Lutheran Immigration And Refugee Service Inc.

Lutheran Immigration And Refugee Service Inc., operating as Global Refuge, is a Baltimore, Maryland-based nonprofit that acts as a federal grant recipient (88% of recent awards as prime recipient) delivering refugee resettlement, immigrant integration, and unaccompanied child care services to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration (BPRM), and related federal agencies under CFDA 93.566 (Refugee and Entrant Assistance State/Replacement Designee Administered Programs) and CFDA 93.567 (Refugee and Entrant Assistance Voluntary Agency Programs).

Global Refuge's federal footprint is heavily concentrated in refugee services delivery across three core capability domains. First, the organization provides reception and placement services, employment assistance, case management, language instruction, and social integration support for newly admitted refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, trafficking victims, and eligible special immigrant populations during their initial resettlement period—funded through formula grants and cooperative agreements under CFDA 93.566. Second, Global Refuge operates residential care and post-release services for unaccompanied alien children (UAC), including shelter and transitional foster care, long-term foster care, therapeutic group homes, home study services, and post-release case management across multiple jurisdictions and care modalities. Third, the organization administers specialized support programs including trauma-informed mental health and psychosocial services (the STAR Program), refugee cash and medical assistance (CMA), microenterprise development, individual development accounts (IDA), agricultural partnerships, and employer engagement programming to promote self-sufficiency. A recent representative award is a $2.027 million cooperative agreement from ORR (effective January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026) for development and sustainment of the Immigrant and Refugee Information System (IRIS), a critical case-placement-management and compliance-reporting platform supporting ORR's Program of Initial Resettlement. Global Refuge also received a $6.61 million formula grant from ORR (October 1, 2025 through May 28, 2027) for refugee support services including employment assistance, case management, and language instruction, and a $1.18 million block grant for refugee cash and medical assistance services (October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2027).

Customer concentration is narrow and stable. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (split between ORR and non-ORR ACF lines in the source) dominates the award count with 86 of 117 total awards; the Department of State Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration accounts for 26 awards; and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration anchors the combined potential-value figure at $9.5 million. This ranking reflects Global Refuge's role as a designated replacement designee and voluntary agency partner within the federal refugee resettlement system, where a small set of specialized federal funders channel awards to a limited set of qualified providers.

Activity has grown modestly over the past five years—from 10 awards in 2022 to a peak of 17 in 2024—with a recent slowdown to 7 in 2025 and 1 in 2026 (as of the source snapshot date of July 15, 2026). Seventeen awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing significant recompete exposure and opportunity for competitors to displace incumbent funding. Global Refuge also acts as a sub-recipient on federal grants from the North Dakota Department of Human Services, which channels CFDA 93.566 funding to Global Refuge for refugee services delivery in North Dakota, demonstrating a sub-award teaming relationship with state agencies administering delegated federal refugee programs.