VOLAG

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VOLAG, sometimes spelled Volag or VolAg, is an abbreviation for "Voluntary Agency". This term refers to any of the nine U.S. private agencies and one state agency that have cooperative agreements with the State Department to provide reception and placement services for refugees arriving in the United States. [1] [2] These agencies use funding from the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) along with self-generated resources to provide refugees with a range of services including sponsorship, initial housing, food and clothing, orientation and counseling. [3] VOLAGs may also contract with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) to provide job placement, English language training and other social services. Each of the ten voluntary agencies recognized by the federal government vary significantly in their history, experience, size, denominational affiliation, philosophy, primary clientele, administrative structure, resettlement capacity, and institutionalized resettlement. Of the ten U.S. resettlement agencies, all of them are religiously affiliated or faith-based with the exception of the International Rescue Committee. [4] The tenth VOLAG was added fairly recently in November 2022, when Bethany Christian Services (BCS) was officially designated as its own resettlement agency by the PRM. [5]

Contents

History

Following the end of World War II, President Harry S. Truman issued the Corporate Affidavit Program of 1946 to speed up the admission of thousands of persons displaced by the war. The corporate affidavit guarantees that the U.S. federal government provide financial support to voluntary agencies, ultimately ensuring that displaced persons would not become public charges. [3] Under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, responsibility for resettling displaced persons was assigned to voluntary agencies and state commissions. [6] The significant influx of Cuban refugees fleeing Fidel Castro's Cuba in the 1960s furthered the partnership between VOLAGs and the federal government. Voluntary agencies initially used private resources, generated by private and public donations, to address the elevated number of Cuban refugees. As a response, in December 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the Cuban Refugee Emergency Center in Miami and contracted with four voluntary agencies: National Catholic Welfare Conference, Church World Service, International Rescue Committee, and United HIAS Service, providing them with federal funds to assist with their resettlement services. [7] In 1961, President Kennedy implemented a program within the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare to provide federally funded assistance to Cuban refugees as well as resettlement contracts with the voluntary agencies. [3] In 1978, the passage of a new domestic assistance program, titled the "Soviet and other" refugee program, provided funds to voluntary agencies on a fifty-fifty matching basis, ensuring that refugees not covered by the existing Cuban and Southeast Asian programs would be able to access aid. [8] The Refugee Act of 1980, which established the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, developed a comprehensive program for domestic refugee resettlement, pinpointing voluntary agencies as a necessary and needed entity for refugee resettlement in the United States. [9] The Office of Refugee Resettlement is currently examining the role of the voluntary agencies in domestic refugee resettlement and is attempting to more clearly define the complex relationship between the VOLAGs and the federal, state, and local governments. [3]

In January 2023, The U.S. Department of State announced the creation of the Welcome Corps, a new private sponsorship program that allows everyday American citizens to sponsor refugees and provide reception and placement support in lieu of VOLAG assistance. The program is still in the initial stages, so any impacts the Welcome Corps may have on VOLAGs or the resettlement program as a whole are yet to be determined. [10]

Funding

Newly-arriving refugees are particularly dependent upon the services of voluntary agencies, especially those who do not have family already living in the United States. According to a 2006 study focused on the role of faith-based refugee resettlement agencies, resettlement agency staff have consistently expressed concern and frustration surrounding the lack of federal funding for voluntary agencies, explicitly stating that the amount of funding provided is not adequate to address the needs of their clients. [11] The U.S. Department of State requires voluntary agencies to conduct a cost analysis of their refugee resettlement services to assess their monetary needs and discern the annual amount of funding that will be provided. A 2008 study conducted by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service explained that the federal contributions provided by the U.S. Department of State had provided $850 per-person funding to the organization which, after calculating the actual expenses associated with providing refugee clients with basic needs, cultural orientation, and case management, amounted to only 39 percent of the total cost accrued. [12] The remaining funds were covered by private and public donations, volunteer hours, and direct contributions from affiliate agencies. [12]

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations released a report in 2010 criticizing the governmental failure to increase federal funding in order to meet the needs of newly-arriving refugees, stating that ‘the decades-old grant level had declined by more than 50 percent in real terms due to inflation’. [13] Currently, the Department of State provides a one-time payment of $2,375 per individual refugee for local resettlement, of which $1,275 is available for agencies to use to fund the critical assistance needs of refugees, such as food, clothing, and furnishings. [14]

List of VOLAGs

Related Research Articles

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 18,879 staff working in 138 countries as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Refugee Act</span> Admission to the US of refugees of special humanitarian concern

The United States Refugee Act of 1980 is an amendment to the earlier Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962, and was created to provide a permanent and systematic procedure for the admission to the United States of refugees of special humanitarian concern to the U.S., and to provide comprehensive and uniform provisions for the effective resettlement and absorption of those refugees who are admitted. The act was completed on March 3, 1980, was signed by President Jimmy Carter on March 17, 1980, and became effective on April 1, 1980. This was the first comprehensive amendment of U.S. general immigration laws designed to face up to the realities of modern refugee situations by stating a clear-cut national policy and providing a flexible mechanism to meet the rapidly shifting developments of today's world policy. The main objectives of the act were to create a new, American definition of refugee based on the one created at the 1951 UN Convention and 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees; raise the limitation from 17,400 to 50,000 refugees admitted each fiscal year; provide emergency procedures for when that number exceeds 50,000; require annual consultation between Congress and the President on refugee admissions; and establish the Office of U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Most importantly, it established explicit procedures on how to deal with refugees in the U.S. by creating a uniform and effective resettlement and absorption policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Rescue Committee</span> Nongovernmental humanitarian organization

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1942 after amalgamating with the similar Emergency Rescue Committee, the IRC provides emergency aid and long-term assistance to refugees and those displaced by war, persecution, or natural disaster. The IRC is currently working in about 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities where it resettles refugees and helps them become self-sufficient. It focuses mainly on health, education, economic wellbeing, power, and safety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee</span> Relief organization in New York City

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a Jewish relief organization based in New York City. Since 1914 the organisation has supported Jewish people living in Israel and throughout the world. The organization is active in more than 70 countries.

Refugee law is the branch of international law which deals with the rights and duties states have vis-a-vis refugees. There are differences of opinion among international law scholars as to the relationship between refugee law and international human rights law or humanitarian law.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It is headed by the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Children and Families. It has a $49 billion budget for 60 programs that target children, youth and families. These programs include assistance with welfare, child support enforcement, adoption assistance, foster care, child care, and child abuse. The agency employs approximately 1,700 staff, including 1,200 federal employees and 500 contractors, where 60% are based in Washington, DC, with the remaining in regional offices located in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco, Missouri and Seattle.

Church World Service (CWS) was founded in 1946 and is a cooperative ministry of 37 Christian denominations and communions, providing sustainable self-help, development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance around the world. The CWS mission is to eradicate hunger and poverty and to promote peace and justice at the national and international level through collaboration with partners abroad and in the US.

NghiaSinh International, also known as the International Volunteers for Human Service and Leadership Development, is a humanitarian organization founded in June 1963 in Saigon to provide emergency assistance to the elderly and the poor who arrived in Saigon as refugees from the countryside of Vietnam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIAS</span> Jewish American nonprofit organization providing humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees

HIAS is a Jewish American nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees. It was established on November 27, 1881, originally to help the large number of Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States who had left Europe to escape antisemitic persecution and violence. In 1975, the State Department asked HIAS to aid in resettling 3,600 Vietnam refugees. Since that time, the organization continues to provide support for refugees of all nationalities, religions, and ethnic origins. The organization works with people whose lives and freedom are believed to be at risk due to war, persecution, or violence. HIAS has offices in the United States and across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Since its inception, HIAS has helped resettle more than 4.5 million people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asylum in the United States</span> Overview of the situation of the right for asylum in the United States of America

The United States recognizes the right of asylum for individuals seeking protections from persecution, as specified by international and federal law. People who seek protection while outside the U.S. are termed refugees, while people who seek protection from inside the U.S. are termed asylum seekers. Those who are granted asylum are termed asylees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Catholic Migration Commission</span> International non-governmental organization

The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) is an international organization that serves and protects uprooted people, including migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people, regardless of faith, race, ethnicity or nationality. With staff and programs in over 40 countries, ICMC advocates for sustainable solutions and rights-based policies directly and through a worldwide network of 132 member organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration</span> U.S. State Department division

The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) is a bureau within the United States Department of State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act</span> US law allowing Southeast Asian refugees to move to the United States

The Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, passed on May 23, 1975, under President Gerald Ford, was a response to the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. Under this act, approximately 130,000 refugees from South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were allowed to enter the United States under a special status, and the act allotted special relocation aid and financial assistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Program for Torture Victims</span>

The Program for Torture Victims (PTV) is a non-profit organization that provides medical, psychological, case management and legal services to torture survivors. PTV serves more than 300 victims of state-sponsored torture from over 65 countries annually.

The National Refugee Service (NRS) was a refugee aid organization founded in New York City on 15 May 1939 to assist refugees from Europe fleeing Nazi persecution. It represented a reorganization of a predecessor organization, the National Coordinating Committee for Aid to Refugees and Emigrants Coming from Germany (NCC), which had been in operation since 1934 as an umbrella organization of refugee aid agencies.p. 364-365 The National Refugee Service remained in existence until August 1946, when it merged with the Service for Foreign Born of the National Council of Jewish Women to form the new organization United Service for New Americans.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is a program of the Administration for Children and Families, an office within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, created with the passing of the United States Refugee Act of 1980. The Office of Refugee Resettlement offers support for refugees seeking safe haven within the United States, including victims of human trafficking, those seeking asylum from persecution, survivors of torture and war, and unaccompanied alien children. The mission and purpose of the Office of Refugee Resettlement is to assist in the relocation process and provide needed services to individuals granted asylum within the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service</span> American non-profit organization

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is a non-profit organization that welcomes and supports refugees and migrants entering the United States. It is one of nine refugee resettlement agencies working with the Office of Refugee Resettlement and one of only two that serves unaccompanied refugee minors. LIRS also advocates for just policies and practices relating to immigration and detention.

Third country resettlement or refugee resettlement is, according to the UNHCR, one of three durable solutions for refugees who fled their home country. Resettled refugees have the right to reside long-term or permanent in the country of resettlement and may also have the right to become citizens of that country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partnership for Refugees</span>

The Partnership for Refugees is a refugee public-private partnership established in June 2016 as the Partnership for Refugees by the Obama administration to facilitate President Barack Obama's commitment to creative solutions for the refugee crisis by engaging the private sector. The Partnership, an initiative established through collaboration between the State Department and USA for UNHCR with significant support from Accenture Federal Services, was established to facilitate private sector commitments in response to President Obama's June 30, 2016 Call to Action for Private Sector Engagement on the Global Refugee Crisis. On September 20, 2016, at the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations, President Obama announced that 51 companies from across the American economy have pledged to make new, measurable and significant commitments that will have a durable impact on refugees residing in countries on the frontlines of the global refugee crisis and in countries of resettlement, like the United States.

References

  1. ↑ "What is a VOLAG?". DSHS . Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  2. ↑ "Resettlement Agencies". www.acf.hhs.gov. 2023-02-28. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Zucker, Norman (1982-01-01). "Refugee Resettlement in the United States: The Role of the Voluntary Agencies". Michigan Journal of International Law. 3 (1): 155–177. ISSN   1052-2867.
  4. ↑ Christensen, Rachel A.; Ebrahim, Alnoor (2006). "How does accountability affect mission? The case of a nonprofit serving immigrants and refugees". Nonprofit Management and Leadership. 17 (2): 195–209. doi:10.1002/nml.143. ISSN   1542-7854.
  5. ↑ "Refugee Resettlement Programs After New Designation as Voluntary Resettlement Agency". Bethany Christian Services. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  6. ↑ Pub. L. No. 80-774, 62 Stat. 1009 (1948).
  7. ↑ Bureau of Public Affairs, Dep't of State, Cuban-Haitian Arrivals in the U.S., Current, Policy No. 193 (1980).
  8. ↑ Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Pub. L. No. 95-426, 92 Stat. 963 (1979)
  9. ↑ Pub. L. No. 96-212, § 411, 94 Stat. 102 (1980) (to be codified at 8 U.S.C. §1521).
  10. ↑ "Fact Sheet- Launch of Welcome Corps- Private Sponsorship of Refugees". U.S. Department of State. 2023-01-19. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  11. ↑ Nawyn, Stephanie J. 2006. Making a Place to Call Home: Refugee Resettlement Organizations, Religion, and the State. PhD diss., University of Southern California.
  12. 1 2 LIRS (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service). 2009. The Real Cost of Welcome: A Financial Analysis of Local Refugee Reception. Baltimore: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. 119
  13. ↑ US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 2010. “Abandoned on Arrival: Implications for Refugees and Local Communities Burdened by a U.S. Refugee System That is Not Working.” Washington, DC: US Printing Office.
  14. ↑ "U.S. Refugee Admissions Program: Reception and Placement". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
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