Program objective

The objectives of these discretionary programs are: (1) build capacity for refugees in locations with good opportunities and providing specialized case management for vulnerable individuals; (2) assist low-income refugees through financial literacy education and with matching funds for individual development accounts ; (3) provide micro-credit to refugees interested in starting new businesses but unable to access commercial capital; (4) provide agricultural training and opportunities to improve local food systems for refugee farmers; (5) promote integration; (6) assist refugees with career advancement; (7) assist refugees to open family based child care businesses; (8) provide technical assistance to refugee service providers; (9) provide employer based educational and language acquisition opportunities; (10) support the mental health needs of refugees affected by trauma; and (11) build refugee leadership through sharing lived experience. This list includes: Refugee Individual Development Accounts (IDA), Refugee Agricultural Partnership Project (RAPP), Refugee Family Child Care Microenterprise Development (RFCCMED), Refugee Career Pathways (RCP), Refugee Microenterprise Development (MED), Preferred Communities (PC), Ethnic Community Self-Help (ECSH), Refugee Technical Assistance Program (RTAP), Services for Afghan Survivors Impacted by Combat (SASIC), Support for Trauma-Affected Refugees (STAR), Employer Engagement Program (EEP), National Refugee Children and Youth Resilience (NRCYR) Program, and National Refugee Leadership and Lived Experience Council (NRLLEC) Program. Through the IDA Program, recipients manage IDAs for low-income refugee participants. Eligible refugee participants will open and contribute systematically to IDAs for Asset Goals. RAPP recipients develop strategies that incorporate agriculture to improve the livelihoods and self-sufficiency of refugee families. RAPP provides: 1) access to land; 2) farming production; 3) training and technical assistance (TA); and 4) coordination with the refugee resettlement community. RFCCMED helps refugees achieve self-sufficiency by establishing small family childcare businesses. The program provides training and TA; assists in navigating the licensing process; and provides direct financial assistance to enable participants to prepare their homes for childcare business. RCP enables refugees to obtain self-sufficiency and secure professional or skilled employment drawing upon previously acquired knowledge, skills, and experience. MED assists refugees to become economically self-sufficient by 1) establishing microenterprise businesses through MED loans, training and TA, and 2) assisting refugees in building or repairing credit history. ECSH supports Ethnic Community-Based Organizations (ECBOs) in providing refugees services to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society. An ECBO is a non-profit organization whose board of directors is at least 60 percent current and/or former refugees. PC supports the resettlement of especially vulnerable refugee groups at resettlement sites that service providers designate as “Preferred Communities” which refers to locations that offer excellent opportunities for the integration and resettlement of the most vulnerable recently arrived refugees. RTAP creates a national one-stop source for refugee TA and training and provides coordinated TA and training to ORR-funded state refugee programs, other refugee service providers, and agencies and community organizations. RTAP fills gaps where no other such TA and training exist and responds to the emerging needs of service providers. EEP develops relationships with employers to provide ESL and on-the-job learning opportunities for refugees. SASIC is a one-time program launched in February 2023 that helps newly arrived Afghans eligible under the Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations Act overcome severe, pervasive, and long-lasting combat-related trauma and facilitate their physical, social, emotional, and economic well-being. STAR supports the physical, social, emotional, and economic well-being of underserved refugees of any origin whose trauma impedes their integration. Activities include providing direct mental health and psychosocial support and building national and local capacity. NRLLEC builds council members’ capacity to serve as leaders and enhances ORR’s understanding of their lived experiences integrating into the U.S. NRCYR supports refugee children, youth, and their families by expanding the child welfare capacity at refugee-serving agencies. Activities include training and technical assistance, partnership and outreach, crisis intervention and case consultation, and assessment and evaluation.