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September 14, 2026The local committee for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has announced that local grant applications for 2026 are currently being accepted.
The application can be completed online at worcesterdiocese.org/cchd-2026-application-form. This year, only online applications will be accepted and must be completed by Sept. 30.
In 2025, twenty-three grants were awarded, totaling $45,000, which represented the local portion of the CCHD collection taken in 2024. That was the largest total in more than a decade.
CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, working to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ “... to bring good news to the poor ... release to captives ... sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free.” (Luke 4:18).
Bishop McManus noted that “the first thing Pope Leo XIV published, ‘I have loved you,’ addressed the intimate relationship between our faith and serving others. It is my fervent prayer that, in Christian charity, we will raise more funds this year from our annual collection on the weekend of November 22 to serve those in need.”
Members of the local committee which reviews grant applications are Msgr. Francis J. Scollen, chair, Raymond Delisle, Patricia Halpin, Amie Neville and Edelmira Spence.
Since 1969, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has addressed poverty by attacking its root causes and funding community projects that promote independence as a means of finding a permanent end to poverty. The national theme is “Help Those on the Margins.”
The annual CCHD collection takes place in parishes on the weekend before Thanksgiving. It is the primary source of funding for its anti-poverty grants and education programs. In the Diocese of Worcester, 75% of the collection is reserved for use with local programs. The remaining 25% is sent to the national office for national grants awarded around the country. Learn more at usccb.org/cchd.