The Toccoa Credit Union and Georgia Mountain Arts, Inc. are two of the projects within the Archdiocese of Atlanta which have benefited from the Campaign for Human Development. Here is a report on the two projects:

Toccoa Credit Union

The campaign has responded to the need for a credit union to assist low-income families in Toccoa so that they might become more economically self-sufficient. In keeping with the objectives and overall purpose of the credit union, a total of $3,725 in low interest loans has been made to 23 of the 67-member credit union. A total of $3,345.63 has been received in the form of shares. The members are encouraged to save systematically and not to borrow money unless it is absolutely necessary.

Georgia Mountain Arts

The mountains of north Georgia contain a significant number of poor people. One problem is a critical shortage of jobs that are meaningful and also provide a viable income. The only solution to this is economic development. They need more business and they need new business.

Solution

One hundred and twenty-five mountain people have joined together in an attempt to find a solution to their problems. The formation of Georgia Mountain Arts Products, Inc. is the result of this united effort. These people have rediscovered a meaningful part of their culture that now may offer the poor people of this area a chance to work at a craft in which they can take pride as well as provide for their families. They are people like Granny Shook and Jim Trammel, people who have found that their lives do have meaning and they have skills to offer their society.

Vitally necessary, as the statistics below illustrate, the potential economic benefits of this organization to the individuals involved and to the entire community have been the driving force behind all of their efforts. Having reached the point of real returns for the first time, they now realize that their hopes may yet be fulfilled.

A very important achievement of the co-operative came in the form of a grant from the Human Development Fund of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. This grant is now being used to train low-income people in craft production.

Reaching this point was not a matter of a few random efforts, nor was it reached by chance. The months of hard work and sound planning that have gone into the development of the co-op reveal the concerted efforts that many people have put forth to work for a goal that has real meaning for them.

The campaign has been a source of hope to countless number of poor locked into a vicious cycle. The campaign doesn’t hand out money just to make things better for a while; its funding is allotted to groups whose projects have the potential of enabling these people to become economically self-sustaining.

Liberation, self-development and economic empowerment of peoples are fundamental biblical themes and have been topics of official church teaching for the past 80 years.

The Campaign for Human Development is one of the church’s most vital responses to Christ’s mandate to set all people free.

Georgia Mountain Arts, Inc.

Need in the Northeast Georgia Mountains

Total number of families – 43,392

Percent of all families with income less than $3,000 – 47.4

Number of families with income less than $1,000 – 7,060

Number of families with income from $1,000-$1,999 – 7,382

Number of families with income from $2,000-3,000 – 7,130

Number of persons over 25 with less than 8 years of education – 46,600

Percent of persons over 25 with less than 8 years of education – 51.2

Number of substandard housing units – 19,634