ST. MARYS — With a theme of “Getting Ahead in a Just Getting By World,” the Resource and Opportunity Center, also known as The ROC, has been awarded the 2016 Catholic Campaign for Human Development grant.
This grant is not only a major feat for The Resource and Opportunity Center, but for Auglaize County as this is the first time a center in the area has been chosen as the winners of a grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. This grant is funded solely on the generosity of the parishioners within the county, on the last weekend before Thanksgiving.
Approved by Bishop Dennis Schnurr, the award given to the The ROC is a competition-based award, and a precise process that is governed by the Catholic Social Action Office. The diocese and archdiocese also collects a portion of the money given by it’s parishioners for local projects.
The $5,000 award will help the Resource and Opportunity Center further its effort in “Getting Ahead in a Just Getting By World.” This 45-hour, 16-week course is set to provide impoverished families and individual with the tools needed to build a stronger living situation. Promoting the idea of becoming more active members of their communities to improve it for themselves, and other community members.
Describe by The ROC as a course that “involves rigorous work done in a safe learning environment with the support of an experienced facilitator and co-facilitator.”
For the length of the program the participants are nicknamed “investigators,” this is a motivator to help them look into their own personal experiences of poverty, as well the things in the community that cause poverty. The “investigators” explore the areas of banking, housing, jobs and transportation. Concluding with an assessment of how to more efficiently use resources, and how to build those resources for a move toward self-sufficiency, the program gives people the tools to make a difference in their own lives.
