Catholic Charities USA works in various areas such as adoption counseling, disaster relief, poverty awareness and raising awareness of social issues such as human trafficking and racial inequality. It works to provide aid to people in need and to activate the Catholic population to action.

CATCH is a partnership among the city of Boise, Idaho; 12 local congregations; and the business community to provide long-term housing and supportive services to the area’s homeless population. Each participating congregation sponsors a homeless family’s housing for six months or a year; CATCH also is developing a 10-year plan to address homelessness.

Orange County Congregation Community Organization lobbied the city of Anaheim to include affordable housing in a large new housing development.

Congregations Organizing for Renewal works to create affordable housing in Hayward, Calif., where 80 percent of families can’t afford the median-priced home. COR represents 13 congregations.

Shalom Ecumenical Center-Affordable Housing builds affordable housing for the elderly and disabled in Kennewick, Wash. SEC is a project of All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Richland Lutheran Church and Lord of Life Lutheran Church, all in Richland, Wash.

EAH develops, manages and promotes affordable housing in California and Hawaii. Originally named the Ecumenical Association for Housing, it has developed, acquired or renovated more than 5,000 units of affordable housing since its founding in 1968. It has won dozens of awards and has a staff of 350.

East Side Heart & Home works to develop affordable housing for low-income families. It’s a project of the Family Center of East St. Louis, St. Vincent DePaul Church in St. Louis, the Catholic Urban Program of East St. Louis and the East St. Louis Development Corp.

Religious Action for Affordable Housing in Ann Arbor, Mich., works to increase the amount of affordable housing in a variety of ways. It has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Avalon Housing project.

United Power for Action and Justice in Chicago is a coalition of people from religious, civic, health and labor organizations. Through Ezra Community Homes, it has built 1,000 affordable homes on the city’s West Side.