Snap tefap - grants to states

The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service awarded the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education $1,663,739 on October 1, 2025, under the Emergency Food Assistance Program (Administrative Costs) formula grant to support storage and distribution costs for TEFAP USDA Foods through September 30, 2026.

Massachusetts DESE, the state's distributing agency designated by the Governor, uses these administrative funds to support the distribution of USDA Foods to low-income persons. Under the program's 40 percent pass-through requirement, the state must make at least 40 percent of the administrative grant available to emergency feeding organizations or expend such funds on their behalf. The allocation reflects a federally mandated formula weighting each state's relative share of the national poverty population (60 percent) and unemployed persons (40 percent). Funds are provided through electronic transfer as needed for actual expenditures on a fiscal year basis, with any unobligated amounts returned to the federal government and reallocated according to formula.