ATLANTA-The Catholic Campaign for Human Development announced the distribution of a second round of grants to support criminal justice reform activities across the nation. A total of $530,500 was awarded to 16 organizations this year. Among the awards was a $43,000 grant to Catholic Social Services, Atlanta, for a program called Justice Educators. Justice Educators is a group of ex-offenders and their families who go through an extensive training program run by other ex-offenders, chaplains and lay ministers. The grant will help the program expand so members are ready to facilitate small-group discussions with local faith communities and social justice groups to help them understand justice from the eyes of someone who has been through the penal system. Grants in the second round span the country from the Victims Families for Reconciliation project in Cambridge, Mass., to a student outreach project at the University of Portland, Ore. Many of the projects involve grassroots activities aimed at changing state death penalties, while others focus on educating citizens about the death penalty and providing support to victims of crimes and to ex-offenders. The grants represent the second phase of $1.5 million allocated by the U.S. Catholic bishops to fund local criminal justice reform and education projects. A first round of grants totaling $500,500 was announced in November 2001, and a third round will be announced later this year.