93.576: Refugee and Entrant Assistance Discretionary Grants

93.576

Active

Administration for Children and Families (ACF) [HHS]

Sept. 9, 2022

Sept. 9, 2022

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is funding eight programs under this listing: Refugee Individual Development Accounts (IDA), Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program (RAPP), Refugee Family Child Care Microenterprise Development Program (RFCCMED), Refugee Career Pathways (RCP) Program, Refugee Microenterprise Development (MED) Program, Preferred Communities (PC) Program, Ethnic Community Self Help (ECSH) Program, and the Refugee Technical Assistance Program (RTAP). The objectives of these discretionary grant programs include: (1) building capacity for the placement of refugees in locations with good opportunities and providing specialized case management for vulnerable cases; (2) assisting low-income refugees with matching funds for individual development accounts and with financial literacy classes; (3) providing micro-credit to refugees interested in starting new businesses but unable to access commercial sources of capital; (4) providing agricultural training and opportunities to improve the local food systems for refugee farmers; (5) promoting integration; (6) assisting refugees to achieve career advancement; (7) assisting refugees to open family based child care businesses; and (8) providing technical assistance to the refugee service providers; (9) providing employer based educational and language acquisition opportunities. Through the Refugee IDA Program recipients manage IDAs for low-income refugee participants. Eligible refugee participants who enroll in these projects will open and contribute systematically to IDAs for specified Asset Goals, including home ownership, business capitalization, vehicles for educational or work purposes, professional certification, and education (limited to postsecondary education, college entrance exam fees, and preparation and test fees for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and General Education Development (GED) exam). Recipients coordinate their policies and procedures for developing and administering refugee IDA projects with ORR and with the existing refugee IDA network. The RAPP recipients develop strategies that incorporate agriculture and food systems to improve the livelihoods and economic self-sufficiency of refugee families, with particular emphasis on newly arrived refugees. RAPP requirements are to provide: 1) access to land; 2) farming production; 3) training and technical assistance (TA); and 4) coordination with the refugee resettlement community. The RFCCMED Program enables recipients to help refugees to achieve self-sufficiency by establishing small family child care businesses. The program provides refugee participants with training and TA in professional child care, microenterprise development, and financial literacy; assists refugee participants in navigating the child care licensing process; and provides direct financial assistance as needed to enable participants to prepare their homes for child care business operation. Through the RCP Program, ORR provides funding to enable refugees to obtain self-sufficiency by obtaining the means to secure professional or skilled employment drawing upon previously-acquired knowledge, skills, and experience. The overall goal of the Refugee MED Program is to assist refugees to become economically self-sufficient by 1) assisting refugees to establish microenterprise businesses through the provision of MED loans, Training and TA, and 2) assisting refugees in building credit history and/or repairing their credit score. The goal of the ECSH Program is to support Ethnic Community-Based Organizations (ECBOs) in providing refugee populations with critical services to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society. An ECBO as a non-profit organization whose board of directors is comprised of at least 60 percent current and/or former refugees. Under the ECSH Program, the following three main objectives must be implemented: 1) to strengthen ECBOs’ provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate services to refugees within five years after their initial resettlement; 2) to support ECBOs' organizational development and engagement in capacity building by encouraging their collaboration with established refugee service providers and mainstream organizations; and 3) to support ECBOs in promoting community building and civic participation by refugee individuals and refugee community members. The PC Program supports the resettlement of especially vulnerable refugee groups at resettlement sites that PC service providers designate as “Preferred Communities.” The term refers to locations that offer excellent opportunities for the integration and resettlement of the most vulnerable newly and recently arrived refugees. The twin goals of the PC Program are: the successful resettlement and integration of especially vulnerable refugees (and other ORR client populations); and the enhancement of PC service providers’ capacity to serve such populations at new or established PC locations. The RTAP creates a national one-stop source or hub for refugee TA and training. This national hub provides coordinated, innovative TA and training to ORR-funded state refugee programs and ORR funded refugee service providers, filling gaps where no other such TA and training exists. The goal of the Employer Engagement Program (EEP) will be to develop relationships with employers to provide ESL and on-the-job learning opportunities for refugees. Funding may be used to support contracts for language instruction, career counseling, employer engagement/education, and other instructional material; and to offset costs of such programming for the employer.

B - Project Grants (Discretionary)

For Refugee IDA, RAPP, RTAP, RFCCMED, RCP, MED, PC, EEP: Public and private nonprofit agencies may apply for these grants. For Ethnic Community Programs: Public and private nonprofit agencies must have current and/or former refugees who comprise at least 60 percent of the organization's board of directors. Organizations that do not meet this requirements will be disqualified.. For all programs: Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible. Faith-based and community organizations that meet the eligibility requirements are eligible.

Refugees, certain Amerasians, Cuban and Haitian entrants, asylees, certified victims of a severe form of trafficking, and Special Immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan are the beneficiaries. Detailed information on eligibility of ORR-funded projects is available at 45 § CFR 400.43 and ORR Policy Letter 16-01, which can be found on the ORR website at: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/resource/policy-letter-16-01.

93.583 - Refugee and Entrant Assistance Wilson/Fish Program

93.567 - Refugee and Entrant Assistance Voluntary Agency Programs

93.566 - Refugee and Entrant Assistance State/Replacement Designee Administered Programs

https://sam.gov/fal/8642f44972bc45d28cca6d3907e5420c/view