UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2016-04483 Doc No. C06334613 Date: 06/15/2017

RESPONSE TO DOS MONITORING RECOMMENDATIONS
National Agency:

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Local Affiliate:

Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego

Location:

4575 — A Mission Gorge Place, San Diego CA 92120

Monitoring Dates:

June 15-16, 2016

PRM Monitors:

Makenzie Brookes and June Tancredi

Staff Interviewed:

Lejla Voloder, Program Manager
Blanca De Los Rios, Senior Resettlement Specialist
Malila Monololo, Case Manager

RELEASE IN
FULL

R&P Program Recommendations
1. The affiliate should ensure that it provides core services, including required home visits,
refugee minorfollow up evaluations and CO with appropriate language interpretation as
required by the Cooperative Agreement, Section 16.g.5)
Response:
Resettlement staff members speak the following languages: Arabic, Bosnian,
Chaldean, Creole, Haitian, Farsi, French, German, Italian, Lingala, Portuguese, SerboCroatian, Spanish, and Swahili. We have 12 on-call interpreters that assist our clients
with interpreting and translation when needed. Presently within our Refugee Services
department we have 27 languages available through our staff that include Amharic,
Assyrian, Armenian, Japanese, Kirundi, Kinyarwanda, Lao, Russian, Polish, Somali,
Tagalog, Turkish, and Vietnamese. We are in the process of hiring and recruiting
additional on-call interpreters of the languages of the clients that we are currently
resettling and that we do not have on our on call list e.g. Anuak, Burmese, Karen,
Kurdish, Oromo, Pashtu, Tigrinya etc.
Program management has reviewed the Cooperative Agreement requirement Section
16.g.5). The requirement and available language resources have also been reviewed
with the staff.

2. The affiliate should ensure that upon arrival refugees are provided decent, safe, and
sanitaiy housing based onfederal housing quality standards or local or state standards if
local standards are higher than federal standards. Housing should provide minimum
habitable areafor each occupant, including number of bedrooms or sleeping areas;
housing should be affordable and to the extent possible, thefamily should be able to
assume payment of rent at the end of the R&P period, based upon projectedfamily income
from all sources; and each residence shall be free of rodent and insect infestation as
required by the Cooperative Agreement, Sections 16.g.4).a).iii, vi, and viii.
REVIEW AUTHORITY: Charles Lahiguera, Senior
Reviewer

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Response:
Our Resettlement Specialists check all properties for compliance with the PRM Operational
Guidance and 982.401 Housing Quality Standards (HQS). They use the R&P Home Safety
Checklist to assess the suitability of an apartment. This checklist works to uphold the
standards of the Cooperative Agreement, Sections 16.g.4).a).iii, vi, and viii. Any finding is
documented in the case file and followed up upon. We are in-constant communication with
our clients and we advocate on their behalf and we also explain to our clients the houšing
standards outlined in Cooperative Agreement. We also work with US ties; explaining the
housing standards and the expectation that clienti must live in decent and safe housing. We
immediately address any issues that are not up to the appropriate standards. We also
communicate with the landlords about our expectations as well as renter's rights. We also
keep in mind that as advocates for our clients, in the case of tenant/rental manager conflict,
we make sure to assist our clients with meeting their needs in appropriate ways.
Effective July 1" 2016, the resettlement team re-instated the step of taking photos in an effort
to document the condition of properties and apartments prior to move in. The photos of fully
furnished apartments along with the copy of the R&P Home Safety Checklist and the R&P
Supply Documentation will be kept in a Housing Binder for each case. The Program
Manager in turn, is responsible to closely monitor the Housing Binder to check the property
and apartment condition and take appropriate actions as needed and necessary.
CCDSD is in the process of developing a position description for a Housing Specialist
and will hire a Housing Specialist who will be responsible for strengthening the
program's access and management of new housing.
3. The affiliate should ensure that upon arrival refugees receive all jeurniture and supplies,
including sufficient beds (only married couples or small children of the same gender may
be expected to share beds) and bedframes and one couch, required by the Cooperative
Agreement, section 16.g.4).b).
Response: •
For the majority of arrivals all furniture And supplies, including beds (only married couples
or small children of the same gender may be expected to share beds) and bedframes and one
couch, required by the Cooperative Agreement, section 16.g.4).b) are placed in the apartment
upon the refugees' arrival. After apartments are furnished resettlement specialists are now
taking photos and recording them in a Housing Binder. For the US Ties cases, essential
furniture is purchased for the client with the use of R&P funds and in most cases US Ties are
helping with the purchases and are able to provide the essential furnishings. lf US Ties are
not able to provide any furniture and are not able to help with shopping, we supply all the
furnishings.
Effective July 1' 2016 we initiated a new process of managing RP dii:ect assistance;
maintain a certain amount of R&P funds until the 30 day home vkit is completed and
for use to ensure that clients have all needed furniture and supplies required by the
Cooperative Agreement, section 16.g.4).b). This new process will assist us in managing
furnishing for US tie cases.
This requirement and the new processes have been reviewed with the staff and the
quality assurance staff will monitor and report compliance to management.

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4. The affiliate should ensure that casefiles include evidence that housing, including
temporary housing, was provided in accordance with Cooperative Agreement Section
16.g.2).e).
Response:
All of our no U.S. ties cases'move directly into permanent housing upon arrival. U.S. ties
cases usually stay with their relatives the first month after arrival. Then, the U.S. ties assist us with securing permanent housing for the family. If we are not able to locate an apartment
when refugees arrive we house them temporarily in hotels for 2 to 3 days until an apartment
is available. We try to avoid this practice as much as possible. All this is documented in the
case files in accordance with Cooperative Agreement Section 16.g.2).e).
We always conduct a third home visit after clients move from temporary to permanent
housing. The assigned Case Manager informs the Senior Resettlement Specialist who
conducts the third home visit within five days of a client's move and case notes are
written as well as the home visit report and photos of apartment are taken. The
Senior Resettlement Specialist makes sure that housing is in accordance with Cooperative
Agreement and if not further actions and follow ups are taken accordingly.
This requirement and procedures have been reviewed with the staff and the quality
assurance staff will monitor and report compliance to management.

5. The affiliate should ensure that casefile include documentation of refugee understanding
oforientation topics, as required by the Cooperative Agre•ement, Section 16g2).g)
Response:
During the next day home visit, the Resettlement Specialist uses the R&P Cultural
Orientation Checklists with each refugee adult to begin delivery and documentation of
the cultural orientation (CO). After this start, the checklist is given to the assigned Case
Manager to continue coordinating and documenting CO delivery. At the end of R&P
period Case Managers ensure that each resettled adult refugee is provided a complete
orientation on all the required orientation topics and documentation is included in
case files according to the Cooperative Agreement Requirement, Section 16.g.2).g)
This requirement has been reviewed with the staff and the quality assurance staff will
monitor and report compliance to management.

6. The affiliate should ensure that local governance (city and/or county, as applicable)
participate in quarterly consultations, as required by the Cooperative Agreement, Section
16.e:1).
Response:
We always invite local governance representatives (city and/or county) to participate in
quarterly consultations as required by the Cooperative Agreement, Section 16.e.1). We
coordinate this invitation with three other resettlement agencies in San Diego (IRC,
JFS/IIIAS and AAA/ECDC). We will continue to invite them and if they do not respond to
our invitation we will follow up more aggressively to understand why they do participate and
consider ways to respond, such a possible teleconferencing or adjustments to the meeting
agenda. We will coordinate this effort with the three other resettlement agencies with a
common goal to make sure that everyone invited participate.

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7. The affiliate should ensure that refugees register with selective service within 30 days, as
appropriate, and that casefiles include evidence of the registration and that the refugee
was provided with information on the requirement to notifi, the Selective Service System of
each change ofaddress, as required by the Cooperative Agreement, Section 16.g.5). c). viii
and 16.g.2).1).
Response:
CCDSD R&P and Case Management staff will ensure that when core services, such as
Selective Services cannot be completed within the time frames specified in the Cooperative
Agreement, Section 16. g. 5).c). staff document the reason(s) for the delay in the case note log.
On February 17, 2016 staff participated in training on methods of follow up and
documentation of client progress. On July 7, 2016 during the weekly case managers meeting
we reviewed the selective service registration requirements. The requirement also includes
during intake Case Managers talking with clients about the importance of registering with
Selective Service. All eligible male adults will be reminded of the importance of notifying
their Case Managers once they receive their social security card in order to help them
register for Selective Service. The registration is done through the form that is mailed from
our office and usually within 4 to 6 weeks our clients receive a confirmation letter that they
are registered. We scan the registration letter as proof that clients applied.
Quality assurance staff will monitor and report compliance to management.

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UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2016-04483 Doc No. C06334613 Date: 06/15/2017