TESTIMONY OF MARIA GONZALES DIRECTOR, SOCIAL POLICY AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS PROJECTS CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA

CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING ON SOCIAL ENTERPRISE MARCH 24, 2014 Good Afternoon Congressman Cicilline. Thank you for inviting me to discuss social enterprise in the Catholic Charities network. My name is Maria Gonzales, and I am the Director of Social Policy and External Affairs Projects at Catholic Charities USA. I appear before you today to underscore the importance of social enterprise in creating pathways out of poverty for the millions of people in need. Today, across this country, thousands of people in our communities come to one of our local Catholic Charities agencies to seek assistance. In 2012 alone, Catholic Charities provided help and created hope for more than 9.2 million people of all faiths. Across the non-profit sector providers of human social services are looking to stabilize and expand their ability to provide help and hope in a time of shrinking government funding and an unstable economy. Within the Catholic Charities network nontraditional initiatives and innovations are already redefining the face of our organizations. In 2012, 20 Catholic Charities agencies in 12 states reported running social enterprises in their communities. These enterprises brought in over $7 million dollars in revenue. Id like to tell you about a few of these enterprises today. Some four years ago Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County formed Day Break Cares In Home Care as a social enterprise with the goal of creating jobs for unemployed clients and providing a service that enabled seniors and people with disabilities to stay in their own homes, while giving a break to family caregivers. Since launching in 2010 they have hired 44 former clients to provide non-medical, in home care services to over 100 customers. Their current annual revenue is over $800,000. They have successfully increased income for formerly unemployed clients, reduced stress for family caregivers, and enabled senior clients to maintain residency in their homes. Creativity and risk-taking on the part of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County has improved the quality of life for many.

Catholic Charities of Fort Worth was confronted with a different challenge. Many of the women that they resettled as refugees were having a difficult time finding gainful employment. Knowing that they had all learned the skill of knitting as young girls in their native culture, Catholic Charities of Fort Worth harnessed their talents and gave them employment through a cooperative to market up-scale scarves. They brought in a leading marketing firm to help them access desirable retail markets and are now supporting their agency and the women they are employing with the profits from their enterprise. This enterprise is called WORN. 100% of the net profits from the products sold at retail go back to Catholic Charities Fort Worth to provide community development and programming for refugee families. WORN partnered with the University of Texas at Arlington to study the financial and social implications of this project on refugee women. The 2012 study results revealed that women who knitted for WORN and attended financial literacy classes offered by Catholic Charities of Fort Worth showed a significant reduction in the following symptoms: Post-Traumatic Stress 39% decrease Depression 48% decrease Anxiety 55% decrease

These are examples of social innovation, one of the new paths redefining our sector. Over a year ago our agencies came to us and requested that the national office facilitate the networks foray into the realm of social enterprise. After a number of conversations with the Gigot Center for Social Innovation at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, we held our first ever Boot Camp for Social Innovation. Representatives of six of our agencies went to the campus last August for an intense week that culminated in the presentation of a business plan and case for a social venture to a panel who critiqued them in order to help make those ideas become reality. This year the boot camp will expand to encompass even more Catholic Charities agencies interested in pursuing innovative social enterprise programs. Agencies who participated in last years Boot Camp have been nominated for awards, and will be tracked to measure the scalability of their program to other agencies interested in pursuing social enterprise efforts. We believe successful social enterprise requires the support of all sectors: government, non-profit, and business. Systems and programs like the Small Business Administration, private venture capital, foundations, and individual donors are all necessary for non-profits to successfully launch social enterprises. As you can see the nonprofit world is recognizing the benefit of becoming involved in for-profit enterprises. Yes, this gives us another avenue to ensure the financial viability and stability of our organizations. But more importantly, it gives us another avenue through which to use the assets of our clients to create employment opportunities while pursuing a social return on investment. This is truly a win win for everyone involved.