wfn.org | Self-development of People Committee Approves Funding

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

23-January-1997 
97037 
 
          Self-development of People Committee Approves 
       Funding For 22 Projects Totaling More than $430,000 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LOS ANGELES--The National Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of 
People (SDOP) approved funding for 22 projects totaling $435,301 during its 
Jan. 16-18 meeting here. Money for the grants comes from the One Great Hour 
of Sharing offering. 
 
     "The spirit of  Self-Development is very important to the future of 
the Presbyterian Church, it seems to me," said the Rev. Fredric T. Walls, 
SDOP director. "I believe SDOP can be the instrument in our church that 
turns the tide ... on many of the [negative] things that we see occurring 
in our church and society. 
 
     "I see a vision ... that is very well thought out and planned, but can 
only work with the dynamism and spirit that I see coming from [the SDOP 
Committee] this year," Walls said. "And that will only come from informing 
the larger church on what we are all about in this ministry." 
 
     The funded projects: 
 
     Immokalee Workers Coalition, Immokalee, Fla.--$25,000 for a group of 
low-income Hispanic, Mayan and Haitian migrant farmworkers and their 
families faced with serious problems, including substandard and expensive 
housing, low and illegal wages, education, language and racial troubles. 
 
     Crossville Housing Resident Council, Crossville, Tenn.--$60,000 for 
parents to develop and operate the Home Away from Home Child Care Center. 
The proposed center will provide local, low-cost, quality child care to 
assist parents of children living in public housing who are striving to 
move from welfare to work. 
 
     Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe, Hallister, N.C.--$29,312. A Native 
American tribe of 3,009 enrolled members with 85 percent living within a 
five-mile radius of Hallister, N.C., has been recognized officially as a 
tribe by the state of North Carolina. Its members now seek federal 
recognition and request aid for benefits prescribed by the federal 
government.  The grant will help the tribe address employment and health 
problems. 
 
     Western Shoshone Defense Fund, Crescent Valley, Nev.--$20,000 to 
restore and preserve Western Shoshone rights and land through outreach and 
education on issues of sovereignty, uses of traditional land, environmental 
techniques and alternative energy sources for Native Americans of the 
Western Shoshone Nation. 
 
     Comite Paula Hernandez, Los Angeles, Calif.--$40,000 to build a 
restaurant cooperative to improve the Alison Village housing community in 
east Los Angeles. 
 
     Proyecto Nuestras Casas Phase 3, Muleshoe, Texas--$30,000 to construct 
and equip a shop to repair windows, doors and walls of members' substandard 
housing. The shop will also be made available to the larger community for 
its use. Volunteer experts will be on hand to provide assistance and 
advice. 
 
     Mothers Organizing Duluth (MOD), Duluth, Minn.--$18,000 to help 
welfare and low-income persons organize themselves to watchdog state 
legislation on new welfare reform. The organization will continue to train 
low-income persons in leadership roles and building self-esteem. 
 
     Campaign for Jobs, Respect, and Dignity, New York, N.Y.--$30,000 for a 
program of workers educating workers about their rights through information 
distribution, training events and outreach through churches and adult 
education programs. The project supports workers in efforts to exercise 
their rights to minimum wage, overtime and just treatment. 
 
     Punguza-Shida Self-Help Enterprise, Ludewa, Tanzania--$14, 706 for a 
village-based agricultural project aimed at implementing mechanized farming 
techniques using a multipurpose tractor. 
 
     Torkor Canoe Fishing Association, Torkor, Ghana--$18,400 for 
preparation and storage of fish for community consumption and marketing of 
surplus fish. 
 
     Christian Women's Association, Arua Town, NW Region, Uganda--$4,565 to 
buy raw materials and make crafts for sale in and outside of an area town. 
 
     Blekusu Women Fishmongers & Marketing Society, Blekusu via Denu, Volta 
Region, Ghana--$12,753 for fishing, fish mongering and marketing of fish to 
sustain growth and increase protein content in the group's direct food 
production services. 
 
     Kagan Community Youth Self-Help, Homa Bay, Nyanza, Kenya--$11,550 for 
a youth project for employment by developing sewing skills to do tailoring 
and dressmaking. 
 
     Kwamekrom Co-operative Food Producers and Marketing Project, 
Kwamekrom, Ghana--$12, 753 for a cooperative composed of women farmers who 
propose to establish maize, cassava and cowpea farms, construct a storage 
shed, and handle and process cassava chips for export. 
 
     Dodi Papase Livestock, Poultry and Cash Crops Farmers Project, Dodi 
Papase, Volta Region, Ghana--$12, 753 for a project to raise livestock and 
poultry and produce and process food. 
 
     Lume Kpodoave Women's Group, Lume Kpodoave, Volta Region, 
Ghana--$9,580 in funds to purchase machinery for the processing of cassava 
dough and gari. 
 
     Weaver's Society, Burdwan, West Bengal, India--$7,360 to develop 
self-employed weavers to break the cycle of poverty. 
 
     Krisna Basu, Hoogly, West Bengal, India--$11,316 toward the goal of a 
self-generating income project for people in Calcutta, India, who are 
physically handicapped. 
 
     Sustainable Micro Industries Development Project, Kisii, 
Kenya--$24,880 to purchase materials, tools and equipment to make products 
for sale. The project will set up little business enterprises to produce 
bricks, shoes and clothing. 
 
     Kisiara Women Water Supply Installation Project, Dudi Hill-Ouru, 
Kenya--$29,720 to install and build a water supply system to provide clean 
water for drinking and irrigation. 
 
     Brick Manufacturing Programme, Vempalli Village, Cuddapah District, 
India--$2, 653 for an income-generating project (brick making) decided, 
planned, implemented and managed by the group, whose goal is to make it 
self-reliant and self-sufficient to strengthen their family incomes. 
 
     Frandkwa Women Food Farmers and Processing Society, Kpandu, 
Ghana--$10,000 for a group of women farmers who plan to increase their rice 
production through irrigation by building a storage house to avoid 
post-harvest losses and to train some of their members to direct and manage 
the project. 
 
    Election of officers and conversation with local visitors 
 
     SDOP Committee members also elected their 1997 officers, who will 
serve a one-year term. Re-elected as SDOP's chair was Cynthia Joe of San 
Francisco. Reelected as vice chair was Oscar Heyward of Howard Beach, N.Y. 
 
     Several local presbytery and synod visitors met with the national 
committee members and discussed their respective SDOP projects.  They 
included Joseph Mesa, vice chair of the SDOP Committee of the Synod of 
Southern California and Hawaii; Antonio L. Hernandez, associate for mission 
and chair of the SDOP Committee for the Synod of Southern California and 
Hawaii; Marjorie Ellis, chair of the SDOP Committee of the Synod of 
Southern California and Hawaii; Edna Woodward, chair of the SDOP Committee 
of the Presbytery of the Pacific; the Rev. Arthur Ross, member of the SDOP 
Committee of the Presbytery of the Pacific; Billye Shinto-Littman, member 
of the SDOP Committee of the Presbytery of Los Ranchos; and the Rev. Jose 
Marti, member of the SDOP Committee of the Presbytery of Los Ranchos. 
 
     Organized after the 182nd General Assembly (1970) of the former United 
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, SDOP is a ministry 
that works to empower poor, oppressed and disadvantaged people who are 
seeking to change the structures that perpetuate poverty, oppression and 
injustice. 

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