State Letter #09-13

TO: STATE REFUGEE COORDINATORS
WILSON-FISH AGENCIES

FROM: David H. Siegel
Acting Director
Office of Refugee Resettlement

SUBJECT: Rural Secondary Migration Pilot Project

The HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has a cooperative agreement with the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning to assess and respond to rural communities impacted by secondary migration. In particular, the Spring Institute will examine the impact of secondary migration on communities, the community response to secondary migration, available community resources and early intervention strategies for assisting refugees, and technical assistance to build social service capacity. This pilot project will begin in early spring 2009.

ORR will determine up to four locations where the Spring Institute will provide community assessment and other assistance related to secondary migration. State Refugee Coordinators interested in participating in this project should send a summary (of no more than two pages) that describes the secondary migration of refugees to a rural community without existing resettlement services, includes the approximate number of secondary migrants in that particular area, and details the commitment of the state coordinator to participate in the Spring Institute visit and implement subsequent recommendations wherever possible. These criteria will be used to determine where the Spring Institute will make a technical assistance visit. An example of a possible site visit would be to a rural area without resettlement services where refugees have moved to work in a local meatpacking plant. The ORR Director will make the final decision on where the Spring Institute will conduct each site visit.

Interested State Refugee Coordinators should send their summary to Mr. Ronald Munia, Director of the Division of Community Resettlement, at ronald.munia@acf.hhs.gov and Ms. Burna Dunn, Director of Spring Institute’s English Language Training and Technical Assistance Project, at ELT@springinstitute.org no later than two weeks (14 days) after the date of this state letter.