Shepherd's Gate Grant Program
Shepherd's Gate is a small annual grant program that supports nonprofit organizations that reflect our parish mission to serve people in need, to do justice where inequity exists, to stand for human dignity, and to promote peace. 

Net proceeds from Good Shepherd Catholic Church’s annual International Festival, held each year on Labor Day, fund the Shepherd’s Gate Grant Program. 
Shepherd's Gate Grant Application Process: 
Local, national and international community-based organizations are invited to apply for grants ranging from $500 to $5,000. To be eligible to participate, an organization’s program mission must fit one or more of the following categories:
  1. Serve the demonstrated needs of the subject community.
  2. Provide critical benefit to vulnerable individuals or families, particularly those in the low income bracket.
  3. Promote leadership opportunities, particularly among the poor and disenfranchised.
  4. Promote change to advance institutional entities, both public and private, that promote justice and advocacy for those in greatest need.

Application Period for 2019 is now open. Applications must be received by April 30, 2019. Please read the Instructions and Application for more information. For further questions, contact us at: grant@gs-cc.org.
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Recipients of Shepherd's Gate Grants:

Net proceeds from the 2017 Festival funded grants totaling $25,000 to ten amazing community-based organizations. Congratulations to our 2018 winners!
  • Alice's Kids - to assist children in poverty with minor but important needs that can make such an impact on a child’s life, such as a pair of soccer cleats, glasses or summer camp fees.  
  • Bethany House  - to help women and children who have suffered from domestic violence regain health and dignity and become  reestablished in their community by providing temporary housing and support. 
  • Britepaths (formerly Our Daily Bread) - to support the Naomi Project, which matches high-risk pregnant women with trained volunteers who are committed to promoting health pregnancies and healthy babies.
  • Centreville Immigration Forum - to assist with Labor Justice issues at a Labor Resource Center, which connects day laborers with jobs in an organized way, and helps victims of wage theft through education and advocacy. 
  • Community Housing BARN - to help provide financial assistance for childcare, transportation, and work clothing for clients enrolled in a model program of coordinated assistance for homeless families.  It will also support a lifeskills/work readiness class.  
  • Culmore Clinic - to address the needs of patients who have chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity through a Population Health Management program. The clnic is an interfaith, nonprofit healthcare clinic serving low-income adults in the Bailey’s Crossroads community of Falls Church.
  • Hogar Immigrant Services (Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington)  - to effectively recruit and train pro-bono attorneys.  These attorneys will go on to take individual cases and offer legal screening clinics.
  • Ignatian Volunteer Corps -  to fund scholarships to allow IVC volunteers to work with agencies that cannot meet the modest IVC stipend request; and to help defray the cost of the IVC “Celebrating Communities of Compassion Luncheon” which brings volunteers and community partner agencies together to allow networking and planning
  • Sanctity of Life Ministries - to expand their ultrasound program at a faith-based non-profit whose aim is to support women in unplanned pregnancies.
  • Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty - to fund efforts for VADP  to work with the Virginia Catholic Conference to ban the execution of people with serious mental illness, to educate Virginians about the cost (monetary, psychological, and spiritual) of the death penalty, and to help all Virginians embrace the culture of life.