Assistance program
Refugee and Entrant Assistance Wilson/Fish Program
$17.2 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- Administration for Children and Families, Health and Human Services, Department of
- Assistance
- Cooperative Agreements
- CFDA number
- 93.583
- What it does
- The objective of the Wilson Fish demonstration program is to develop innovative alternatives projects to support refugee resettlement. The current alternative project, the Wilson-Fish Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Coordination Program, targets refugee families with children under the age of 18 and who are TANF-eligible. This program provides funds for the development and implementation of innovative approaches throughout a state to facilitate access to relevant, customized, and culturally and linguistically appropriate integrated services and resources. Funds are also used to develop and provide in-person and remote services and/or resources that enhance or complement programming serving TANF-eligible refugees to address unmet needs. These projects require coordination between recipients and the state TANF office. The program is focused on refugees who have been in the United States less than thirty-six months, which is the time they can receive interim support, medical services, support services, and case management, as needed, in a manner that encourages self-sufficiency, reduces welfare dependency, and fosters greater coordination among the resettlement agencies and service providers. The Wilson-Fish TANF Coordination Program (FY 2020 – FY 2025) does not include cash assistance or medical services.
- Who benefits
- Refugees, certain Amerasian immigrants from Vietnam, Cuban/Haitian entrants, asylees, victims of a severe form of trafficking, Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrants and Afghan and Ukrainian Humanitarian Parolees as outlined in ORR PL 22-10 and ORR PL 22-13 are eligible for services and assistance through funded projects in a community. Detailed information on eligibility of ORR-funded projects is available at 45 § CFR 400.43 and ORR Policy Letter 16-01, which can be found on the ORR website at: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/resource/policy-letter-16-01.
- Who applies
- Public or private non-profit agencies are eligible. Applicants for the FY 2020-2024 (post-award, the project period was extended to FY 2020-2025) Wilson-Fish TANF Coordination Program were required to provide a letter of support from the subdivision of the state agency tasked with the operation of the state’s TANF program (or “state TANF officeâ€). In this letter, the state TANF office was required to indicate its intention to coordinate with the applicant's proposed Wilson-Fish TANF Coordination Program and include a commitment to submit a formal and structured agreement, within 120 days of award, between the project and the state TANF office, to coordinate in the development and implementation of relevant, customized, and culturally and linguistically appropriate services for TANF-eligible refugees. This letter was required to be on letterhead of the state TANF office and signed by the state TANF director or the director's designee. Applicants that did not include this letter were disqualified from review and from funding under the Wilson-Fish TANF Coordination Program.
- Authorized by
- Immigration and Nationality Act § 412(e), 8 U.S.C. § 1522(e), with specific reference to Immigration and Nationality Act § 412(e)(7), 8 U.S.C. § 1522(e)(7), known as the Wilson/Fish Amendment.
- Program site
- https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr ↗
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments