
	Jim Ryan, Director of the Gateway Vincentian Volunteers program and Coordinator of the Partners, accepts a grant from Sr. Cathy Vetter, CCVI, Board member of the Incarnate Word Foundation

On January 15, 2003, the cooperative consortium known as Partners Against Poverty received a grant of $35,000 from the Incarnate Word Foundation. Jim Ryan, Director of the Gateway Vincentian Volunteers program and Coordinator of the Partners, gratefully accepted the grant funds on behalf of the Partner organizations from Sr. Cathy Vetter, CCVI, at a ceremony held at the Palm House in St. Louis. The grant will be used to help support program development.

The Partners Against Poverty is comprised of St. Catherine Labouré Parish (Pastor Jim Cormack, CM), St. Francis de Sales Parish (Pastor Mike Joyce, CM), St. Vincent DePaul Parish (Pastor Joe Williams, CM), Guardian Angel Settlement Association (Executive Director Ed Murphy, CM, and Director of Social Services Jerry Morales, CM), Notre Dame Elementary School, and the Gateway Vincentian Volunteers program. The purpose of the Partners is: Through collaboration, the Partner organizations will work towards the better use of resources in the 63118 and 63104 zip codes so that the people living in those areas who are in need of assistance will be better served by the Partner organizations. (Many poor people live in these two areas of South St. Louis, and a Vincentian presence already exists there in two parishes, the volunteer program, and at Guardian Angel Settlement.) The Partners are also committed to collaboration with other organizations in the area that share the goals of the partnership.

The Partners have been meeting on a regular basis, discussing procedures and making plans for collaborative efforts. To better assess the needs of the people in the 63118 and 63104 zip codes and the services available to the residents, the Partners have commissioned a demographic study of the area. The study, which is well under way, is being con-ducted by the College of Public Services of St. Louis University. Focus groups made up of area residents are also being planned, with women from "Let’s Start" working as group leaders. ("Let’s Start" is a support process for women coming out of prison; the program is directed by Sr. Jackie Toben, SSND, and operates out of St. Vincent’s Parish.)

The Partners are also busy planning cultural diversity training for the staff of the partner organizations, establishing an after-school educational intervention program modeled after one that already exists at St. Vincent's Parish, and developing a pre-vocational program for neighborhood adolescents. The grant provided by the Incarnate Word Foundation will enable the Partners to move forward with the development of these and other programs.

Vincentian is published bimonthly by the Midwest and Southern Provinces of the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentian Priests and Brothers, to promote the apostolic works of its members and those of the larger Vincentian Family.

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