Dear Colleague Letter 25-02
Initially Published October 16, 2024
Revised January 23, 20251
Dear Colleague:
This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) announces the recipients of the Support for Trauma-Affected Refugees (STAR) program. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) will fund 28 recipients to implement the STAR Program from September 30, 2024, through September 29, 2028. See Table 1 for the list of recipients.
The STAR program is designed to support the successful integration and sustained psychosocial well-being of ORR-eligible populations whose experience of trauma impedes their ability to function effectively at home, school, work, and/or in social settings. Under this award, STAR grant recipients will provide eligible individuals and families with holistic and integrated mental health care and psychosocial support services using evidence-based, trauma-informed interventions. Through project-related activities, recipients will simultaneously enhance national and local capacity to serve these populations.
Programming under the grant includes:
- Core Service Delivery: Recipients will provide case management and direct delivery of core services including mental health and social services at the individual and family levels to address the psychosocial needs of trauma-affected children, youth, and adults. Recipients will offer options for telehealth and remote delivery of services, especially in locations where groups have not traditionally resettled.
- Capacity Building: Recipients will foster partnerships, promote staff professional development, and integrate refugees/individuals with lived experience into programmatic structures to increase organizational and community capacity to respond to the needs of refugees impacted by trauma.
All services will be culturally, linguistically, and gender appropriate. Services will also be developmentally appropriate for pediatric and adolescent populations.
If you have any questions about this DCL, please contact the STAR Program Specialist Maggie Barnard at Margaret.Barnard@acf.hhs.gov.
Sincerely,
Ken Tota
Bureau Chief
Refugee Program Bureau
Office of Refugee Resettlement
Table 1: STAR Grant Recipients for Project Period FY25-FY28
| STAR Grant Recipients | City | State |
|---|---|---|
| Alliance for African Assistance | San Diego | CA |
| Asian Association of Utah | Salt Lake City | UT |
| AsylumWorks | Washington | DC |
| Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston | Houston | TX |
| Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami | Miami | FL |
| Church World Service | Lancaster/Harrisburg | PA |
| Church World Service | Houston | TX |
| Church World Service | Shenandoah Valley | VA |
| Commonpoint Queens | Little Neck | NY |
| Community Refugee and Immigration Services | Columbus | OH |
| County of Ingham | Lansing | MI |
| Family Health Centers of San Diego | San Diego | CA |
| Global Refuge | Baltimore | MD |
| Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services | Clearwater | FL |
| Las Cumbres Community Services | Española | NM |
| Lifting Humanity | Ontario | CA |
| Monarch Immigrant Services | St. Louis | MO |
| Nationalities Service Center of Philadelphia PA | Philadelphia | PA |
| New American Association of Massachusetts | Lynn | MA |
| Opening Doors | Sacramento | CA |
| Partnerships for Trauma Recovery | Berkeley | CA |
| Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center | Boston | MA |
| Samaritas | Detroit | MI |
| The International Rescue Committee | Des Moines | IA |
| The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco | San Francisco | CA |
| University of Southern California | Los Angeles | CA |
| US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants | Cleveland | OH |
| World Relief Corporation of National Association of Evangelicals | Durham | NC |
Footnote
- Revised second to last paragraph.