wfn.org | Self Development of People panel funds 18 projects

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Note #6538 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

31-May-2001
01182

Self Development of People panel funds 18 projects

Committee invests $750,000 in a broad range of social-service programs

by Evan Silverstein

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - The National Presbyterian Committee on the
Self-Development of People (SDOP) approved funding for 18 projects totaling
$750,338 during a meeting here May 16-20.

The money for the projects will come from the One Great Hour of Sharing
Offering.

SDOP gives members and non-members of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
opportunities to establish partnerships with poor, oppressed and
disadvantaged people in the United States and around the world. The
committee's investments are intended to help such people reach their
potential and gain independence.

These projects were approved:

* Welfare Action, Albuquerque, NM, $51,000: seed money for the training of
welfare mothers to advocate on their behalf.

* Agricultural Workers Self-Help Benefit Expansion Program, Western Farm
Workers Association, Hillsboro, OR, $100,000: to help a community of 4,000
farm workers buy a building to house their offices and create a community
center offering medical care, food, clothing and legal advice.

* Pulaski County Mothers Center, Little Rock, AR, $100,000: to be used to
train a group of economically disadvantaged women to be self-sustaining.

* Indian People's Action, Missoula, MT, $50,000: to pay for community
organizing by and for Native Americans in Montana, emphasizing education,
law-enforcement fairness, housing and jobs.

* P.S. Project Community Support Program, Parkersburg, WV, $122,926: to a
group of people who suffer from mental illness and provide housing and peer
support for other mentally ill people will buy a house for use a "drop-in
center."

* The Women of Faith in Motion Transportation Corporation, Youngstown, OH, 
$28,493: to provide transportation for low-income women; the money will be
used to pay for a van and set up a system in which donated automobiles will
be sold at affordable prices to women who qualify.

* Multi-cultural Center, Cultures Committee, Webster City, IA, $90,000: to
buy land and a building for a community center.

* Creative Impressions, Augusta, GA, $23,080: to support a "performance
tour" program of educational enrichment for teen-agers.

* Humboldt Chapter Building Project, Humboldt Citizens for Community
Improvement, Humboldt, IA, $20,000: for a project to help small farmers and
their families to make a viable living and address issues of air, river and
groundwater pollution.

* West Side Community Gardens, West Side Community Garden Group, St. Paul,
MN, up to $45,000: to help the group, composed mostly of Hmong (Cambodians),
buy land for a garden and operate it without outside help.

* Section 8 Tenant Empowerment Project, Rovers Park Community Action Network
(RPCAN), Chicago, IL, $40,000: to provide training, education, support and
empowerment to residents of the Rogers Park Community.

* Livingston Economic Alternatives In Progress Inc., Livingston, KY,
$35,000: "bridge capital" to help this group promote and distribute its
products.

* Women Development Through Dairy, Thadoore Village, Tamil, Nadu, India,
$14,250:  to help 30 poor, landless, low-caste women establish a small dairy
business for nutrition and income.

* Donkey Draught Power, Kasansama Small Scale Farmers Group, Mikushi,
Zambia, $7,600: to help a group of 17 farmers find ways to alleviate hunger
and poverty by adopting better farming methods, including the use of donkeys
for plowing.

* Community Farm of Mbe, Soocke po Neele (Unity Makes Strength),
Mbe/Ngaoundere, Cameroon, $8,110: to help a farming cooperative fight hunger
and poverty and improve their families' standards of living.

* Dairy Development Project, Jeevan Jyothi Women's Group, Ongole, India,
$7,089: to help 15 Dalit widows and their dependents buy 30 buffaloes and
start a milk business.

* Dalith Stone Crushing Program, Suguna Mahila Mandali, Hyderabad, India,
$1,760: to enable 25 poor farm laborers to develop a stone crushing
business.

* Rubaga Women Poultry Project, Kampala, Uganda: $6,030: for the building of
a permanent structure for poultry.

The national committee also certified 20 presbytery and two synod-level SDOP
committees to allocate funding for local projects. The synods are Covenant
and the Sun. The presbyteries are Baltimore, Cayuga-Syracuse, Eastern
Oklahoma, East Tennessee, Flint River, Florida, Greater Atlanta, Lake Erie,
Los Ranchos, National Capital, New Castle, Northern New York, Pacific,
Philadelphia, Providence, San Diego, Scioto Valley, Seattle, Sierra Mission
Partnership and Twin Cities Area.

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