Federal grant programs / Department of Health and Human Services

Refugee and Entrant Assistance Voluntary Agency Programs (93.567)

Also known as Voluntary Agencies Matching Grant Program

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$636 million
• Grant awards47
• Typical award$8.9 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$0
• Size rank315 of 1824
• Type of assistanceFormula grants (cooperative agreements)

Key findings

• It is the 315th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 10 largest recipients received 100% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 5 states and territories.

What the program funds

The Voluntary Agencies Matching Grant Program was created in 1979 as an intensive case management program with the objective to fast-track new arrivals toward economic self-sufficiency within eight months (240 days) of program enrollment, without accessing public cash assistance.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

What the money can and cannot pay for

Federal funding is calculated at a rate of $3,850 per anticipated enrollment. This includes $1,850 dedicated to case management and administrative costs and $2,000 per capita for actual client enrollments reserved for client direct assistance costs. Case management and administrative funding covers all allowable national and local service provider administrative costs associated with the program including indirect costs; these funds may also be used for client direct assistance. Client direct assistance funding is per capita based and limited to actual enrollments; these funds support required services including employment services, housing and utilities, food, transportation, cash allowance, health and medical, English language training, social adjustment, and other support services for six to eight months. Client direct assistance funding is subject to a matching requirement of $1 in private funds and in-kind contributions for every $2 of Federal Funds.

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Established by the ORR Director in accordance with the Refugee Assistance Extension Act of 1986, the actual percentage is 33.33% (one-third of total client direct assistance program cost). Client direct assistance funding is awarded on a basis of $2 in Federal funds for each $1 of private funds up to a maximum of $2,000 per enrollment. The nonfederal share may be through in-kind donations or cash.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

In FY 2024, the awards ranged from $885,500 to 70,848,700 with an average award of $34,752,800. In FY 2025, the awards ranged from $409,505 to $8,467,755 with an average award of $4,465,964. In FY 2026, ORR estimates to issue $520,182 to $10,756,337 with an average award of $5,672,982.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Nonprofits received 63% of the money.

By state

4 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards. They are New York, Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.