The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has announced the availability of the 2017-2018 Refugee School Impact Grant (RSIG). The RSIG grant is a competitive grant.  Request for Applications will be announced through this PENN*LINK and posted on the Department Refugee Program website http://www.education.pa.gov/K-12/Refugee%20Education/Pages/default.aspx#tab-1. The Invitation to Apply (ITA) refugee application for the 2017-18 RSIG grant should be created and submitted via U.S. Mail or hand delivered.

The Refugee School Impact Grant (RSIG) is a competitive federal grant. The primary goal of Pennsylvania’s Refugee Education Program is to assist recently arrived refugee students and their families in adjusting to their school and community in a culturally and linguistically comfortable assimilated manner through the funding of the Refugee School Impact Grant (RSIG). Applicants must do the following:

• Demonstrate creative and supportive activities to remove barriers for refugee students that will result in optimum progress in academic and social development.
• Implement a holistic view of refugee students and their families with consideration of their past experiences/living conditions and current change of environment.
• Focus services on new arrivals who are making initial adjustments and those who have been in the country for one year or less.
• Strive for a culturally competent transition that is comfortable for all served refugee students and their families.  Thus, this guiding transition will enable the refugees to move forward and adapt to a new and different cultural and linguistic environment.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) requires program funds to be used to:

• Provide before/afterschool, summer, evening, and/or weekend programs;
• Attend one state consultation and quarterly regional collaborative meetings; and
• Serve school-age refugee students (5-18 years of age) and their parents who have lived in the United States for one year or less. 

Refugee students who have been in the country less than three years at the beginning of the school year, and have academic and social adjustment needs are eligible for services funded by the RSIG. The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement recognizes that in some states, the age limit for high school education is older than 18 and, as such, may allow those eligible refugee students who are full-time high school students to be eligible for services under this announcement.

Due Date
Applications must be received by 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 8, 2017.  No extensions will be granted. Emailed and faxed applications will not be accepted.

Period of Availability: Jan. 2, 2018 – Sept. 30, 2018

Amount of Funding Available
Grant awards will not exceed $70,546. Applicants will apply for funding for the Jan. 2, 2018-Sept. 30, 2018 grant term.

Funding amounts may be lower than the stated possible maximum, and will be dependent on the following:

• The range and extent of services to students and their families as described in the complete proposed application; and
• The proposed number of newly arrived refugee students making major initial adjustments and those that continue to face persistent challenges in school.

Funding Authorization
Section 412 (c) (1) (A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. §1522 (c) (1) (A)), as amended, includes the use of funds to support local school systems that are impacted by significant numbers of newly arrived refugee children.

Eligibility
Eligible applicants must be an entity that operates in one of the seven counties in Pennsylvania where over 93 percent of refugees have resettled over the past three years: Allegheny, Dauphin, Erie, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, and Philadelphia. Applicants may be:

• Local education agencies (LEA) including public school districts and intermediate units;
• Community-based organizations; and
• Nonprofit groups.

Application Requirements
Applicants can download the 2017-18 RSIG Invitation to Apply from PDE’s Refugee School Impact Grant webpage at http://www.education.pa.gov/K12/Refugee%20Education/Pages/default.aspx#tab-1 or by going to PDE’s website at http://www.education.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx#tab-1 and entering the key words: “Refugee School Impact 2017-18” into the search box.

Submission Process
Paper application: One signed original application plus two copies must be received by PDE by

3:30 p.m. on Dec. 8, 2017:

Application package mailing address:

Pennsylvania Department of Education

Attn: Pamela M. Kolega, Refugee School Impact Grant Program Officer

333 Market Street, 5th Floor

Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333

Note: No extensions will be granted

Please contact Pamela M. Kolega at pkolega@pa.gov or at 717-265-8964 with any questions related to the Refugee School Impact Grant (RSIG) program.