Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens announced today that it has re-launched its signature Grant Program, awarding 36 new grants totaling nearly $300,000. The 2017/2018 fiscal year grants were awarded to local entities including deaneries, parishes, schools and academies, as well as mission-based agencies and programs throughout the Diocese of Brooklyn.
“We are delighted to re-start our local grant program so that we can assist members of our Catholic community in carrying out the work of our Church this year,” said Joseph Geoghan, chairman of Catholic Foundation’s board of directors. “Our local grant program complements our funding of the diocesan programmatic needs, and enables Catholic Foundation to respond directly to the immediate needs of our Church and our parishioners.” The local grants awarded will support a variety of concerns such as the much-needed upgrading of Academy classrooms, launching of a youth theater program, homelessness outreach, Family Catechesis and teacher training, and providing for religious education programs and youth evangelization programs.
Supported by a corpus of eight core endowments created as a result of the 1998 Alive in Hope campaign, Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens awards grants to parishes, academies and schools in need. Additionally, grants are made to diocesan organizations that support the ministries of the Church in Brooklyn and Queens and operate in mission-based areas such as senior citizen services, immigration, continuing education for clergy, lay leadership, vocations, evangelization and religious education, care for elderly priests and Catholic education. Catholic Foundation committed to $1.6 million in total grants for 2017/2018, which includes funding for key initiatives and agencies within the Diocese of Brooklyn such as Catholic Migration Services and Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens.
“The 2017/2018 local grants will continue to aid in sustaining the important work of tending to the spiritual, educational and social needs of our Catholic community in Brooklyn and Queens. The longstanding impact of our donors’ generosity to our past campaign plays a critical role in funding desperately needed and timely initiatives that keep parishes ready to inspire the faithful, our schools ready to nurture and prepare students, and our social service programs ready to serve those in need in many of our Catholic communities,” Geoghan shared.
Since its inception in 1998, Catholic Foundation has awarded more than $30 million to fund programs across the Catholic communities in Brooklyn and Queens.