CCHD LAUNCHES NEW POVERTY IN AMERICA CAMPAIGN

By Bill Goodwill

Children make up less than 30 percent of the population of the United States, but they’ re 100 percent of our future. Yet, right now, more than 12,000,000 precious dreams of a better tomorrow are being threatened by a struggle to secure enough food, shelter and medical attention to survive. According to the US Census Bureau, one out of every six children – that’ s 16 percent of all our children - is living in a state of poverty. Overall, more than 31 million Americans live in poverty today - a population greater than the state of Texas, Florida or New York - but you won t find it on any map. Despite the fact that America s economy has been thriving in recent years, our child poverty rate is higher than most other industrialized nations.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is trying to reduce these grim statistics. Now entering its second year, the national PSA campaign is sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Creative materials were produced by Crosby Marketing Communications of Annapolis, MD. The agency has developed dramatic and compelling television, radio and print materials that continue to make current statistics memorable and drive home an important theme: We must not forget America s poor.

The new campaign is titled: “One in Six Children Lives in Poverty USA” is intended to break in January 2002, to coincide with Poverty in America Awareness Month, and continue running throughout 2002. Television, radio and print public service announcements in the new campaign were created to help call attention to the enormous number of children in America still living in need.

For more than 30 years, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has dedicated itself to educating the general public about the struggle of the poor in the United States, as well as supporting grass roots programs that permanently break the cycle of poverty in communities. Last January, CCHD launched its first national multimedia campaign that focused public attention on the 32 million Americans living below the poverty line and helped Americans grasp the magnitude of the problem by suggesting that if we were to move all of our nation s 'poor' into a single state, it would become our second largest state, just slightly smaller than California!

The campaign was called "Poverty USA - America's Forgotten State" and it’s now winning major national creative awards. The campaign has received exposure in all 50 states and broadcast PSAs were aired nearly 90,000 times with over 550 print clips appearing in newspapers and magazines.
Overall, the Poverty USA. America s Forgotten State 2001 campaign has generated more than $6 million estimated exposure and is still being evaluated.

Other components of the campaign include two content-rich websites. The first, which is at www.povertyusa.org provides access to a guided Poverty Tour, educational facts and ideas for how people can act to end poverty in their own communities. It also allows public service directors to preview the campaign and order materials. The other site which is at www.psaresearch.com/chdreports.asp
provides on-line resources and information for community outreach staff located in Catholic dioceses all over the country to tie them into national outreach strategy.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is a 501(c) (3) non-profit and tax-exempt organization. As one of the nation s largest funding organizations which develops self-help programs for the poor, CCHD has helped support more than 4,000 projects nationwide that know no racial or religious boundaries. These projects help create jobs, improve neighborhoods and help people find a way out of poverty - not just for a day - but a lifetime. Contact Barbara Stephenson is Director of Communication at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development who can be reached at 202-541-3364 or bstephenson@usccb.org.