Refugee Individual Development Accounts (IDA) Program

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The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) invites eligible entities to submit competitive grant applications for projects to establish and manage Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) for low-income refugee participants. Eligible refugee participants who enroll in these projects will open and contribute systematically to IDAs for specified Savings Goals, including home ownership, business capitalization, vehicles for educational or work purposes, professional certification, and education (limited to postsecondary and/or continuing education, college entrance exam fees, Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and GED preparation and test fees). Grantee organizations may use ORR funds to provide matches for the savings in the IDAs of up to $2,000 per individual refugee and $4,000 per refugee household. Applications will be screened and evaluated as indicated in the published funding opportunity announcement. Selection of awards will be contingent on the outcome of the competition and the availability of funds. The “match” mentioned in this announcement does not refer to the applicant finding additional funds to match funds being provided by the Federal government; it is the portion of federal funds to be allocated for matching clients' IDA savings. Successful grantees will be expected to coordinate their policies and procedures for developing and administering refugee IDA projects with ORR and with the existing refugee IDA network.

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