Office of Refugee Resettlement – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has realigned the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). This notice makes ORR's Refugee Program and Unaccompanied Children Program the Refugee Program Bureau and the Unaccompanied Children Bureau, respectively; creates the Bureau of Operations; and aligns divisions with the bureau they support.

In accordance with ORR regulations, the Director of ORR is announcing an inflationary increase to the public/private Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) program's monthly payment ceilings, effective October 1, 2021. The current payment ceilings have remained fixed since March 22, 2000, despite inflation. The new payment ceilings accommodate that inflation and will provide arriving ORR-eligible populations greater economic stability as they transition to self-sufficiency.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announces the award of expansion supplement grants to the following current grantees for a total of $350,000:

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announces the award of a single-source program expansion supplement grant to Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, Boston, MA, in the amount of $325,000 under the Wilson- Fish Program. The supplemental award will allow the grantee to provide refugee cash assistance (RCA) to arriving refugees and others who are also eligible for refugee benefits through the remainder of the current budget period. The expansion supplement award will enable the grantee to provide assistance to a higher number of clients than originally planned. RCA is provided to clients for up to 8 months upon arrival to the U.S. who are categorically ineligible to receive cash assistance through the State TANF program but otherwise meet the program's financial eligibility requirements.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), announces the allocation of Refugee Targeted Assistance formula awards to States and Wilson/Fish Alternative Project grantees.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announces the award of two urgent single- source grants for a total of $4,767,696. Award funds will support grants to two organizations that are providing services under the Unaccompanied Alien Children's program.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), announces the allocation of Refugee Targeted Assistance formula awards to States and Wilson/Fish Alternative Project grantees. The purpose of the Targeted Assistance program is to provide employment and other resettlement services to refugees, Amerasians, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, victims of trafficking, and Iraqis and Afghans with Special Immigrant Visas. The grant allocations are awarded to States on behalf of counties that have had high levels of arrivals of the eligible populations. The awards supplement available refugee resettlement resources to ensure that refugees and other eligible populations become employed and self- sufficient as soon as possible. Awards are determined by the number of the eligible populations residing in each county during the two-year period from October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2011. Targeted Assistance allocations are available on the ORR Web page. The table of FY 2012 Allocations to Counties and Targeted Assistance Areas and the Table of FY 2012 Allocations to States may be found at: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/policy/fy2012_formula_ allocations_targeted_assistance.htm.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announces the award of a single-source program expansion supplement grant to Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, in the amount of $437,650 under the Wilson-Fish Program. The supplemental award will allow the grantee to provide cash and medical assistance to arriving refugees and others who are also eligible for refugee benefits through the remainder of Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. The expansion supplement award will enable the grantee to provide assistance to a higher number of clients than originally planned.

Notice is hereby given that a single-source grant of $220,000 was awarded to Florida Department of Children and Families, located in St. Petersburg, FL, by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement. Award funds will provide medical and supportive social services to Haitian medical evacuees affected by the earthquake in 2010. The Haitian medical evacuees were brought to the United States (U.S.) in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010. This is a population that arrived in the U.S. with significant medical issues and no available system for ongoing medical and supportive social services. They had sustained a wide range of injuries, including burns, crush injuries, and head and spine injuries. During Fiscal Year 2010, the refugees' medical costs for their first 8 months in Florida totaled $6.2 million. The single-source award will provide urgently needed support to this group, which are currently residing in a tent complex in St. Petersburg, FL.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announces the award of single-source expansion supplement grants to seven unaccompanied alien shelter care providers for a total of $5,016,218. The additional funding provided by the awards will support services to refugees through September 30, 2011. These grants will support the expansion of bed capacity to meet the number of unaccompanied alien children referrals from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The funding program is mandated by Section 462 of the Homeland Security Act to ensure appropriate placement of all referrals from the DHS. ORR's ability to meet this mandate is often a challenge since the program is completely tied to DHS apprehension strategies and the sporadic number of border crossers. The program has specific requirements for the provision of services. Existing grantees are the only entities with the infrastructure, licensing, experience and appropriate level of trained staff to meet the service requirements and the urgent need for expansion. The program's ability to avoid a backlog of children waiting in border patrol stations for placement can only be accommodated through the expansion of existing programs through this supplemental award process. The single-source expansion supplement recipients are:

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announces the award of a single-source grant for training and technical assistance on incoming Lesbian, Gay, Bi- Sexual and Transgender (LGBT) refugee cases to Heartland Alliance, Chicago, IL, for a total of $250,000. The additional funding provided by the award will support services to refugees through May 31, 2012. The current resettlement network has limited understanding of the issues and subgroups. Heartland Alliance will develop training and technical assistance resources, including capacity building and service delivery, specifically targeted at assisting newly arriving LGBT refugees. Heartland Alliance will have the opportunity to receive a continuation award at the same amount in FY 2012, which will provide the grantee with a two-year project period.

In FY 2007, ORR awarded a competitive service grant for the Microenterprise Development Program grant to New York Association for New Americans, Inc. (NYANA) in New York, New York. The original project was from September 29, 2007, through September 30, 2012. NYANA served as the fiscal sponsor and legal entity of the approved project. As of February 1, 2009, NYANA has ceased operations of the Microenterprise Development Program. NYANA has requested ORR permission for the Center for Community Development for New Americans (CCDNA) to assume the grant. CCDNA has agreed to this request. The effect of this deviation request is to transfer the grant from the initial grantee to a new grantee with all the responsibilities of managing and implementing the project for the remainder of the grant period.

In Fiscal Year 2005, in an effort to assist local school systems that were being strained by the arrivals of large numbers of refugee children, The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) awarded, through competition, a Refugee School Impact grant to the Tennessee Department of Human Services, Nashville, TN, for a project period of August 15, 2005 through August 14, 2010. The Tennessee Department of Human Services served as the fiscal sponsor and legal entity for the project. As of June 30, 2008, the Tennessee Department of Human Services relinquished the grant. Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc., Nashville, TN, is now awarded a non-competitive replacement grant to continue to provide services under the Refugee School Impact project. Services provided under the grant to Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc., are within the scope and operation of the original award. Under the award, Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc., is eligible apply for a non-competitive continuation award for the period of August 15, 2009 through August 14, 2010.

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Refugee Resettlement's Division of Unaccompanied Children's Services (ORR/DUCS) will award a noncompetitive urgent single-source award to the Latin American Health Institute (LHI) to provide urgent care for unaccompanied alien children (UAC) in response to an unsolicited application. ORR/DUCS-funded facilities currently have very limited capacity to help UAC cope with potentially devastating consequences of trauma. Such limited trauma-informed services within the ORR/DUCS network of care puts UAC and the ORR/DUCS program at tremendous risk. A great number of UAC have been subjected to severe trauma, including sexual abuse and sexual assault in their home countries or on their journey to the U.S.; gang violence; domestic violence; traumatic loss of a parent; and physical abuse and neglect. In addition, UAC experience the increased probability of ongoing trauma as a result of their uncertain legal status and return to difficult life circumstances. ORR/DUCS-funded facilities currently have very limited specifically targeted capacity to help UAC cope with the potentially devastating consequences of trauma. Trauma affects children in very complex ways, including behavioral problems and potential involvement with the juvenile justice system; suicidal ideation and attempts; serious depression; and lasting delays in reaching emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal developmental milestones. ORR/DUCS-funded care providers are in a unique position to assist and intervene in these cases in order to minimize the harmful effects of past and possible ongoing trauma. The lack of expertise in addressing trauma leaves the ORR/DUCS- funded care provider facilities staff particularly vulnerable to the occupational hazards of working with traumatized children, such as vicarious trauma, boundary violations with children, job burnout, and high staff turnover. The youth workers in the ORR/DUCS-funded facilities do not have specific knowledge of childhood trauma and more importantly, they lack effective responses such that they are left ill-prepared to handle the complex needs of the UAC in their care. Without this type of expertise, staff in the facilities may in certain situations indirectly or unknowingly foster an environment that perpetuates trauma for the children. Trauma training will prepare care provider facility staff to better help UAC and to convey accurate information to their sponsors, thus creating safer outcomes for the youth and the communities where they are released. The LHI Unaccompanied Alien Children Trauma Initiative will provide specialized training in delivery of trauma- informed services, and identification of ways that promote mastery and resilience in trauma victims, based on proven expertise in child trauma and immigrant and refugee experience.

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.

Notice is hereby given that a noncompetitive single source program expansion supplement to an ongoing competitive award is being made to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in response to an unsolicited application. The application is not within the scope of any existing or expected to be issued program announcement for the Fiscal Year 2006. USCCB's application is expected to address issues critical to the development and implementation of marriage education programs for refugees by opening three new program sites. In September of 2003, ORR awarded USCCB a grant of $1,000,000,000 to develop a Refugee Family Enrichment program which included technical assistance to subgrantees. Over the past two years, USCCB has established an effective program in sites that have successfully prepared thousands of refugee families for the challenges they will face during resettlement. Because other Refugee Marriage Enrichment grantees are primarily regional in scope, we believe USCCB is uniquely suited to effectively implement this supplemental award. USCCB has affiliates across the country and has no physical or programmatic limitations regarding which ethnic groups they can serve. We believe that by allowing them to increase the number of sites, that it would be a cost-effective way of helping more refugees develop the skills that help their marriages succeed and give their children a better chance of success in the U.S. Without it, these sites might struggle to provide refugee clients with the programs they need in order to achieve self-sufficiency. The proposed project period is 9/30/2005-9/29/2006. Assistance to support grantees in developing better approaches to the delivery of services provided to refugees is authorized by section 412(c)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1522(c)(1)).