Infographic Financial Stress
“The miracle of cooperation is a team strategy that opens a gap in the wall of an indifferent crowd that excludes the weakest.”
— Pope Francis
Stressed Faith – Why Black‐Catholic Heart Health Can’t Wait
The snapshot below distills our PLOS Mental Health study into one quick read. Here’s what it says, in plain language:
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90 % of low-income Black Catholics score below the national Mental Component Summary norm—a silent signal of chronic distress that standard screenings miss.
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Money strain matters. Financial stress alone explains nearly half of that mental-health gap, and when racism is layered on, risk accelerates.
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Health-care algorithms misclassify chronic stress as “all-cause mortality.” The result? Black Catholics showing cardiovascular-level danger are routed away from preventive care.
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Our answer is God’s Little World: a Venice-style micro-city where participants test cooperative economics, wear HRV sensors, and debrief with real-time dashboards. Early pilots show the model sparks behavioral change and generates community income.
Three ways to move the needle
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Invest in the build-out – Help raise the final $1.2 M for our six-lot Fort Worth campus (groundbreaking 12 Dec 2025).
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Sponsor a storefront – Underwrite a bakery, bank, or newsroom for $750-$3 000 and put your name on the marquee.
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Host the Black Equity Tour – Bring the simulation to your underserved diocese, university, or nonprofit. Full-cost underwriters welcome.
Together we can stop blaming individual psychology and start dismantling upstream inequality—one heartbeat at a time.
For Accessibility
Infographic titled “Financial Stress Among Black Catholics – Stressed Faith.” Left panel shows 90.6 % below national mental-health norm, eta² = 0.489 for financial stress, and 100 % of cases should flag CVD risk but aren’t mapped. Right panel explains mis-mapping and structural causes. Lower section introduces God’s Little World solution and three calls to action (invest, sponsor, host).
