wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Self-Development of People announces grant recipients

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This story and photos available online:

www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09082<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09082

Self-Development of People announces grant recipients

More than $300,000 awarded to fund 12 self-help projects in
the U.S.

>by Margaret Mwale
>Special to Presbyterian News Service

SAN DIEGO ― The Presbyterian Committee on the
Self-Development of People (SDOP) has approved grants
totaling $301,710 to 12 self-help projects in the United
States.

The money is from the One Great Hour of Sharing
[http://www.pcusa.org/oghs] (OGHS) offering.
Self-Development of People receives 32 percent of
undesignated OGHS gifts.

The grants were approved at a meeting of SDOP's national
committee here Jan. 15-17. The meeting also marked SDOP's
first retreat, "Engaging Our Neighborhoods: Vision and
Mission," held in conjunction with previously funded
partners and local middle governing body SDOP committees.

Local SDOP committees in attendance included the Presbytery
of Los Ranchos, Presbytery of the Pacific, Presbytery of
San Gabriel and Presbytery of San Fernando.

Retreat speakers included General Assembly Moderator the
Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow and Sara Lisherness, Director of the
General Assembly Council's Compassion, Peace & Justice
ministries, of which SDOP is a part.

Workshops were offered on a variety of  issues facing
communities today such as homelessness, the global food
crisis, water and health care issues. They were facilitated
by national SDOP members and funded partners, such as
Dignity Village and Butterfly Network for Lupus Patients. A
member of Creative Impressions, another SDOP funded partner
that gave an impressive performance at the 2006 General
Assembly in Birmingham, AL, shared their success story.

The weekend culminated with a performance by "transcenDANCE
Youth Arts Project, a group with a mission of empowerment
similar to that of SDOP though not funded by it. The
transcenDANCE Youth Arts Project believes that art is not a
privilege but a necessity of life. The group seeks to
empower multi-cultural inner-city youth to create healthier
communities through the transforming and life-affirming
power of the arts and performance.

For more information about Self-Development of People,
contact the National SDOP Office at:

>Self-Development of People
>100 Witherspoon Street
>Louisville, KY 40202-1396
>Toll Free Telephone: English
>(888) 728-7228 X5791/5792
>Spanish (888) 728-7228 X5790
>Fax: (502) 569-8963

>January 2009 SDOP grant recipients:

ShareCare Bank, Hattiesburg, MS: $18,000 to assist this
grass roots co-op. Members have time dollar accounts and
earn or spend those time dollars for/on services provided
to or by other members of the group.

Concerned Parents of Vidalia, Vidalia, GA: $36,960 to
enable a group of concerned parents who have come together
to enhance their parenting skills and serve as a support
group for one another to support the positive growth and
development of their children.

Kentucky Small Farms Project, Inc., Beattyville, KY:
$40,000 to purchase a refrigerated truck to be able to
expand food distribution capacity. Group members in this
rural Appalachia area need the refrigerated truck because
they get refrigerated goods for distribution but they need
this truck to be eligible to receive them.

Teach our Children, New Haven, CT: $20,000 to assist a
group of 18 Spanish-speaking parents develop leadership and
advocacy skills and use those skills to bring about needed
change in the New Haven public schools.

Youth Arts Group, Middletown, NY: $26,750 to expand the
Mentorship Program and develop a Leadership Academy for its
participants to learn strategies and techniques that will
bring about social change and justice in their communities.
 Workshops to be offered include using art for social
change, writing and public speaking.

The Philadelphia Security Officer Union, Philadelphia, PA:
$20,000 to assist a group of security guards employed at
one company obtain fair compensation, paid sick leave and
adequate health and dental benefits.

Organizing Asian Communities, Bronx, NY: $30,000 to provide
leadership training to youth who are members so the youth
can advocate for the Asian community with healthcare
providers.

VAMOS UNIDOS, New York, NY: $25,000 to empower low-income
Latino immigrant street vendors organize for social justice
and economic self-sufficiency. Becoming organized will help
group members to work collectively to obtain business
licenses and small business training.

Sisters Overcoming Abusive Relationships, Warwick, RI:
$20,000 to assist 60 survivors of domestic violence with an
advocacy project that empowers them to make positive
improvements to court systems that deal with victims of
domestic violence.

Coalition of Organized Residents of East Liberty, Inc.,
Pittsburgh, PA: $20,000 to enable the low-income residents
belonging to the Coalition of Organized Residents of East
Liberty, Inc. to preserve the last deep-subsidy affordable
housing for themselves and their families. Coalition
members are fighting eviction from their homes and razing
of their housing project.

Support for Harbor Area Women's Lives Alumnae Association,
San Pedro, CA: $25,000 to enable graduates from drug and
alcohol programs equip themselves for the future through
education and low rent housing options through this
revolving micro-funding program.

Wee Care Center Inc., Lake City, CO: $20,000 to assist this
community-based parent operated childcare center with its
child care needs. Wee Care provides state licensed and
certified childcare, with curriculum and operating
procedures agreed upon by the local parents and residents
using the center.

Margaret Mwale is associate for community relations for the
National Self-Development of People program
[http://www.pcusa.org/sdop].

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>100 Witherspoon Street
>Louisville, KY 40202
>(888) 728-7228