Tour offers views of poverty, but CCHD-sponsored projects bring hope

Published: 2005-01-14

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- On a Jan. 11 "poverty tour" of some of Los Angeles' most blighted neighborhoods, a group of religion writers witnessed the appalling living and working conditions that California's newest immigrants encounter every day. But they also observed more than a glimmer of hope, as each stop in the five-hour tour highlighted a grass-roots effort supported by grants from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the U.S. bishops' domestic anti-poverty program. CCHD sponsored the tour as part of the annual observance of Poverty in America Awareness Month. At a press conference that morning, Father Robert J. Vitillo, CCHD executive director, said the poverty rate in the United States increased from 12.1 percent in 2002 to 12.5 percent in 2003. The result was that 1.3 million more Americans fell into poverty, bringing the total to nearly 36 million.

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