Information for Refugee School Impact Grantees

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) created the Refugee School Impact Grant (RSIG) in 1998. The purpose of the grant is to provide support to local school systems that are affected by significant numbers of refugee children.  For an overview of this program, see the following:

For Federal Fiscal Years 2011-2012, there were 36 states that were awarded Refugee School Impact Grants including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota,  Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

For more information on each state's RSIG program, check out the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement's State Programs Annual Overview, which provides detailed information on RSIG (and other programs) by state.

Each of these states subgrants with local school districts, refugee resettlement agencies, and community based organizations and there are approximately 190 RSIG funded programs operating at the local level.  For more information on what these local programs are doing, check out BRYCS' Promising Practices map.  This map has descriptions of over 100 programs serving refugee children throughout the U.S., many of which are funded by Refugee School Impact Grants.  If you would like to specifically read about RSIG funded programs, choose "Refugee School Impact Grant" under "Search by topic."

BRYCS is the national technical assistance provider for Refugee School Impact Grantees and facilitates communication and collaboration among members of the RSIG network.  BRYCS provides outreach, consultations, training, resources, quarterly national RSIG teleconferences, and more for members of the RSIG network.  BRYCS primarily communicates with grantees via email and has an RSIG mailing list for this purpose.  If you are not receiving RSIG related emails and believe you should be on this mailing list, email info@brycs.org to be added.

Recordings of Quarterly Teleconferences:

• March 31, 2010 - Bullying (this first call was not recorded, but there are notes) 
• May 20, 2010  - Summer Programming
• September 22, 2010 - Welcome Back to School; Operating Under New Announcement; Overview of BRYCS' Role with RSIG
• December 8, 2010 - Lessons Learned from Refugee School Impact Grantees
• March 7, 2011 - Information on Federal Requirements to Provide Interpretation/Translation in Schools; Discussion with ORR on the Grant (and RSIG FAQs that were clarified on the call)
• May 18, 2011 - Newcomer and summer programming for refugee youth
• August 17, 2011- Back to School Resources, Discussion about Older Youth, and Announcements (the first part of the call was not recorded, so here is the PowerPoint) 
• February 15, 2012 - More Lessons Learned from Refugee School Impact Grantees
• June 27, 2012 – Helping Refugee Youth in High School ("aging out" and alternative pathways to graduation)

Announcements:

• 10/19/10: Goran Debelnogich is the Office of Refugee Resettlement's new Refugee School Impact Manager.  Questions for ORR on RSIG may be directed to him at (202) 260-7143 or Goran.Debelnogich@ACF.hhs.gov.   
• 11/3/10: ORR released clarifications on 3 year eligibility for RSIG and eligibility documentation.
• 3/2/11: Save the date!  ORR's 2011 National Consultation will be August 1-2, 2011 in Washington, D.C.
• 8/17/11-BRYCS will be doing a joint webinar with the Migration Policy Institute on language access in the schools in September.  Stay tuned for more info! 
• 8/22/11: ORR clarification regarding refugees who are over 18 years of age and are full-time high school students
• 2/15/11: Forecast for the next potential RSIG Funding Opportunity