18.2.1  RCA Overview

RCARefugee Cash Assistance is administered by states or other designated entities.  In Wisconsin, RCA models itself after the W-2Wisconsin Works program and is administered by W-2 agencies with guidance from the Refugee Programs Section of the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families’ Division of Family and Economic Security (DFES)/Bureau of Working Families (BWF).

Refugee(s) An individual who is outside the country of his or her nationality or, in the case of an individual having no nationality, is outside the country in which he or she last resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return due to a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. are often victims of war, political turmoil and/or oppression and typically arrive to the U.S. with few, if any, material possessions.  While refugees with children under the age of 18 may qualify for W-2Wisconsin Works assistance, others (such as single individuals or couples without children under the age of 18) will not.  The goal of the RCA program is to provide a basic standard of living to those recently arrived refugees who do not qualify for W-2 and to promote rapid economic self-sufficiency.  RCA recipients must participate in mandatory employment and training activities until either attaining employment or the end of the RCA benefits period in order to attain economic self-sufficiency.

History: There are no previous versions of this policy.