ASH: World Relief Affiliate Office Code for Asheville, NC
BAL: World Relief Affiliate Office Code for Baltimore, MD
BIA: Board of Immigration Appeals
BPRM (PRM): Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration
CBO: Community Based Organization
CCD: Community Christian Development
CE: Church Engagement
CEZ: Church Empowerment Zone
CIR: Comprehensive Immigration Reform
CIS: Citizenship and Immigration Services
CWS: Church World Service
DOJ: Department of Justice
DOS: Department of State
DS: Donor Services
DUR: World Relief Affiliate Office Code for Durham, NC
EASE: Economic and Social Empowerment
ESL: English as a Second Language
ESOL: English for Speakers of other Languages
FBI: Faith-based initiative, Federal Bureau of Investigation
FBO: Faith-based organization
GIK: Gifts in Kind
GIVE: Gathering In-Kind & Volunteer Resources (database)
GNT: Good Neighbor Team
HO: Home Office
HPT: World Relief Affiliate Office Code for High Point, NC I&R: Immigrant and Refugee
IDP: Internally Displaced People
INGO: International Non-Governmental Organization INS: Immigration & Naturalization Services: formerly INS IO: International Organization
IOM: International Organization for Migration
LIRS: Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service
MG: Match Grant Program
MRA: Migrations and Refugee Assistance
NGO: Non-governmental Organization
NPO: Non-Profit Organizations
OD: Office Director
OPS: Office of Program Support (within WR Programs Division
ORR: Office of Refugee Resettlement (part of Health and Human Services Department of the U.S. Government)
P1, P2, P3: Priority Statuses for Refugees (Priority 1, Priority 2, Priority 3)
PHC: Primary Health Care
PMP: Performance Monitoring Plan
PRM: Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (Part of the U.S. Department of State)
R&P: Reception and Placement wing of the refugee resettlement program
RSC: Resettlement Support Center
SI Case: Special Interest Care: Family reunification case, joins family in the U.S. USCRI: U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
VolAg: Volunteer Agency
WR: World Relief
WRT: World Relief of the Triangle
Asylum Seeker: Someone who claims to be a refugee. Often, an asylum seeker must undergo a legal procedure in which the host country decides if he or she qualifies for refugee status. International law recognizes the right to seek asylum, but does not oblige states to provide it.
Durable Solutions: Refugee protection and assistance organizations generally promote three “durable solutions” to refugees’ plight: voluntary repatriation, local integration in the country of first asylum, or resettlement in a third country.
I.O.M.: IOM is the leading international organization for migration, and is an organization that is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society.
Internally Displaced Person: Someone who has been forced from his or her home for refugee-like reasons, but remains within the borders of his or her own country. Because the person is still under the jurisdiction of a government that might not want international agencies to help him or her, an internally displaced person might still be vulnerable to persecution or violence. There are more internally dis-placed persons than refugees.
Local Integration: When it is not safe for refugees to return home after a prolonged period in exile, a host government may decide to allow refugees to integrate locally, in the first-asylum country.
Match Grant: an alternative to public cash assistance providing services to our refugees to become eco-nomically self-sufficient within 120 to 180 days of program eligibility. Self-sufficiency must be achieved without accessing public cash assistance. Enrollment is available to refugees meeting the minimum em-ployability requirements (higher level of English & dedication to employment). Match Grant clients are provided with six months, rather than three months, of case management and self-sufficiency must be achieved and maintained within the period of eligibility.
Refugee: A refugee is any person who has been forced to leave his or her country because of persecu-tion or fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Each year, the U.S. Government permits a certain number of refugees to be resettled in our country. (United Nations 1951 definition).
Third-Country Resettlement: Third-country resettlement is usually the last option of the three solutions. When repatriation would be unsafe and the first-asylum country refuses local integration, a third country must be found to accept the refugees.
US Tie: A refugee case’s close friend or family member in the U.S.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): Establish in 1951, UNHCR is the branch of the United Nations charged with the international protection of refugees. UNHCR has increas-ingly been asked not only to protect refugees, but also to provide assistance to them.
Voluntary Repatriation: When conditions in the home country have changed so much that refugees no longer believe their lives or liberty are threatened, they may return home voluntarily.