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Facilitating Economic Self-Sufficiency

Matching Grant Program

Program Overview
The key to any newcomer’s success in the U.S. is his or her ability to achieve and sustain economic self-sufficiency.  Through the Matching Grant Program, USCRI equips refugees, asylees and trafficking victims to become economically self-sufficient within their first four months in the United States.  Funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), USCRI’s Matching Grant Program prepares newcomers to the U.S. to seek and secure employment, connects Matching Grant clients with employers seeking a committed workforce, and offers on-going job counseling to help clients increase their skills and earning power.  Because it requires an investment of private resources to “match” its federal funds, the Matching Grant Program secures the tangible support of local communities and employers that value the program’s contribution. 

 USCRI’s Participation
USCRI’s National Programs staff works in close collaboration with ORR, state and local agencies, employers, and our partner agencies to provide the highest quality Matching Grant services and to ensure that the program meets its goals.  USCRI provides technical assistance to partner agencies and reaches out to employers and others who can benefit from the program’s clients or services.  USCRI provides information and advice to clients directly through email accounts that help clients learn to bridge the digital divide that many face when they arrive in the U.S. 

Partner Agencies’ Participation
USCRI partner agencies implement the Matching Grant program in communities across the U.S.  Partner agencies serve Matching Grant clients for up to six months until they are economically self-sufficient.  In addition to helping clients to get essential services such as access to affordable childcare and transportation, USCRI partner agencies identify and place clients in appropriate job opportunities.  They provide clients the advice, information, English language, and vocational instruction they need to secure and retain employment in the U.S.  Learn about the USCRI partner agencies that participate in the Matching Grant Program.  

Communities’ Participation
Recipient communities’ participation is essential to the success of USCRI’s Matching Grant program.  Volunteers play a large role in helping Matching Grant clients to initially navigate and then begin to integrate within the community.  Volunteers assist through tutoring, job readiness coaching, and many other valuable services.  Matching Grant clients benefit from communities’ donations of household goods, computers, school supplies and other items.  Employers are also vital participants in Matching Grant clients’ success.  Employers that provide jobs to newcomers reap multiple benefits, including dedicated employees, greater workplace diversity, and a more prosperous community.

Clients’ Participation
In 2005, USCRI served 5,097 clients in the Matching Grant program; 88% of them had become economically self-sufficient within the first six months of being resettled. 

The results of USCRI’s Matching Grant program can best be appreciated through the remarkable achievements of each individual client.  In just one example, a Matching Grant client who had escaped persecution in her country arrived in the U.S. uncertain of how to contribute her talents as an experienced journalist.  With the assistance of a USCRI partner agency, she is now an investigative reporter for a U.S. television station. 

Partner Agencies

International Institute of Akron
USCRI Albany
International Institute of Boston
Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance
International Institute of Connecticut
International Institute of Buffalo
Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
International Institute of Erie
Pacific Gateway Center
YMCA International Services
International Institute of New Jersey
Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City
International Institute of Los Angeles
International Institute of New Hampshire
International Institute of Wisconsin
Youth Co-Op, Inc.
Church Avenue Merchants Block Association, Inc.
Nationalities Service Center
International Institute of Rhode Island
International Institute of Metropolitan St. Louis