Catholic Charities of Louisville

Refugee programs: ccl has participated in the refugee resettlement efforts of the u.s. conference of Catholic bishops (usccb) since shortly after world war ii. It officially formed the migration and refugee services (mrs) program in 1975, in anticipation of an influx of refugees from southeast asia. Through usccb, ccl has contracts with the state department and the office of refugee resettlement of the health and human services department to provide resettlement services to various immigrant groups including refugees, asylees, and cuban parolees. Through the Kentucky office for refugees (a department of Catholic Charities), mrs also receives funding to provide these individuals with services and assistance.the mrs mandate is to assist clients to become financially and socially independent and integrated into the larger society here in the united states, all within a reasonable time frame. Mrs applies a holistic approach in refugee resettlement, using all the methods of social work to provide long-lasting solutions to the problems and situations that refugees and immigrants face. Mrs provides case management, employment, and non-employment services to its clients, including english language training at its own english language school, where adults learn the skills needed to enter the workforce, and services to children such as school enrollment and access to daycare. In recent years mrs has expanded its services to include family learning programming and wrap-around services associated with head start and early head start programs to english learner families (refugees or other immigrants). Through funding from lirs, mrs also participates in the safe release services and home safety/post-release services programs, which provide screening and case management services to sponsors receiving minors as they are released from office of refugee resettlement run shelters. From july 2023-january 2024, mrs provided refugee cash assistance to 3080 individuals. As of this writing, mrs has served 451 refugee arrivals since july 2023. Mrs is ready to respond to an anticipated influx of refugees in the next couple of years, as the biden administration intends to increase refugee admissions.

Case management services: bakhita empowerment initiative, an anti-human trafficking program, was created in 2007, with a mission to increase awareness of human trafficking, providing training, awareness, and technical assistance to professionals and community members, engage in prevention work, offer outreach to high-risk populations, provide direct services to survivors of trafficking, and increase capacity to address human trafficking issues in Kentucky and the larger anti-trafficking field. Bakhita's vision is to dismantle systems that promote human trafficking, support survivors, and build capacity to address human trafficking at all levels. Today ccl's program employs four full-time staff members located in louisivlle, owensboro, and lexington to provide statewide support to survivors of any age or gender, who have experienced sex or labor trafficking. Bakhita supports foreign-born and domestic survivors, ensuring that case management services are individualized to best support each individual. Support was provided to 115 survivors of human trafficking through bakhita, including case management, provision of basic needs (food, clothing, etc. ), legal advocacy, interpreter services, immigration legal services, therapy services and housing assistance. Supportive services help to ensure their personal safety, increase stability, encourage empowerment, and improve the overall well-being of survivors. 570 professionals were trained on issues related to human traffickig. 91 youth were reached through prevention education and awareness.the community support services group encompasses several programs that cater to the needs of our community from birth to death. Family support services began as the mother infant care program in 2000 to continue the mission of helping young pregnant women in our community after the closure of Louisville's infant home. With partial funding from the queen's daughters organization, fss has grown from providing mother/infant care classes to support groups for parents of toddlers, direct aid (rent, utilities and baby supplies, approximately $35,000) to struggling families, a parish-based walking with moms in need program, and now a family stability program. The family stability program will emphasize learning functional skills such as family budgeting, parenting, accessing community resources and tenant rights and responsibilities. With the addition of access to section 8 vouchers the goal is to prevent families sliding into eviction and homelessness. Family ministries is also an integral part of community support services and with our collaboration with the archdiocese through a shared staff member, programs such as walking with moms in need, senior retreat, programs for family caregivers of ill family members, and grief programs are all being facilitated. Looking forward, research into a "grandparents parenting grandchildren" program has begun with the goal of establishing support groups for this increasing demographic. Father jack jones food pantry started 3 years ago in the basement of holy name's rectory. It has evolved into a focal point of support for the surrounding community. In 2023 fjjfp served 9,360 individuals which means 19,286 household members were positively impacted. The food pantry could not operate without its team of extremely dedicated volunteers who logged 3,132 hours. Donations directly to the food pantry enable the distribution of meat and other protein sources every week to supplement the food that dare to care provides. The food pantry will remain at holy name even when the offices move to east broadway. The hispanic services program serves the undocumented, asylum seekers all and newly arrived hispanic community members, with referrals to resources to start their lives in Louisville. The indigent burial program began in its current form in july 2021. Indigent burial provides end of life services for jefferson county residents at little or no cost to families through our work with community partners such as the coroner's office, hospitals, veterans affairs, funeral homes and others. We are able to provide dignified and respectful burials or cremations tailored to the individual's faith practices. Especially in cases where there is no family or community to be present at the burials, volunteers step in. Ccl has housed the long-term care ombudsman program (ltco) in the Louisville area for more than twenty-five years. The ltco program is dedicated to improving the lives of the residents who live in long-term care facilities in the kipda and lincoln trail districts by protecting their rights. The ltco program represents the residents of long-term care facilities (nursing facilities, personal care homes, family care homes, and as of october 2022 assisted living facilities), investigating complaints made by residents, family, or other concerned community members, and bringing about a resolution that is satisfactory to the resident. Ltco staff visit each facility at least once per quarter to ensure that residents receive the care and services they need, and make sure they are aware that ltco services are available to them at no charge. Ltco staff also provides training to the staff of nursing home facilities on the older americans act, residents rights, and regulatory compliance. Complaints and concerns have always been received through a variety of communication. Ombudsmen provide many services to residents and families via face to face visits and phone calls. Ltco responds to any complaint with the permission of the resident or resident representative/legal guardian to investigate, and works to find resolution to the issue. Currently ltco is responsible for nearly 9,200 beds in the kipda district and over 2,100 beds in the lincoln trail district.the sister visitor center is an emergency assistance program that assists individuals and families through financial crisis and food insecurity. They strengthen the community by working in solidarity with the economically vulnerable. The center's mission is to help meet the basic needs of neighbors living in the portland, russell, and shawnee neighborhoods of west Louisville. The center provides emergency financial assistance with rent, lg&e and water, access to a supermarket choice model food pantry, essential items for baby and toddlers, emergency supplies for neighbors experiencing homelessness, one-on-one case management, community resources, referrals, and snap enrollment assistance. In fy2023, svc assisted 4,600 unique households, comprised of 9,240 unduplicated individual clients with food, clothing, case management, and assistance with utilities and rent. Out of these unduplicated individuals, 5,576 received assistance with food, including 736 seniors.

Social enterprise: language services (ls), provides interpreters to more than 200 governmental, educational, healthcare, and other business entities in Louisville and across the state. Ls completed just under 20,000 interpreting assignments in 2023, and provided training to over 100 new interpreters. Ls is constantly working to elevate professional interpreting and translation as a career path for those who are qualified while helping entities throughout the state increase service capacity to residents who are deaf, hard of hearing, and/or limited english proficiency. Ls anticipates a significant increase in demand for services as refugee arrivals increase. The mission of immigration legal services (ils) is to protect the rights of its clients under the laws of the united states and help them to access all the freedoms of our society. It fulfills that mission by providing quality professional services at low flat-rate fees, turning no one away for the inability to pay. As a member of Catholic legal immigration network, Inc. (clinic), ccl is obliged to keep fees affordable to serve the great demand for low-cost legal services in immigration law. Immigration legal services (ils) provides services in 26 different categories ranging from simple consultations to representations in the immigration court. In fy2023 ils opened 856 cases and during the first six months of fy2024 it opened 626 cases.common table (ct) is a unique culinary arts training program in Louisville because it is offered year-round to community members. The common table (ct) project was officially launched on june 1, 2015, with the purpose of offering an opportunity for unemployed or under-employed individuals to obtain marketable food service skills. Ct is training those who face barriers to employment to gain necessary soft skills and a marketable food handling certification to work in commercial kitchens. In june of 2020, common table moved to a new dare to care facility in west Louisville from its original location at st. anthony's. Currently ct has graduates placed at great establishments in the city of Louisville such as dare to care, black coffee, and university of louisville.the common earth gardens (ceg) program was created 17 years ago with a mission to provide community members and newly arrived refugees with the opportunity to grow food, to build a community, to participate in the society, and to access local markets to supplement their incomes. Currently, common earth gardens manages six established community gardens with two gardens in development throughout Louisville, where plots are tended by low-income families, many of them refugees. The gardens are very popular and gardeners rarely relinquish their plots, leaving little opportunity for new families to obtain a plot in one of the gardens. Currently 367 growers are growing in 491 community garden plots. Ceg also manages an incubator farm where 50 farmers are trained to grow their crop and sell it in markets.

Catholic identity and external relations: Catholic Charities engages parishes and the wider community with our programs and provides parishes and others with support and resources to do the works of charity and justice. Mission staff collaborate with local schools, parishes, interfaith organizations, and other non-profits to educate on community issues, and provide tools to strengthen each individual's voice. We advocate for material donations and volunteers to support Catholic Charities programs. We facilitate workshops on Catholic social teaching and current social issues. We organize refugee camp simulations with local schools to help young people better understand the challenges faced by missions worldwide on their quest to a new life in a new home. Catholic Charities manages and awards local grants through national and archdiocesan collections for Catholic relief services, Catholic campaign for human development and opportunities for life.