Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington

We provide shelter, legal aid, immigrant assistance, physical and mental healthcare, developmental disability services, education, employment training and crisis counseling to individuals and families, regardless of race, nationality and religion.

Why do we exist?

Catholic Charities exists to serve individuals and families in need.

Our mission states:

In caring for those of us who are poor,

In sheltering those of us who are homeless, and

In protecting those of us who are vulnerable or oppressed,

Catholic Charities helps people in need strengthen and rebuild their lives.

We are the largest social service agency in the District of Columbia and the surrounding Maryland counties.

Catholic Charities is unique because of our holistic and comprehensive approach to helping resolve an individual or family’s crisis situation and meeting the unique and complete needs of each individual. We look not only to the immediate factors that have contributed to such crises, but we also address all long-term factors that may affect individuals.

We exist because there are over 80,000 individuals in the District of Columbia without health insurance, because hundreds of individuals are still living on the streets in the District each day, because hundreds of children are living in abusive homes, because each year, thousands of people flee their own countries to find refuge and assistance in our country, and because there are thousands of people who need the kinds of assistance we have been providing for over 75 years.

What have you accomplished?

Each year, we provide service to over 80,000 individuals and families in the District and the five surrounding Maryland counties.  Last year:

• Almost 4,000 people received free legal assistance to resolve issues of bankruptcy, domestic relations, employment, guardianship, immigration, land lord and tenant disputes and wills and probate matters
  
• 111 refugees from camps around the world were reunited with their families through our Refugee Resettlement Program.  The center also provided employment services for over 200 refugees and asylees
  
• More than 16,000 persons received 260,983 pounds of food from our Southern Maryland Food Bank
  
• Our 9 Family Service Centers provided emergency assistance for rent, mortgage, utilities and prescription payments, as well as parenting classes, youth development programs and counseling
  
• 900 uninsured children a month received medical care including routine medical visits, sick visits, eye exams and laboratory and ex-ray exams through our Medical Care for Children partnership.
  
• Over 1,500 people called on the Substance Abuse Network for assistance, and we placed every one of them in an appropriate recovery program within 72 hours.
  
• 550 people received a hot meal and warm bed in our emergency shelters and transitional housing services every night.  In addition, we served 760 people every night in our hypothermia shelters from November through March

In 2003, Catholic Charities was accredited by the Council on Accreditation, which is the national accrediting body for social service agencies.  Accreditation followed an intensive self-audit, the development and implementation of policies and procedures to meet national standards, and a full week of site visits from the accreditation team.  To have achieved accreditation is a testament to the high ethical, fiduciary, and service-delivery standards that have been the hallmark of Catholic Charities for three quarters of a century.

Not too long ago, a little girl named Sarah’s home was an alleyway in Northeast DC. Then she and her mom came to Catholic Charities. Her mother found someone who believed in her and said they would stand by her as she went through addictions counseling. Now Sarah’s mom is a determined woman who is gaining self-esteem and who is eager to make a safe and happy home for her daughter. Our Tenants Empowerment Program has helped her with housing. She’s been drug free for over a year.

Ali Al-Zubeidy left war-torn Iraq to seek a new life in Saudi Arabia. That relocation was disappointing and several years ago, he came to the United States with his family. With help from the Refugee Service Center, he improved his English, got a job, and later gained computer certification.

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