Discretionary Grant Funds for Projects to Establish Individual Development Account (IDA) Programs for Refugees

Post Date

April 17th 2012

Application Due Date

June 18th 2012

Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.

Funding Opportunity Number

HHS-2012-ACF-ORR-ZI-0288

CFDA Number(s)

93.576

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Grant

Funding Activity Categories

Income Security and Social Services

Number of Awards

9

Eligibility Categories

State Governments
County Governments
City or Township Governments
Independent School Districts
Public and State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
Non-Profits With 501 (c) (3) Status With The IRS (Except Higher Education Institutions)
Non-Profits Without 501 (c) (3) Status With The IRS (Except Higher Education Institutions)
Private Institutions of Higher Education

Applicants must also provide documentation of participation of a qualified financial institution(s) in the project. This documentation must be in writing, on letterhead of the financial institution, and signed by a person authorized to make the commitment on behalf of the financial institution. The documentation must include a commitment by the financial institution to establish Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) for the refugee participants, to establish a parallel account (or accounts) for the matching funds, and to provide the grantee with account activity data on the IDAs and the parallel account(s) in a timely manner. Public or private nonprofit agencies are eligibile for awards under this announcement. Faith-based and community organizations that meet eligibility requirements are eligible to receive awards under this funding opportunity announcement. Individuals and foreign entities are not eligible for awards made under this announcement.

Funding

• Estimated Total Funding:

  $2000000

• Award Range:

  $100000 - $300000

Grant Description

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) invites eligible entities to submit grant applications for projects to establish and manage Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) for low-income refugee participants. 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. 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, and postsecondary education. 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, outcome of the Federal staff review, and the availability of funds. 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. To ensure an exchange of technical and training information among programs, all grantees are encouraged to attend up to two ORR training meetings during each year of their participation in this program area. Grant funds may be used to support travel and per diem for attendance of training meetings. Additionally, grantees are encouraged to evaluate the effectiveness of the IDAs in their client's lives, and grantees may be asked to participate in an ORR-initiated program evaluation.

Contact Information

• Agency

  Department of Health and Human Services

• Office:

  Administration for Children and Families

• Agency Contact:

  ACF Applications Help Desk
  app_support@acf.hhs.gov
  

• Agency Mailing Address:

  ACF Applications Help Desk

• Agency Email Address:

  app_support@acf.hhs.gov

• More Information:

  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/view/HHS-2012-ACF-ORR-ZI-0288