Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach, Inc. has a long-time partnership with The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to support services to refugees. Through USCCB, Catholic Charities was approved for $108,500 in funding to support the refugee program this year. USCCB is a passthrough for these funds that come from The Voluntary Agency Matching Grant Program, a federal program administered by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS) has participated in this program since 1979.
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach became a sub-grantee for this program in 2000. The Match Grant Program is an alternative to cash assistance benefits from the Department of Children and Families, which combine cash assistance and employment services assisted by extended case management services in one location.
The primary goal of the Match Grant program is to help clients achieve economic self-sufficiency through employment within 180 to 240 days after date of program eligibility. As required by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Diocesan Match Grant programs report on the self-sufficiency status of all cases at both 180 and 240 days after eligibility. It is expected that dioceses will achieve 240-day self-sufficiency outcomes that are within ten percentage points of the USCCB/MRS annual network average.
The Match Grant Program provides extended case management, employment services, maintenance assistance and cash allowance to clients. The Match Grant Program is a public-private partnership that has assisted tens of thousands of refugees and other clients to obtain jobs, support their families through employment and become self-sufficient. Parish and community support for and involvement in the program through the giving of volunteer time and cash and in-kind donations are critical to program success.
