The grant program is known as the ‘Ethnic Community Self-help Program’ run out of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS). At one point I followed their activities closely and began a file on it, see here, but too much breaking news pushed the subject to the back burner.
First, as you know, nine federal resettlement contractors*** are hired by the US State Department to place refugees in your towns and cities. Their job is to help the refugees settle in and get them signed up for their ‘services.’
You also know that the nine are paid by the head to place those refugees, but in addition the Office of Refugee Resettlement doles out many millions more each year to non-profit groups including those nine in the form of discretionary grants.
But, what you might not know is that an entire cottage industry of non-profits have sprung up which get federal grants in most cases to benefit their specific ethnic group—Ethnic Community Based Organizations (ECBOs for short).
The grants are ostensibly to help the refugees integrate into a community, but one might wonder then why the funding is specific to groups that are maintaining their own cultural identity.
If such a helping hand is needed in certain cities, why isn’t the money given to local government agencies to help all ethnic groups, all races and all religions, instead of favoring one ethnic non-profit group over another? Seems to me that the present system creates division rather than integration.
Here is what ORR says about the grant program.
Pay attention to the list of what you are paying for—getting refugees their resources, building their community, getting them involved in local “civic participation” (aka voting!), and getting local citizens minds right about the immigrants’ presence in the community!
In other words, you are paying for ethnic non-profit groups to organize in your community. Remember ACORN? Well these are little ACORNs!
(Don’t you just love this deceptive language!)
The Ethnic Community Self-Help program supports ethnic community-based organizations in providing refugee populations with critical services to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society.
Program Description
The Ethnic Community Self-Help program provides assistance to refugee community-based organizations and other groups that:
Address community building
Facilitate cultural adjustment and integration
Deliver mutually supportive functions
Information exchange
Civic participation
Resource enhancement
Orientation and support to new and established refugees
Public education to the larger community
Ethnic Community Self-Help programs connect newly arrived refugees to community resources [aka welfare!—ed]. Ethnic Community Self-Help programs target all ORR populations, and all U.S.-based governmental and certified non-profit organizations are eligible to apply.
What is up with ORR that much (maybe all!) of their grant information is out of date!
Over the years, I’ve visited ORR and found lists of who was receiving grants and for how much, but that information is not available now.
Oh sure, you can get the old ECBO grants list. But those grants have expired. Check it out and see that they passed out nearly $4.5 million to a list of ECBOs around the country. Those grants expired in 2017.
So, maybe the Trump Administration has cut out the program?
The answer is NO!
Just this month the ORR put out a notice of two upcoming grants. One of those is for ECBOs. Although the money is less than in the past—$2 million instead of over $4 million—13 non-profit groups will rake in $100,000-$200,000 each.
***Below are the nine federal refugee resettlement contractors.
The present US Refugee Admissions Program will never be reformed if the system of paying the contractors by the head stays in place and the contractors are permitted to act as Leftwing political agitation groups, community organizers and lobbyists paid on our dime!
And, to add insult to injury they pretend it is all about ‘humanitarianism.’
The number in parenthesis is the percentage of their income paid by you (the taxpayer) to place the refugees into your towns and cities and get them signed up for their services (aka welfare)! And, get them registered to vote eventually!
From my most recent accounting, here. However, please see that Nayla Rush at the Center for Immigration Studies has done an update of their income, as has James Simpson at the Capital Research Center!
Church World Service (CWS) (71%)
Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) (secular)(93%)
Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) (99.5%)
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) (57%)
International Rescue Committee (IRC) (secular) (66.5%)
US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) (secular) (98%)
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) (97%)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) (97%)
World Relief Corporation (WR) (72.8%)
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