Refugee Resettlement Office – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that an urgent single-source grant is awarded to Survivors of Torture, International (SOTI), San Diego, CA. The grant will support direct services to persons who have experienced trauma or torture prior to their arrival in the United States. The grant will serve San Diego County, which is the area that has received the greatest number of Iraqi refugee arrivals, as well as a high percentage of other refugees and asylum-seekers. The grantee, SOTI, will provide comprehensive rehabilitative services to Iraqi and other survivors of torture, who are in need of specialized services that will enable these survivors to regain their health and independence and rebuild productive lives. In addition to provision of direct services, SOTI will train other area service providers to more effectively serve this population. SOTI will also focus on sustaining collaborations among providers serving this population. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in FY 2009, twenty-eight percent of the country's asylum-seekers came to California for resettlement. In 2010, a total of 3,663 refugees were resettled in San Diego. At least 159,550 refugees, asylees, and asylum-seekers in San Diego have come from areas where torture may be practiced. San Diego's numbers include an influx in Iraqi refugees, as one in four Iraqi refugees has resettled in California, with the vast majority resettling in San Diego. SOTI is the only program in San Diego County that provides medical affidavits for torture survivors to use in claiming asylum. They have also reported an 84 percent increase in client intakes during fiscal years (FYs) 2009 and 2010. As a result, an urgent need exists for specialized services for individuals in San Diego who have suffered torture prior to their arrival in the United States. SOTI is well positioned to provide medical, psychological, social, and legal services to Iraqis who have suffered torture and are relocated in the San Diego area. SOTI has developed a large network of pro bono service providers and possesses the clinical and programmatic expertise to serve survivors of torture. For Further Information Contact: Ronald Munia, Director, Division of Community Resettlement, Office of Refugee Resettlement, 901 D Street, SW., Washington, DC 20047. Telephone: 202-401-4559. E-mail: Ronald.Munia@acf.hhs.gov.

This funding will support the expansion of shelter/foster care program bed capacity to meet the additional number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) referrals from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other Federal agencies resulting from the recent passage of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008. Many provisions in the TVPRA will dramatically affect the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) UAC program's capacity to provide placement, custodial and residential shelter care services. ORR expects an additional 6,800 referrals annually from DHS.

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Resettlement, Division of Community Resettlement, will award supplemental funds without competition to nine agencies: Church World Service, Ethiopian Community Development Council, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, International Rescue Committee, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and World Relief Corporation. The cost for these supplemental awards is $2.17 million. The Voluntary Agency Matching Grant program was created by Congress in 1979. Matching Grant services enable the Voluntary Agencies' resettlement agencies to work with recently arrived refugees and other eligible clients. The goal of the program is to assist refugees become economically self-sufficient without accessing public assistance within 120-180 days. Last year, 81% of clients entering the program were economically self-sufficient within 180 days. Since the Presidential Determination was signed in October 2007, the ceiling for refugees was raised from 70,000 to 80,000 to accommodate 10,000 additional Iraqi refugees. In addition, legislation passed in December 2007 and January 2008 created a new class of individuals eligible for the refugee services. Thousands of Afghani and Iraqi interpreters who served the U.S. military have been provided ``Special Immigrant Visas'' (SIV) and are now eligible for six or eight months of refugee services. The Matching Grant program is often the program of choice for these special populations as it is geared for readily employable cases and for SIV cases, conforms to the legislative time limits.

This notice cancels the FY 2004 Wilson-Fish Discretionary Grant Program Standing Announcement (HHS-2004-ACF-ORR-RW-0005) that was published in the Federal Register of April 5, 2004 (69 FR 17692-01). The Wilson-Fish Announcement will be published in FY 2008 at the Administration for Children and Families' Grant Opportunities Web page at: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/ and at https:// www.grants.gov. The title of the new Announcement will be the Wilson- Fish Alternative Program Standing Announcement. The new Standing Announcement and application packages will also be available at https:// www.grants.gov. Interested parties should register with https:// www.grants.gov to receive e-mail alerts announcing publication, application due dates, and application requirements.

This final notice announces the availability of funds and award procedures for FY 2005 Targeted Assistance Program (TAP) grants to States for services to refugees under the Refugee Resettlement Program (RRP). These grants are for service provision in localities with large refugee populations, high refugee concentrations, and where specific needs exist for supplementation of currently available resources. Qualification of counties for eligibility for targeted assistance program grants is determined once every three years as stated in the FY 1999 Notice of Proposed Availability of Targeted Assistance Allocations to States which was published in the Federal Register on March 10, 1999 (64 FR 11927). The FY 2002-FY 2004 three-year project cycle has expired. FY 2005 is the year for the re-qualification of counties for the three-year project cycle, FY 2005, FY 2006, and FY 2007 for TAP funds. Qualifications of counties are based on the arrivals of refugees (see Footnote 1, eligible population) during the 5-year period from FY 2000 through FY 2004, and on the concentration of the arrivals population as a percentage of the general population. Counties that qualify for TAP FY 2005 funds on the basis of the most current 5-year population are listed in this proposed notice in Table 1, Table 2, Table 4, and Table 6. Under this final notice, a total of 48 counties (Table 1) qualify for targeted assistance grants. Of these, 6 new counties (Table 2) qualify for targeted assistance grants, and 11 counties (Table 3) which previously received targeted assistance grants no longer qualify for targeted assistance program funding. Application Deadline: Application deadline for targeted assistance program funding will be September 12, 2005. A full application is required this qualifying year, FY 2005. Six (6) new counties are eligible for targeted assistance. Counties that have received TAP funds in the past and will continue to qualify for TAP have not been required to submit a full application since FY 2002. Application requirements in the second and third of a 3-year project cycle will be less extensive.

This proposed notice announces the availability of funds and award procedures for FY 2005 Targeted Assistance Program (TAP) grants to States for services to refugees under the Refugee Resettlement Program (RRP). These grants are for service provision in localities with large refugee populations, high refugee concentrations, and where specific needs exist for supplementation of currently available resources. Qualification of counties for eligibility for targeted assistance program grants is determined once every three years as stated in the FY 1999 Notice of Proposed Availability of Targeted Assistance Allocations to States which was published in the Federal Register on March 10, 1999 (64 FR 11927). The FY 2002-FY 2004 three-year project cycle has expired. FY 2005 is the year for the re-qualification of counties for the three-year project cycle, FY 2005, FY 2006, and FY 2007 for TAP funds. This notice proposes that the qualification of counties be based on the arrivals of refugees (see Footnote 1, eligible population) during the 5-year period from FY 2000 through FY 2004, and on the concentration of the arrivals population as a percentage of the general population. Counties that could potentially qualify for TAP FY 2005 funds on the basis of the most current 5-year population are listed in this proposed notice in Table 1, Table 2, Table 4, and Table 6. Under this qualification proposal, a total of 47 counties (Table 1) would qualify for targeted assistance grants. Of these, 6 new counties (Table 2) would qualify for targeted assistance grants, and 11 counties (Table 3) which previously received targeted assistance grants would no longer qualify for targeted assistance program funding.