Office Of Refugee Resettlement: Policy Guidance & Reporting Forms

Annual ORR Reports to Congress - 2001

Preferred Communities

ORR's longstanding philosophy is to promote opportunities for refugee self-sufficiency and effective resettlement. To that end, funds are made available for grants to voluntary agencies to increase placements of newly arriving refugees in preferred communities where there is a history of low welfare utilization and a favorable earned income potential relative to the cost of living.

In FY 2001, ORR awarded three continuation grants, totaling $2,981,180, to national voluntary agencies to enhance entry level services in preferred communities with good employment opportunities needed by newly arriving refugees.

Ethiopian Community Development Council, $316,304. Preferred Community Sites: San Diego, California; Omaha, Nebraska; Houston, Texas; and Denver, Colorado.
Immigration and Refugee Services of America, $1,722,571. Preferred Community Sites: Bowling Green, Kentucky; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Buffalo, New York; Colchester, Vermont; Erie, Pennsylvania; Manchester, New Hampshire; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Twin Falls, Idaho. HIV sites: Brooklyn, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; Providence, Rhode Island; and St. Paul, Minnesota.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Preferred Community Sites ($942,305) in Amarillo, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Cleveland, Ohio. HIV sites: Grand Rapids, Michigan; San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; Phoenix, Arizona; and Portland, Oregon.

Also, in FY 2001 ORR supplemented the Preferred Communities grants with funds for the Kakuma Youth from the refugee camp in Kenya in the amount of $2,360,426. This funding was to provide a Sudanese case manager/mentor who will provide intensive case management for a period not to exceed 18 months.

Supplements were awarded to the following voluntary agencies:

Ethiopian Community Development Council, $191,576
International Rescue Committee, $192,455
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, $678,605
Church World Service, $256,014
Immigration and Refugee Services of America, $228,441
Episcopal Migration Ministries, $138,526
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, $500,000
World Relief, $174,809

Three new grants were awarded in the amount of $903,390:

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, $378,181. Preferred Community Sites: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Trenton, New Jersey; Baltimore, Maryland; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; Grand Forks, North Dakota; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Episcopal Migration Ministries, $210,416. Preferred Community Sites: New Bern, North Carolina; Lexington, Kentucky; Boise, Idaho; and New Haven, Connecticut.

Church World Service, $319,793. Preferred Community Sites: South Bend, Indiana; New Windsor, Maryland; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Buffalo, New York; Rochester, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and Columbia, South Carolina.

Unanticipated Arrivals

The Unanticipated Arrivals Program is intended to provide resources that bridge the gap between the arrival of refugees and the time when their numbers are included in the population-based formula social service funds. Situations that Unanticipated Arrivals funding are intended to mediate include those where bilingual staff are needed for new arrivals, where refugee services do not exist, and where available services are not sufficient to meet the needs of the additional refugees.

In FY 2001, ORR awarded seven grants totaling $1,137,969 to the following applicants:

Community Refugee and Immigration Services for Columbus, Ohio, $231,242
Somali Community Resettlement Services for Minneapolis, Minnesota, $100,000
City of Portland, Maine, $250,000
International Institute of Boston, $137,825
Jewish Family Services, Inc. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, $150,000
Lutheran Social Services of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, $118,902
Workforce Resource of West Central Wisconsin, $150,000

Services for Arriving Refugees with Special Conditions

The purpose ORR seeks to fulfill through Services for Arriving Refugees with Special Conditions, is to provide resources that will address the needs of targeted groups of refugees. We believe that enhanced case management, education, culturally and linguistically appropriate linkages and coordination with other services providers contributes to the overall improved well being of refugees with special needs.

In FY 2001, ORR awarded 17 grants in the amount of $5,626,029 to the following applicants:

Special Conditions

Brigham and Women's Hospital - $242,697
Church World Service - $250,519
Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society - $271,557
International Rescue Committee - $700,000
International Rescue Committee - $199,631
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service - $100,000
Mountain States Group - $76,395
Rocky Mountain Survivors Center - $283,318

Kakuma Youth

Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society - $304,259
Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc. - $368,303
Immigration and Refugee Services of America - $214,057
International Rescue Committee - $372,984
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service - $851,320
Lutheran Social Services of Michigan - $199,755
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc. - $896,645
World Relief Corporation, Port Richey, FL - $94,695
World Relief Corporation, Nashville, TN - $199,894

Mental Health

Newly arriving refugees come with anticipation of their new lives. They also have difficult adjustments with the resettlement experience. Some arrive having experienced severe trauma related to their flight. ORR supported the following activities under the Mental Health program: 1) training and ongoing consultation for direct service workers to increase their knowledge and skill in working with refugees experiencing distress, 2) orientation programs for refugees to U.S. mental health services, 3) orientation for mainstream mental health professionals to refugees and refugee programs, 4) clinical services to refugees of populations new to U.S. communities with little understanding about their cultures and mental health characteristics.

Nine continuations grants under the mental health program were awarded to the following:

Victims Services, $298,921
Regents of the University of Minnesota , $208,100
Immigration and Refugee Services of America, $350,000
Mountain States Group of Boise, Idaho, $135,179
Jewish Family Services of Gulf Coast, Clearwater , Florida, $ 91,799
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, $150,000 *
Catholic Charities of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, $67,007
Child and Family Services of Pioneer Valley , $170,000
Bethany Christian Services, $150,000

Ethnic Community Organizations

ORR supported five national and 17 local ethnic organizational projects with awards totaling $4,025,994. The organizations provided self-help networks, developed newsletters and web sites to enhance ethnic community interaction, and conducted self-assessment and leadership training. The national grants were as follows:

Ethiopian Community Development Council, Virginia, $225,000
Free Iraq Foundation, Washington, D.C., $415,306
Immigration and Refugee Services of America, for the Somali Family Care Network, Virginia, $300,000
Kurdish Human Rights Watch, Virginia, $320,000
National Coalition for Haitian Rights, New York, $300,000
The local grants were as follows:
Institute for Cultural Partnerships, Pennsylvania, $150,000
International Rescue Committee, Georgia, $74,269 for Kurdish Iraqi organizing
Bay Area Somali Consortium, California, $103,365
Iraqi Community Association of San Francisco, California, $189,634
Iraqi Association of Arizona, $180,000
Kurdish Human Rights Watch, California, $180,000
ROZA Promotions, New York, $100,000, for Liberian organizing
Somalia Women's Association, Minnesota, $163,290.
Albanian American Women's Organization, New York, $191,680
Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, Ohio, $200,000
Ethiopian Community Development Council, Virginia, $195,121
Bosansko Hercegovacki Klub, Idaho, $100,000
Lutheran Family Services of Colorado, Colorado, $119,386
Southern Sudanese Community, New York, $57,000
Bosnian and Hercegovinian American Community Center, Illinois, $207,943
Community Teamwork, Massachusetts, $100,000
Haitian American Foundation, Florida, $154,000

Community Orientation

In FY 2001, ORR funded seven continuation grants for a total of $955,071:

Ethiopian Community Development Center (ECDC), Virginia ($110,000) to conduct outreach to newly arrived refugees from Africa via a weekly radio program and monthly newsletter, cross-cultural orientation to 200 refugees, and workshops for service providers. A mentoring program will be established between arriving African refugee families and African-American families.
Catholic Charities of Boston, Massachusetts ($56,067) to provide group orientation for newly arriving refugees, support selected community leaders to serve as catalysts for community orientation, and educate mainstream providers and members of the general public on refugee issues.
Institute of International Law and Economic Development, Washington, D.C. ($215,743) to develop special orientation programs for refugees arriving directly to the U.S. in an emergency situation. This two-year project will research recent efforts conducted through ORR to develop a manual and curriculum for emergency resettlement service providers in the future. *
Lutheran Family Services of Oregon, Portland, Oregon ($100,000) to provide orientation to newly arriving refugees on health and social services available in Oregon and Southwest Washington to ensure access to these services. The project will serve as a bridge between refugee communities and health and social service providers. The majority of the targeted refugees are Russians, with a small number of Bosnians.
National Alliance of Vietnamese-American Service Agencies (NAVASA) in cooperation with five local Vietnamese mutual assistance associations ($316,166) to provide orientation and social adjustment services to newly arriving Vietnamese refugees admitted under the Resettlement of Vietnamese Returnees (ROVR) provision. With training and supervision from the local staff, NAVASA will recruit volunteer mentors to assist new refugees.
International Institute of Buffalo, New York ($129,782) to provide orientation to newly arriving refugees and the host community on issues related to health and domestic violence.
HIAS for Phoenix, Arizona ($27,313) to design, test, and implement an orientation curriculum appropriate to newly arriving African refugees. The new curriculum will be made available to other service providers.

Education Grants

ORR awarded 32 grants totaling $17,820,799 to State education agencies, including the District of Columbia public schools, to assist local education agencies that are impacted by enrollment of large numbers of refugee children. These grants provide support for supplementary instruction to refugee students, fostering parent/school partnership and assistance to teachers and other school staff in improving their understanding of refugee children and their families. The following States received grants under this program:

Arizona Department of Education, $296,020
California Department of Education, $2,016,380
Colorado Department of Education, $353,575
Connecticut Department of Education, $387,706
District of Columbia Public Schools, $249,652
Florida Department of Education, $2,000,000
Georgia Department of Education, $400,000
Iowa Department of Education, $250,000
Idaho Department of Education, $150,000
Illinois State Board of Education, $1,250,000
Kansas Department of Education, $250,000
Kentucky Department of Education, $250,000
Louisiana Department of Education, $250,000
Massachusetts Department of Education, $500,000
Maine Department of Education, $100,000
Michigan Department of Education, $1,000,000
Minnesota Department of Children/Families and Learning, $1,000,000
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, $400,000
North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, $170,000
Nebraska Department of Education, $100,000
Nevada Department of Education, $100,000
New York Department of Education, $1,500,000
Ohio Department of Education, $400,000
Oklahoma Department of Education, $105,569
Oregon Department of Education, $400,000
Pennsylvania Department of Education, $1,000,000
South Dakota Department of Education and Cultural Affairs, $130,000
Texas State Education Agency, $400,000
Utah State Board of Education, $250,000
Virginia Department of Education, $400,000
Vermont Department of Education, $114,309
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, $1,647,588

Elderly Refugees

In FY 2001 ORR continued support for elderly refugees with a new discretionary grant program. This program brings together refugee service providers and mainstream area agencies on aging to coordinate programs for older refugees. Approximately $8,581,641 was awarded to 27 States to establish or expand working relationships with State and area agencies on aging to insure that older refugees would be linked to local community mainstream aging programs. Grants were awarded to Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

In addition, ORR continued its working relationship with the Administration on Aging to identify ways in which both networks could work together more effectively at the State and local community levels to improve access to services for elderly refugees.

Mental Health InterAgency Agreement

Technical assistance for mental health activities for refugees is available to U.S. resettlement communities under an inter-agency agreement with the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Under this agreement, telephone consultation is available for communities on mental health treatment for refugee populations. Other activities conducted by two SAMHSA professionals include presentations at refugee-related conferences, consultation to ORR on mental health issues, consultation on refugee issues within SAMHSA and program development for refugees at SAMHSA.

Victims of Torture

Treatment and Services for Torture Survivors is a program to provide assistance to victims of torture. Services to be provided include treatment for the physical and psychological effects of torture and social and legal services. The legislation also provides for support of research and training in treating torture victims for health care providers outside of the treatment centers.

The psychosocial and health consequences of violence with the traumatic stress that results has emerged as one of the public health problems of our time. Torture constitutes one of the most extreme forms of violence, with potential for long-term psychological and physical suffering.

This program, authorized by the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998, provides rehabilitative services to enable torture victims to become productive community members.

Second Year Awards

Center for Victims of Torture (technical assistance nationwide), $500,000
Health and Hospitals Corporation/NYU/ Bellevue, New York City, $550,000
Center for Victims of Torture, Minneapolis, Minnesota, $550,000
Center for Justice and Accountability (nationwide), San Francisco, California, $315,000
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, $525,000
Center for Multicultural Human Services, Falls Church, Virginia, $550,000
Jewish Family Service of Gulf Coast, Clearwater, Florida, $440,000
Boston Medical Center Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts, $500,000
F.I.R.S.T. Project, Lincoln, Nebraska, $380,556
Safe Horizon, New York City and New Jersey, $550,000
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs, Chicago, Illinois, $530,000
Program for Torture Victims, $500,000
Survivors of Torture International , $550,000
Rocky Mountain Survivors, $440,000
Oregon Health Sciences University, $450,000
Asian Americans for Community Involvement, $200,000
Arab Community Center, $440,000

First Year Awards

Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Minneapolis, Minnesota, $250,000
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, multi-site, $400,000
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, $98,045
The Hope Foundation, Tucson, Arizona, $200,000
Lutheran Children and Family Services, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, $200,000
Advocates for Victims of Torture and Trauma, Baltimore, Maryland, $200,000
Catholic Social Service of Central and Northern Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, $190,000
Jewish Family Services, Columbus, Ohio, $191,399
Survivors International, San Francisco, California, $300,000