Federal Grant Award Summary

The Illinois Department of Human Services received an $850,000 formula grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service under the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) Administrative Costs program (CFDA 10.568), effective October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. This funding supports the administrative, storage, and distribution costs necessary for the State of Illinois to manage and coordinate the issuance of USDA Foods through TEFAP to low-income populations. The award allocation reflects a congressionally mandated formula weighting each state's proportional share of persons living below the poverty level (60 percent) and unemployed individuals (40 percent).

Under federal-state agreement requirements, the Illinois Department of Human Services must make available at minimum 40 percent of the administrative grant funds to emergency feeding organizations such as food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens, either through direct grants or expenditures on their behalf. These administrative funds enable IDHS to maintain the operational infrastructure and coordination capacity necessary to support Illinois's emergency food assistance network and ensure effective distribution of USDA commodities to underserved populations across the state.