Several Catholic charities spoke to the Legislature this week on the success of their programs to help poverty in Louisiana. The Empower Families to Live Well Council hasn’t met in several years since the rise of COVID-19 according to Sen. Regina Barrow, D-East Baton Rouge. During their first meeting in years these charities expressed their necessity for the council to continue their funds via a grant, which expires in March, 2025. The $225,000 grant is pulled from the state’s general fund and $100,000 each is given through the Department of Children and Family Services to the Catholic Charities Baton Rouge & New Orleans for three different programs that advance poverty alleviation. The grant has been consistently approved yearly since it was created with the council in 2018. A total of 991 individuals were served by the New Orleans center since 2019 in the Cornerstone program, which helps individuals get jobs. Over $1.1 million in direct assistance was provided and the employment life area survey scores also improved, from 1.22 to 1.87. For the homeless services program, 239 families were served in that same time span, totaling $4.7 million in assistance. 124 of those families were successfully housed. These programs practice things like case management and resource referral, rapid re-housing and housing placement support, job placement support, and direct assistance with public benefits enrollment. They prioritize helping families who are what blank calls “street homeless,” meaning families who aren’t just couch surfing but actively living on the street. Stephanie Mills, the division director of the New Orleans Catholic Charities, even referenced one family they’ve helped recover from homeless with 8 children, in which the man of the household worked as a delivery driver but couldn’t afford to house all of his children. Veterans and formerly incarcerated individuals are also a priority of the charities with these funds. Many of the needy individuals the charities help call in for the service, but recently they built a website so that those in need can also apply for the services online. The New Orleans branch of the charity did a study that found 70% of call-in requests seek financial assistance to cover bills or rent. This study also showed that across their service area or diocese, in both rural and urban communities, the average poverty rate is 20% and 50% of the service area population is at or below the Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed threshold. The Baton Rouge branch has been practicing something called Parents and Children Together, which a program that helps improve school readiness for children in less fortunate situations. They found that 90% of the students they served improved their scores. This program also teaches families collectively about financial education, fire safety, literacy, and other things on many different necessary topics. Baton Rouge Catholic Charities is also hoping to fix what are called tech deserts in the future, which is an area that struggles to receive broadband to connect them to services they need to function in today’s society. Part of this funding was also for program evaluation to foster shared learning of the best practices for eliminating poverty. Trepwise, a New Orleans based consulting firm who’s working with the charities to complete this evaluation, says their findings will be prepared and available by the summer of 2025.