Open letter to Congress to save EFSP

Date

Dear Congressperson,

We are writing today to alert you and your office to the “indefinite pause” placed on Phase 42 of the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program and ask for your support in advocating for the pause to be lifted. 

Since its establishment in 1983, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program has provided $6.6 billion in federal funding that has enabled local social service agencies to provide food and shelter to individuals and families who need assistance. Federal legislation established an EFSP National Board, which is chaired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and includes representatives from some of the nation’s leading community-serving organizations. United Way Worldwide serves as the fiscal agent and secretariat for these federal dollars and has done so for the past 41 years, at the very low administrative rate of 1%. 

United Way Bay Area has served as the local administrator for these funds since the inception of EFSP and currently staffs the allocations process in all eight of our counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Solano.  We receive a 2% administrative fee for this work and provide much more in-kind support and staffing to do this work.  We staff volunteer Local Boards for each of our eight counties that create funding priorities based on emerging needs and make funding recommendations. We conduct an open request for proposal process, provide technical assistance to applicants and grantees, and manage all grant oversight and reporting. 

In federal fiscal year 2024, FEMA awarded the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) National Board $117 million made available under the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, (Pub. L. No. 118-47). 

Allocation determinations were posted on the EFSP website in December 2024 prompting many local EFSP administrators around the country, including UWBA, to begin the process of soliciting proposals from local food and shelter programs for the grant period extending through calendar year 2025. 

On January 27, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a memorandum to federal agencies, requiring a temporary pause on all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the recent Executive Orders. Although OMB rescinded the memorandum, EFSP has not been allowed to release payments to local service providers.  

Local communities have been told that EFSP is being reviewed within FEMA to ensure it complies with the Executive Orders and Department of Homeland Security guidance.  

We can look at the most recent EFSP phase to examine what is at stake in our eight county UWBA service area if Phase 42 is not released. For Phase 41 (from federal fiscal year 2023), UWBA allocated $2.7 million which is estimated to provide 1.13 million meals, 49,800 shelter bed nights, and provide 260 rent/utility bills to over 175,000 people.

There are many benefits to local United Ways administering these federal EFSP dollars: 

• The funding is more accessible to small grassroots and faith based non-profit agencies and churches because they have local United Way staff helping them navigate the application and grant responsibility processes.  Many of these smaller agencies have not been able to access other federal dollars through city and county governments because that application process and/or reporting is too onerous and difficult.  UWBA does site visits, grant oversight, and provides overall technical assistance.   
• As mentioned, the local overhead is 2% of the award which does not cover UWBA’s total costs for administering these dollars – but we continue to do so as a service to the nonprofit sector and because our national organization is the fiscal agent for these federal dollars. 
• United Way has the pulse of community need using data and evaluation and our partners in the community help guide the priority setting for each round of EFSP.  This allows us to be nimble and responsive for each EFSP round to decide where to prioritize funding decisions.  

We are asking that this funding already allocated by Congress in federal fiscal year 2024 be released by FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security.

We urge you to please advocate in favor of releasing EFSP Phase 42 funds immediately to avoid further disruption of critical services in our communities. Thank you for your leadership and partnership.

Sincerely,
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(Name)
(Organization)