Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego (CCDSD)

Open Arms:The Refugee Resettlement Program provides wrap around case management services, including reception and placement, cultural orientation, cash assistance, preventive health screening, health education, employment services, and social services. The services are for newly-arrived refugees, asylees, Cuban/Haitian parolees, foreign-born victims of human trafficking, and special immigrant visa holders from Afghanistan and Iraq. Programs include Reception & Placement, Match Grant, San Diego Newcomers Project, Safe Passages Program (for unaccompanied minors), Afghan Support and Investment Program (housing), and Catholic Charities Migrant Shelters. From July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, the refugee resettlement program provided shelter and wrap around services to 67,553 clients in San Diego and Imperial County, 393 clients for reception and placement services, and 1,829 clients for the San Diego Newcomers Project.The Immigrant Services Program provides low-cost, high quality immigration services that enable eligible immigrants and refugees to obtain legal status and immigration benefits, regardless of background. Immigrant Services provides affirmative and defensive legal assistance, providing representations before the ImmigrationCourt and Los Angeles Asylum Office, and works regularly with USCIS. The Removal Defense Team assisted 301 removal defense clients, and the Affirmative Team provided 2,562 temporary protective services.

Family, Youth, Children and Community Services:Our Cal-Fresh Healthy Living Program (formerly SNAP-Ed) supports healthy and active lifestyles by teaching individuals and families in San Diego and Imperial Counties about good nutrition, leveraging Cal- Fresh benefits, and being physically active. Our program is passionate about making the healthy choice, the easy choice in our communities. Cal-Fresh seeks to improve the likelihood that persons eligible for Cal- Fresh Food (SNAP, also known as Food Stamps) will make healthy food choices within a limited budget and choose physically active lifestyles consistent with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Our Cal-Fresh program provides behaviorally focused, evidence-based, nutrition and physical activity education classes to low-income individuals in the community. We partner with our sister-agency programs and other local organizations and champions to provide these services, as well as build collaboration and leadership toward healthy community initiatives. During FY21-22, we provided direct nutrition education to 1,038 individuals and provided indirect nutrition education to 33,756 individuals.Cal-Fresh Food (SNAP, also known as Food Stamps) is an entitlement program that provides monthly benefits to assist low-income households in purchasing the food they need to maintain adequate nutritional levels. In general, these benefits are for any food or food product intended for human consumption. Our Cal - Fresh Food staff assists with application submissions, provides outreach to the community, andadvocates for community members who may qualify for this self-sufficiency program. During FY21-22, we assisted with 653 applications submitted.Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego, along with community partners, has created the Emergency Food Distribution Network+ (EFDN+) to help deliver food to those in need in a safe, effective, and reliable manner that complies with COVID-19 social distancing requirements. We have identified parish partners throughout the Diocese of San Diego to operate weekly drive-thru food pantries and home-delivered food packages. Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego works with local food banks to provide food for those in need. During FY21-22 the EFDN+ included 12 distribution sites, and assisted 9,491 unique households and 31,661 unique individuals. To date, the EFDN+ program has distributed 2,147,624 pounds of food, which translates into1,789,687 meals.Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego is a participant of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), which is a seasonal program that runs in phases according to the availability of funds. The Emergency Food and Shelter Program began in 1983 with a $50 million federal appropriation. The program was created by Congress to help meet the needs of hungry and homeless people throughout the United States and its territories by allocating federal funds for the provision of food and shelter. Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego participates in the Hotel/Motel Voucher program as well as Emergency Food.During FY21-22, we were able to provide 93 days of shelter and Hotel/Motel Vouchers to 6 individuals. Regarding emergency food, we received $53,668 worth of emergency food, which was used for the EFDN+ food assistance program. Catholic Charities has provided counseling services to pregnant women since the early 1970s, and servicesto prospective adoptive parents since the 1980s. Catholic Charities became a state-licensed adoption agency in 1984, and over 400 infants have been placed for adoption through the program. Although Catholic Charities no longer recruits adoptive families or places children in adoptive homes, we honor our history by providing Post-Adoption Services to all adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents who have been involved in an adoption through our agency. Respect for clients, and the values of mercy and justice, are continuously at the core of all practices of Catholic Charities Post Adoption Services. We provide the following:? Exchange of letters, pictures, and gifts between members of the Adoption Triad? Counseling to adoptees seeking to meet their birth parents? Support for birth parents seeking to contact their adoptee? Facilitate meetings between adoptive couples and birth parents? Share information from case files as permitted by state regulations? Counseling and support for birth parents and their family members? Gatherings for members of the adoption triad? Education relating to adoption issues

Homeless Services:Homeless Services mission is to provide a safe, supportive environment and opportunities for men and women with few or no resources to gather, begin, and continue self-help efforts. Homeless Mens Services provides interim shelter and case management for men experiencing homelessness, day laborers, and farm workers. La Posada de Guadalupe is located in North San Diego County, and Our Lady of Guadalupe is located in Imperial County, City of Calexico. Between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, La Posada served 210 unique unhoused men and 614 farmworkers/laborers. Our Lady of Guadalupe served222 unique men.Womens Homeless Services provides a continuum of services for women experiencing homelessness in San Diego County. The programs are grouped together under the name of Rachels Programs, and consist of Rachels Womens Center, a drop-in day center for unhoused women and Rachels Night Shelter, a 35-bed night shelter, and independent living homes. Rachels Women Center includes a mobile outreach component.Rachels Promise, a 40-bed interim womens shelter, will open in July 2022. Expenses to prepare the site were recorded in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. The San Diego Rachels Programs continuum promotes safety and stability by moving women from homelessness to shelter, and ultimately into housing. These programs served a total of 760 women during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. The independentLiving homes served an additional 11 residents. In Imperial County, Catholic Charities operates House of Hope, a 24-bed shelter for unhoused women and children. This program served 77 unique individuals, 47 adults and 30 children, during the year ending June 30, 2022.The Leahs Residence provides 24 units of permanent supportive housing for people who are formerly unhoused, and are living with at least one special need. A Service Coordinator provides an average of 200 support service contacts per month for these residents.