press release - 2015 sotu response final.pdf

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  • 8/9/2019 Press Release - 2015 SOTU Response FINAL.pdf

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    For Immediate ReleaseContact: Patricia Cole

    [email protected]

    Catholic Charities USA Calls for Greater Focus on Policies that Reduce Poverty

    For those living in poverty, the State of our Union leaves them struggling to get by

    Alexandria, Virginia (January 20, 2015) Responding to the Presidents annual State of the Union address,Catholic Charities USA welcomes the discussion of new ideas to help people achieve their full potential, butencourages greater discussion on how our country can more effectively address the plight of the 45 millionindividuals living at or below the poverty line in America.

    For those living in poverty, the State of our Union leaves them struggling to get by, said Rev. Larry Snyder,President of CCUSA, which represents a national network of faith-based social service providers whosupported over 9 million individuals last year. We urge the President and both chambers of Congress to

    bring their best ideas to the table about building a nation that enables everyone to achieve their full potential.

    While we often hear about the need to support the middle-class, its important to remember that there aremillions of individuals and families who are still seeking to escape the cycle of poverty in America, saidSnyder. The percentage of individuals and families living at or below the federal poverty line remains roughlywhere it was when our nations War on Poverty was launched more than 50 years ago.

    Proposing bold ideas, like the Presidents proposals to enable all students to attend two years of communitycollege, to expand paid leave to working parents, and to make home ownership more accessible andsustainable, is what is needed to break up the status quo that leaves so many on the sidelines. People of goodwill can have disagreements about the strategies to achieve a future without poverty, but what we cannot do islet divided government or differences of opinion prevent us from working together to strengthen pathways

    out of poverty for those in need.

    In its work to reduce poverty, CCUSAs theory of change is based on the four principles of Catholic SocialTeaching found in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church: Respect for humandignity, the common good, solidarity, and subsidarity. Additionally, CCUSA looks at all policy proposalsthrough the pillars of its Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America: Hunger, health care, housing, educationand workforce development, and family economic security.

    About Catholic Charities USA

    Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) is leading a national movement to end poverty in America. In communities across the country,Catholic Charities member agencies are helping individuals and families in poverty achieve their full potential. Together we arededicated to creating a life of opportunity and self-sufficiency for each of the 45 million of our brothers and sisters who live inpoverty. CCUSA was founded in 1910 on the campus of Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. as the NationalConference of Catholic Charities. For more than 100 years, CCUSA has guided and supported the vast network of Catholic Charitiesagencies nationwide in a common mission to serve, advocate, and convene. For additional information, please

    visitwww.catholiccharitiesusa.org.

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