CV NEWS FEED // Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago (CCAC) recently announced that it will lay off 300 employees as a result of cutting down government contracts, explaining in part that “funding has not kept up with the high rates of inflation.”
CCAC will end 75 government contracts in July, “as part of a new strategic plan that Catholic Charities says will shift its business model to rely less on public funding,” local outlet Chicago Sun Times (CST) reported:
The contracts, which fund 12% of its budget, cover child care, youth programs, behavioral health counseling, senior care, adult protection, veteran services and call centers. The group declined to share the names of the contracts.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago stated that the CCAC board is embarking on “an important strategic exercise — one that all organizations of substance must regularly do.”
“I laud them for their courage, vision and commitment to deepening the Church’s impact on behalf of the region’s most vulnerable,” Cupich added.
CCAC serves over 400,000 people annually, especially low-income seniors, people in crisis, youth, women, and veterans.
Though it utilizes public funding, “as local, state, and federal budgets have become increasingly stretched, government support for human services continues to shrink,” a CCAC web page reads. “At Catholic Charities, our government support has fallen by more than 20% over the last decade, while demand for our services grows exponentially.”
In a statement, CCAC President and CEO Sally Blount explained that the organization aims to lessen its dependence on government funding, so as “to increase the time, attention and resources we devote to the services we are uniquely equipped to offer as a private humanitarian organization.”
“Over the last decade, navigating the government services sector has grown more complex, and funding has not kept up with the high rates of inflation,” Blount continued. “That means that many contracts no longer cover their direct costs, much less the increasing costs of administering them.”
CST reported that 73% of CCAC’s revenue was from grants and government fees in 2023. The majority of the employees losing their jobs work for the government contracts, and “will receive severance benefits and assistance with job searches at Catholic Charities’ sister organizations, including Mercy Home, Misericordia and Maryville,” CST noted.
Board Chair Michael Monticello also explained in the announcement that the board determined “that if we want to increase our impact over the years ahead, we must sharpen our strategic focus, while simultaneously reducing the time our staff spends navigating an increasingly complex and uncertain government funding environment.”
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