About Us

Our Mission

In the spirit of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, we work to address the social drivers of health in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood.

We envision an equitable community where opportunities for growth and quality of life are shared by all.

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System. In response to God’s call and the spirit of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, the Foundation strategically uses resources to address social drivers of health.

Since 1996, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland has distributed more than $75 million to over 750 grantees. In that time, the Foundation has partnered with residents, nonprofits and community leaders to change the trajectory of poverty in Cleveland and beyond. Its endowment includes the first health care conversion foundation and first foundation formed by a congregation of Catholic sisters in the United States.

The Neighborhood Need

After a brief pause in distributing grant funding to take a step back and determine where the Foundation could make the most impact, our home neighborhood emerged as the most critical area of need to focus our resources.

Cleveland’s Central neighborhood and its nearly 12,000 residents face any number of inherent challenges, including generational trauma, poverty and violence. Addressing the most pressing needs of residents is a priority for the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland.

By focusing on Cleveland’s Central neighborhood and its most critical needs, we can more effectively impact the key areas of that address social drivers of health, whether that’s access to quality education and health care or economic stability or family engagement.

As an organization with Catholic social teaching at our center, we see dignity and divine value in every life—no one more important than another. We firmly believe that it is only together that we can effectively open our hearts to heal and move forward.

As a Catholic faith-based ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System, we value:

COMPASSION
COURAGE
RESPECT
JUSTICE
COLLABORATION

As a Catholic foundation, SOCF is motivated and compelled to action by the Church’s social teachings on the creation of a just society. Our Catholic identity infuses all aspects of our work beginning with our mission, from which all else flows. Foundation goals, investments, partnerships and programmatic activities are intended to uphold the core elements of Catholic social teaching:

Life and dignity of the human person
Call to family, community and participation
Rights and responsibilities
Option for the poor and vulnerable
The dignity of work and the right of workers
Solidarity
Care for God’s creation

These elements of Catholic social teaching are central to the work of the foundation, having guided our mission and focus from our very creation in 1996. Carrying forward the mission and ministry of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, the foundation was created as a reaffirmation of the sisters’ preferential option for the poor with a deeply abiding commitment to the life and dignity of all.

The steadfast focus on individuals, families and communities in poverty is a charge given to the foundation by the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine that “echoes the understanding throughout Catholic social teaching that, in God’s eyes, the needs and rights of the poor are to be given special attention.”

In all our work, we prioritize the needs of the poor and vulnerable. We attempt to address root causes and improve the systems in which they participate. Our identity as a Catholic foundation also inspires how we strive to carry out our work in the community — through authentic listening, partnership and the promotion of equity and innovation to initiate positive, lasting change.

We seek to empower and support individuals and organizations with a deep respect for their human dignity and the unique experiences and perspectives they bring; we learn from our partners and strive for human connection, knowing that the work is stronger when more hands contribute; and we work to name and remove age-old barriers with innovative approaches designed to help all our neighbors reach the potential God created them for.

This is our Catholic mission in action.