Atlanta archdiocesan projects in Dawsonville and Dahlonega will receive $16,500 for the Campaign for Human Development, part of more than $586,000 allocated from the U.S. Church's effort to fight poverty through self-help measures.

The announcement was made jointly by Bishop Francis Mugavero of Brooklyn, chairman of the Bishops' Committee on Human Development, and Dr. Albert Wheeler of Detroit, chairman of the National Committee on Human Development.

Dr. Wheeler said these were the first in a series of grants to be made between now and the first of September.

The grants, which covered 23 projects affecting all areas of the country and virtually all ethnic groups among the poor, were decided at a weekend meeting held at Marillac Provincial House here. At the meeting were 34 of 39 members of the National Committee on Human Development.

The Bishops' Committee on Human Development, which has ultimate approval authority, concurred with the funding recommendations. The Bishops' Committee also agreed to the National Committee's request that up to $200,000 be earmarked for self-help projects in Puerto Rico.

The 23 projects funded range from a Unite Farm Workers organizing committee in Delano, California, to a community organization project for young people in Philadelphia.

Three projects fall in the area of communications. One is a housing project. Three health projects are included, while three others are in the area of legal rights. Nine involve various forms of social development and four others fall in the area of education.

The largest grant in the first announcement called for an $80,000 expenditure to set up a Mexican-American defense fund that would provide legal defense activities for Mexican-Americans in a number of western states as well as offer legal training. The smallest group was $1,500, which will be used to buy materials to build a service center for education and recreation for low-income groups in Dawsonville, Ga. The average grant was slightly over $25,000.

The Campaign for Human Development raised over $8.5 million in 1970, its first year, and was the largest national collection ever realized in the Catholic Church in the U.S. The 1971 collection will be held in all Catholic parishes of the country on November 21.

One quarter of the funds raised in the 1970 Campaign collection remained in the 160 diocese of the country for local funding of anti-poverty projects. Available resources at the national level include some $6.3 million, most of which will be disbursed by mid-September.

The national committee has scheduled meetings in June and July to consider other funding for the over 600 proposals that have been sent to the national office in Washington, DC.

Auxiliary Bishop Michael Dempsey of Chicago, national director of the campaign, expressed his "heartfelt thanks" to the men and women of the volunteer national committee.

"You have performed a great service for your country and your Church, and especially for the poor, this weekend. We are all in your debt," he said.

Following are the projects funded at this time:

Communications

United Farm Workers of America, McAllen, Texas (Brownsville): $31,000 for developing radio programming to provide educational broadcasts for Mexican-American poor in South Texas.

Chicano Film Institute, San Jose, California (San Francisco): $12,000 for a training program for Chicanos in multimedia productions.

Viewer Sponsored Television, Los Angeles: $40,000 loan for public television aimed at ethnic communities of Southern California.

Housing

Mountainair Poor People's Housing Association, Mountainair, New Mexico (Santa Fe): $14,272.99 for rehabilitation of nine dilapidated residences inside and out using local Mexican-American workers who will be trained in carpentry, plumbing and electrical work.

Health

Associates for Progress, Belcourt, North Dakota, (Fargo): $50,000 for a building for rehabilitation of Indian alcoholics.

Franklin-Vance-Warrant Opportunity, Inc., Henderson, North Carolina (Raleigh): $32,000 for a community service center for the elderly.

Crown Heights Neighborhood Center, Brooklyn, NY: $25,000 for a training and service project to produce employment training and general services in the community.

Legal

Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, San Francisco: $80,000 to provide legal services for Mexican-Americans, especially in rural areas of western states, and to provide legal training as a component of community development.

Americans for Indian Opportunity, Washington, DC: $50,000 for Southwest Indians to foster economic stability through small business enterprises.

Pima County National Welfare Rights Organization, Tucson diocese and city: $15,000 for extension of the National Welfare Rights Organization in this area.

Social Development

United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, Delano, California (Fresno): $55,125 for extension of United Farm Workers efforts in the area of self-help to strengthen this activity in four additional states.

Core Appalachian Ministries, Nashville, Tenn. (Nashville and Wheeling): $34,000 for three specific projects for community development efforts of the poor in the Wheeling-Nashville areas.

Movemiento Familiar Cristiano: $15,000 for Spanish-speaking version of the Christian Family Movement, aimed at creating a social force.

Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA), Knoxville, Tenn. (Nashville): $15,000 for an interdenominational effort to secure an economic base for farmers and workers; will provide in-service training.

Georgia Mountain Arts Products, Inc., Dahlonega, Georgia (Atlanta): $15,000 for training program in crafts for community economic stability.

Auraria Community Development Center, Dawsonville, Georgia (Atlanta): $1,500 for materials for community organization to build service center for education and recreation for low-income groups.

Operation Kelly's Tank, Princeton, West Virginia (Wheeling): $1,800 for a water pipeline project tank to involve community poor and to stimulate future self-help activity.

Natchitoches Ministry, Natchitoches, Louisiana (Alexandria): $35,000 for organization of local residents around the issues of housing, neighborhood improvement, relations with other ethnic groups, and particularly work with young people.

Education

Berkeley Primary School, Waterbury, Conn. (Hartford): $10,000 for black-white kindergarten and grade one for children in a housing project.

The Learning Tree, Inc., Knoxville, Maryland (Baltimore): $15,000 for a day-care center that is community planned and staffed for children of working mothers. The center also will be used for adult education in the evenings.

Project Discovery, St. Paul, Minnesota (St. Paul and Minneapolis): $25,000 to extend already existing 700-student inner-city alternative to parish's education system; will include parents and paraprofessional and assistant teachers. Six parishes have joined to form this private corporation.

Father Bertrand Elementary School, Memphis, Tennessee (Nashville): $13,000 for community elementary school for black children.