impacted by COVID-19. Unresolved documentation is a decades-long problem that the community live with, furthering their marginalisation and discrimination and disproportionately affecting RE children. The project built on a mapping exercise and information exchange, which unpacked the community’s exclusion from COVID-19 relief efforts and painted a comprehensive picture of statelessness within the country. “REborn” focused on expanding advocacy outreach to include local governments and disseminating knowledge and tools on statelessness among Roma CSOs and community members. The project also piloted a legal aid programme and hosted multiple meetings with donors. Impact • Through the publication of a Case study, Phiren Amenca established themselves as a voice of the community and a credible source of information for local and international stakeholders. • The pilot legal aid program offered support to 30 Roma families - 20 more than originally envisioned - resolving the legal status of at least 30 people and attracting new donors such as the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC). • Phiren Amenca established direct communication with the central unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, enabling faster resolution of legal status cases of the RE community. This formed the basis of a legal aid programme, which had a great impact on the community and helped establish new ties with donors. • Phiren Amenca is now seen as a credible partner by UNHCR and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and is regarded by the RE community as a source of professional and financial support. It is thus well positioned to further its advocacy, legal assistance and community support work. Future Plans With sustained funding, Phiren Amenca will continue its legal support programme and provide sustainable legal and financial support to the RE community. They also aim to create a database containing information on legal status cases to ensure faster and better-quality data generation to ensure tailored solutions for new cases. UNITED STATELESS – UNDERSTANDING THE COVID-19 IMPACT ON STATELESS PEOPLE IN THE USA United Stateless (USL) is a stateless people led organisation whose mission is to build and inspire community among those affected by statelessness, and to advocate for their human rights. USL connects, encourages, and empowers a community of stateless people in the United States, raising awareness, educating, and advocating for their human rights, and for law reform to introduce a path to citizenship for the stateless. Scoping Award (EUR 5,000) The project aimed to qualify and map the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on stateless people within New York City (NYC), home to the second largest stateless population in the U.S. and the epicentre of the US COVID-19 outbreak. However, due to low response rates, the geographical area of the project was broadened to include the entire United States. USL’s goal was “To have a better understanding of the situation of stateless individuals in the United States in order to better advocate for their needs both during Covid and more broadly.” The project confirmed the struggle stateless individuals faced during the pandemic, particularly in accessing medical care, employment, basic needs and legal status. Project findings informed the awareness raising and advocacy work of USL. Impact • The project contributed to wider USL advocacy initiatives, including a commitment in December 2021 by the Department of Homeland Security to define statelessness and create a Statelessness Determination Procedure. • USL reflected that project research findings: 32 US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) held a public Listening Session on 8 March 2022 to include stakeholders’ contributions on terms and definitions of statelessness in the US law. USL participated and shared their knowledge on the right to a nationality and what should be done to address statelessness in the USA.