Dear APA Resettlement Partners-
Air Bnb: CCUSA Afghan Response Program for Temporary Housing
Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) will be administering a grant provided by Air BnB for Afghan arrival housing options. The funds are limited, but CCUSA will provide assistance to as many agencies and Afghan arrivals as possible. To apply for temporary Air Bnb housing with CCUSA, complete this application and submit it via email to Chris Ross. Application submissions require the signature of the agency Executive Director. Agencies will receive a decision within 10 calendar days of submission. If approved, agencies will have to enter into a sub-grantee agreement with CCUSA and provide program reports and feedback. Please note that this grant opportunity is only available to CCUSA member organizations.
OneDrive Folders and Affiliate APA Caseloads
I am happy to report that the APA reporting glitch has been resolved and USCCB is once again receiving daily APA reports. Today, we uploaded all outstanding case placements pending affiliate verification on today’s date tab of the “USCCB Biodata (Selected By RA, Not Assured)” spreadsheet in each affiliate’s OneDrive folder. Please review the spreadsheet and, as per previous instructions, please send an email to APA_Processing@usccb.org at your earliest convenience to confirm verification of your outstanding case placements. Please indicate the specific date tab in your email (for example, 9/20 in this instance) to ensure that USCCB is assuring the correct cases for your affiliate. If you are verifying some cases but not others, please reference the specific case numbers that you are either accepting or rejecting.
Once your agency has verified, and USCCB has assured, your first case(s), affiliates will begin receiving a second spreadsheet in your OneDrive. The spreadsheet is called “USCCB Biodata (Assurance Received)” and displays a cumulative list of all APA cases assured by your agency. Today, USCCB is providing the most up to date assured cases information in all OneDrive folders and will subsequently provide an update of your assured caseloads on a weekly basis - each Friday of the week.
Social Security Update for APA Cases
USCIS recently shared with USCCB that although Afghan cases at military installations are applying for EAD’s using the older, one-page version of the I-765 form, Social Security cards are being requested as a part of this process. Together with the EAD’s, Social Security cards are being mailed to IOM’s office in Washington, DC and eventually sent on to the receiving organization once cases travel.
This means that local offices will not need to schedule in-person appointments for Social Security applications for cases arriving through the APA program.
USCCB is eager to ground truth this with local office experience. If you receive Social Security cards for arriving APA cases in the mail, please let us know.
In solidarity,
Rachel Pollock, MSW
Director, Resettlement Services
USCCB | Migration and Refugee Services
