“The test of our own progress will be how we treat those in our own community, what we do to promote economic justice, and what we do to evidence our care and concern for the poor and needy within our own country and locality.”

Bishop Howard Hubbard, “Poverty in the Diocese of Albany: A Threat to the Common Good”

Catholic Charities’ major public policy efforts are directed at the Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America, a Catholic Charities USA initiative to cut poverty in half by 2020.

Catholic Charities' mission calls us to advocate with people of good will for a just society. This includes educating our selves and the men and women with whom we work and minister about opportunities we all have to create a more just and caring society.

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany, in conjunction with Catholic Charities USA's Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America, prepared the paper “Poverty in the Diocese of Albany: A Threat to the Common Good” using data compiled after the last US Census. This information continues, sadly, to provide a telling picture of the numbers of men, women and children living in poverty or living near to poverty in our fourteen county diocese.

We encourage you to read the paper, to be alert to new information coming out in the media on this important topic, and to visit this page to see how you can help educate State and federal lawmakers about your concern for the poor and vulnerable amoung us.

Please visit our Action Alert Center!

To join advocacy efforts on other issues critical to our Catholic faith, such as life and education issues, visit the New York State Catholic Conference website at www.nyscatholicconference.org