GAO - Refugee Assistance: Little Is Known about the Effectiveness of Different Approaches for Improving Refugees' Employment Outcomes. In fiscal year 2. United States resettled close to 7. To assist in their transition to the United States and help them attain employment, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provides temporary cash, medical, and other assistance through four different assistance programs. The economic downturn and an increase in refugee arrivals posed challenges to ORR's efforts to assist refugees and estimate program costs, resulting in fluctuating unobligated balances. Congress required GAO to examine (1) differences in ORR's refugee assistance programs and factors program providers consider when placing refugees in a particular program; (2) refugee employment outcomes and the effectiveness of different approaches to providing assistance; and (3) how ORR estimates program costs and how its estimates have affected the agency's unobligated balances. GAO met with federal and state officials, voluntary agency staff, and refugees; reviewed selected case files; analyzed ORR performance data for fiscal years 2. ORR supports several approaches to providing cash, medical assistance, and social services to refugees through its Matching Grant, Publicly Administered, Wilson/Fish, and Public Private Partnership programs. The Matching Grant program, which is administered and partially funded by private voluntary organizations, features several design elements that set it apart from ORR's other programs. For example, voluntary organizations select refugees for the Matching Grant program and those who participate have 4 to 6 months to find employment before their cash assistance ends. Most states also offer one of ORR's other programs: these programs enroll any eligible refugee, and participants have up to 8 months to find a job before their assistance ends. Three of ORR's programs- -the Wilson/Fish, Public Private Partnership, and Matching Grant- -were designed to give providers flexibility in developing innovative approaches to help refugees find employment and become self- sufficient. GAO observed providers using a number of different approaches, including offering refugees cash incentives for early employment, and these approaches varied within and among programs. Voluntary agencies told GAO that they consider several factors, such as the refugee's English language and employability skills, in deciding whether to enroll a refugee in the Matching Grant program or another ORR assistance program. ORR's four assistance programs showed some success in helping refugees obtain employment in fiscal year 2. In fiscal year 2. ORR programs entered employment within 4 to 8 months. ORR Matching Grant Program. 69% of whom achieved self-sufficiency. Approximately 33% of refugees participate in the ORR Matching Grant Program. ORR recently created a Division of Refugee. Job Title: Resettlement and Matching Grant Program Manager Department: Refugee Services Reports To: Director of Refugee Services FLSA Status: Exempt, Salary (Salary Depends on Experience) Description The Matching Grant Program. Detailed Information on the Refugee Transitional and Medical Services Assessment. Refugee Transitional and Medical Services. ORR has held the federal share per refugee under the Matching grant program at $2,000 per. By fiscal year 2. Little is known about the effectiveness of the different approaches providers use to improve employment outcomes for refugees, such as intensive case management and employment incentives, in part because of differences in the way programs are structured and the populations they serve and in part because of differences in the way program performance is measured. ORR's estimates of program costs have generally tracked actual obligations but challenges in estimating specific variables such as the number of eligible refugees and the cost of serving them have contributed to fluctuations in unobligated balances between fiscal years 1. ORR has a 3- year period in which to obligate its annual appropriations. From fiscal years 1. ORR used unexpired and unobligated prior year funds to obligate more than it was appropriated for those years, in part because of higher- than- expected increases in refugee arrivals and medical costs. As a result, its unobligated balances were reduced in most of these years and were gone by fiscal year 2. However, from fiscal years 2. ORR obligated less than it was appropriated, which allowed the agency to carry over funds from one year to the next. As a result, its unobligated balances grew from $1. GAO recommends that the Secretary of Health and Human Services identify effective approaches that state and voluntary agencies can use to help refugees become employed and self- sufficient. Departent of Health and Human Servces OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERA THE REFUGEE MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM: BALANCING FLEXIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY (4-t'SERYlCES. Job Description: The Matching Grant Program is a federally funded voluntary program that is an alternative the public cash assistance/welfare program that aims to help refugee achieve self-sufficiency through paid employment.
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