FEMA has announced that $140 million will be available to communities across the county to assist with feeding and sheltering.
Congress made $125 million available for Fiscal Year 2020, and this year, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) National Board is including an additional $15 million from funds that have not been used from prior grant years. FEMA awarded the $125 million to the National Board, which is now allocating the funds, combined with the additional $15 million, to qualifying jurisdictions (counties and cities).
EFSP funds assist local organizations dedicated to feeding, sheltering, and providing critical resources to people with economic emergencies, including our nation’s hungry and homeless populations. These funds are for people with non-disaster related emergencies and can be used for a broad range of services, including mass shelter, mass feeding, food pantries and food banks, utility bill payments to prevent cut-offs, rent/mortgage payments to prevent evictions/foreclosures, and transition assistance from shelters to stable living conditions.
Of this year’s allocation, 8% will be made available to states that will make funding determinations to aid people in jurisdictions with needs that may not be reflected in the National Board’s qualifying formula.
The National Board is chaired by FEMA, with representatives from American Red Cross, Catholic Charities USA, The Jewish Federations of North America, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, The Salvation Army and United Way Worldwide. United Way Worldwide, selected by the National Board as its Secretariat and Fiscal Agent, is also responsible for the daily administration of the EFSP.
EFSP funding is allocated to qualifying local jurisdictions based on a formula using the most recent national population, unemployment and poverty data. Grants are then awarded by local boards to nonprofit and government organizations that provide direct services to those in need in their communities. With the FY 2020 funding, the total aid disbursed in the EFSP’s 38-year history will be more than $5 billion.
View the Phase 38 Fiscal Year 2020 Allocations for a state-by-state list of the eligible jurisdictions and award amount.