and parenting counseling and support services, helping children find their forever homes, connecting families seeking to adopt with expectant birth parents, and giving expectant and new parents the tools and resources necessary to successfully navigate their new journey. In 2024 we started a program for pregnant women to live in a safe environment. Education programs strive to give young children an early start on their education, we provide a dual-generation early learning program that helps children ages birth to 5 advance their language and cognitive skills to be "kindergarden-ready," while we support their parents with esl, ged and parenting classes and help them be more engaged in their children's education. To boost academic progress in school-age children (k-6th grade), we offer daily after-school instruction and tutoring in the areas of reading and math. To combat "summer slide," we offer a daily summer camp that focuses on academic milestones and also provides swimming lessons. Our brady senior services program offers a welcoming, nurturing center for low-income elderly. Daily programming in the areas of mental health, physical fitness and health, education and social activities keep them engaged and more likely to remain independent. Wealso provide daily meals to ensure they are receiving proper nutrition.addressing homelessness and housing insecurity is a major strategic priority and one we have invested in with the recent addition and management of threefacilities: st. jude center-forest, which opened in late 2018 and provides long-term, permanent supportive housing for 104formerly chronically homeless seniors, including veterans; and st. jude center-park central: a 180-unit, short-term housing community that opened in december 2020 in a former hotel and has since provided short-term housing for homeless impacted by covid-19 and by inclement weather. St. jude vantage point will open in our 1st qtr 2024-2025. During 2024 Catholic Charities assisted the central Dallas community development corporation with property management and case management for low income housing needs. Our hunger program feeds families who fall under the federal poverty guidelines enabling them to become eligible to receive food services. Families facing a temporary crisis due to natural disasters and homelessness automatically become eligible to receive services. Our five fixed food pantries allow clients to receive food at a location that is convenient, safe, and clean. Some locations include "client-choice" options allowing direct selection of specific foods. Our five mobile community pantries travel to over 90 mobile pantry sites through the nine counties of the diocese of Dallas to bring fresh food to those in need.