 State Letter #05-22
TO: STATE REFUGEE COORDINATORS
WILSON FISH GRANTEES
FROM: Nguyen Van Hanh, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Refugee Resettlement
SUBJECT: Final Notice: FY 2005 Formula Allocation for Targeted Assistance
Grants to States for Services to Refugees
Enclosed is the Final Notice for FY 2005 Formula Allocations for Targeted Assistance Grants to States for Services to Refugees, published on Friday, September 2, 2005 in the Federal Register [70 FR Notices, No. 170, page 52408 - 52418, (September 2, 2005)].
The final notice announces the availability of funds for targeted assistance grants (TAG) for services to refugees in counties where, because of factors such as unusually large refugee populations and high refugee concentrations, there exists and can be demonstrated a specific need for supplementation of resources to this population. FY 2005 is the year for re-qualification of counties for the three-year project cycle, FY 2005, FY 2006, and FY 2007 for targeted assistance funds. Qualifications of counties are based on the arrivals of refugees during the 5-year period from FY 2000 through FY 2004, and on the concentration of the arrivals population as a percentage of each county overall population.
Forty-eight (48) counties qualify for targeted assistance grants. Of these, six (6) new counties qualified for funding. The 48 counties would remain qualified for targeted assistance funding through FY 2007. Eleven (11) counties which previously received targeted assistance grants no longer qualify for targeted assistance program funding.
The final notice reflects amounts adjusted based upon data submitted by States in response to the TAG proposed notice. Data on asylees, entrants, and trafficking victims submitted by States was verified by ORR against the ORR arrivals database, and as a result of this process, adjustments were included in this final notice for FY 2005 targeted assistance allocations. ORR received 49,000 asylees records from States. Of these, 23,337 (47.62 percent) were found to match during the verification process. The primary reason for the non-match records was that their approval date of granted asylum occurred outside of the five-year eligibility period (October 1, 1999 - September 30, 2004).
Data from the ORR arrivals database on refugees, Cuban/Haitian entrants, and Amerasians was used for the final allocation of funds. Data on victims of severe forms of trafficking was from the certification and eligibility letters issued by ORR. Trafficking victims have been eligible for services since October 2000 and their family members since December 2003. Havana parolees' numbers were derived from actual data.
The final notice can also be found on the ORR website at:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/policy/stltrs05.htm
States are reminded that the application due date for FY 2005 targeted assistance funding will be September 12, 2005. A full application is required for the FY 2005 qualifying year. Application requirements in the second (FY 2006) and third (FY 2007) year of the 3-year targeted assistance project cycle will be less extensive. In anticipation of the delay in the publication of this final notice, an e-mail was sent to States on August 29, 2005 requesting that States prepare their application by following the application instructions outlined in the targeted assistance proposed notice, dated June 17, 2005, in order for States to meet the September 12, 2005 application deadline.
Questions regarding this final notice should be directed to Kathy Do at (202) 401-4579.