CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF SAN DIEGO

Family, Youth, Children and Community Services:Our Cal-Fresh Healthy Living Program (formerly SNAP-Ed) supports healthy and active lifestyles by teaching individuals and families in San Diego and Imperial Counties about good nutrition, leveraging Cal-Fresh benefits, and being physically active. Our program is passionate about making healthy choices the easy choice in our communities. Cal-Fresh seeks to improve the likelihood that persons eligible for Cal-Fresh Food (SNAP, also known as Food Stamps) will make healthy food choices within a limited budget and choose physically active lifestyles consistent with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Our Cal-Fresh program provides behaviorally focused, evidence-based, nutritional, and physical activity education classes to low-income individuals in the community. We partner with our sister-agency programs and other local organizations and champions to provide these services, as well as build collaboration and leadership toward healthy community initiatives. During FY2023-2024, we provided direct nutrition education to 898 individuals and provided indirect nutrition education to 13,372 individuals.Cal-Fresh Food (SNAP, also known as Food Stamps) is an entitlement program that provides monthly benefits to assist low-income households in purchasing the food they need to maintain adequate nutritional levels. In general, these benefits are for any food or food product intended for human consumption. Our Cal-Fresh Food staff assists with application submissions, provides outreach to the community, and advocates for community members who may qualify for this self-sufficiency program. During FY2023-2024, we assisted with 968 applications submitted.Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego, along with community partners, has created the Emergency Food Distribution Network+ (EFDN+) to help deliver food to those in need in a safe, effective, and reliable manner that complies with COVID-19 social distancing requirements. We have identified parish partners throughout the Diocese of San Diego to operate weekly drive-thru food pantries and home-delivered food packages. Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego works with local food banks to provide food for those in need. During FY2023-2024 EFDN+ included 13 distribution sites and assisted 9,528 households and 30,375 individuals. During FY2023-2024, the EFDN+ program distributed 385,062 pounds of food, which translates into 462,074 meals.Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego is a participant of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), which is a seasonal program that runs in phases according to the availability of funds. The Emergency Food and Shelter Program began in 1983 with a $50 million federal appropriation. The program was created by Congress to help meet the needs of hungry and homeless people throughout the United States and its territories by allocating federal funds for the provision of food and shelter. Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego participates in the Hotel/Motel Voucher program as well as Emergency Food.During FY2023-2024, we were able to provide 71 nights of shelter and Hotel/Motel Vouchers to 7 individuals, we received a total of $10,080.00 worth of funds. Regarding emergency food, we received $10,954 worth of emergency food, which was used for the EFDN+ food assistance program.Catholic Charities has provided counseling services to pregnant women since the early 1970s, and services to prospective adoptive parents since the 1980s. Catholic Charities became a state-licensed adoption agency in 1984, and over 450 infants have been placed for adoption through the program. Although Catholic Charities no longer recruits adoptive families or places children in adoptive homes, we honor our history by providing Post-Adoption Services to all adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents who have been involved in an adoption through our agency. Respect for clients, and the values of mercy and justice, are continuously at the core of all practices of Catholic Charities Post Adoption Services. The Corporate Board of Catholic Charities, Diocese of San Diego, has passed a resolution to close the Catholic Charities Adoption Program and to surrender the Adoptions License in June 2023.Senior ServicesFoster Grandparent Program and Senior Companion Program seek to create an enriching environment for retired Seniors to remain active while making an impact on the needs of their communities. The Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Program provide opportunities for seniors 55 years of age or older, who are on a limited income, to volunteer and make an impact in their community through direct service for children with special needs and frail adults, respectively. A total of 36 Foster Grandparents served 117 children. A total of 8 Senior Companions served 12 frail adults and their caregivers.The Senior Nutrition program helps to maintain the health and well-being of seniors through nutritious meals, the opportunity for socialization, and other needed services. The Senior Nutrition Program is in Imperial County and provides a nutritious lunch for persons 60 years of age and older. The program offered meals at our congregate meal sites and provided home-delivered meals to those who were homebound. 9 congregate meal sites were open during FY2023-2024. We served 35,862 meals in the Congregate Program and 77,566 meals for the Home Delivered Meal Program, serving a total of 4,763 clients in our Congregate meal sites, and 3,298 clients in our Home Delivered program.The Senior Residential Services programs purpose is to provide a positive environment for our residents that promotes independence, healthy lifestyles, and the ability to remain contributing members of society by providing access to healthcare services, social services, and spiritual and recreational activities. The program staff make referrals to agencies for services including home delivered meals, homemaking services, case management services, etc. The program staff also assists residents with forms understanding mail, making appointments, obtaining durable medical equipment, resolving financial issues, and understanding, applying and maintaining benefits and/or entitlements.The Senior Residential Services program provided 11,232 social and support services to 651 seniors/disabled adults living in senior housing.