Refugee School Impact

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The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) invites States, Wilson/Fish agencies and replacement designees consistent with section 412(c)(1)(A), to submit applications for funds to support local school systems that are impacted by significant numbers of newly arrived refugee children. The primary focus of this grant is to help newly arrived refugees that are making major initial adjustments and those that have been in the United States three years or less but are continuing to face persistent challenges in schools. Success in schools is measured by improved academic performance, high classroom attendance rate, full school participation, development of leadership skills, etc. (See also Section V.I Criteria - Results and Benefits in this announcement). States and Wilson/Fish agencies may designate State departments of education or other non-profit entities that have knowledge of and are able to work effectively with impacted school systems to apply for this grant. ORR expects to award approximately $15 million to States and Wilson/Fish agencies or their designees that adequately a) document significant impact of newly arrived refugees, b) specify the purposes for which the funding would be used, and c) show that the proposed activities are related to and would be beneficial for educating refugee children. Applicants responding to this announcement are encouraged to design projects that incorporate collaboration with agencies providing refugee assistance such as resettlement, health and mental health, child care, and social services, etc. in order to strengthen their capacity for providing educational and related services to refugee children. Applicants are expected to thoroughly analyze and fully document recent refugee children arrivals to establish needs for program funding. However, awards will not be based solely on population numbers but will also consider: 1) the adequate documentation of the service needs of the population to be served; and 2) the strength of the applicant's proposed program services. ORR will give priority to those applicants that have limited resources; but have proposed viable means to attain linguistic and cultural competence in order to meet the needs of new refugee populations, using requested funds. The State or Wilson/Fish agency or its designee shall submit a single application for all the schools within the State considered in the proposal. Awards will be contingent upon the outcome of the competition and the availability of funds. Section IV. 2. Content and Form of Application Submission of this Funding Opportunity Announcement has been modified.

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