Cap tefap admin grts to STS

The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service awarded the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education $1,536,795 on October 1, 2025, under the Emergency Food Assistance Program (Administrative Costs) formula grant, funding storage and distribution costs for TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) USDA Foods through September 30, 2026.

The award supports administrative operations for emergency food assistance delivery within Massachusetts. Under the program formula, which allocates funding based on each state's relative share of persons with income below the poverty level (60 percent) and unemployed persons (40 percent), Massachusetts must make at least 40 percent of administrative grant funds available to emergency feeding organizations or expend funds on their behalf. Funds are provided through electronic transfer as needed for actual expenditures on a fiscal year basis; any unobligated allocation reverts to the federal government for reallocation according to the statutory formula. DESE, as the state's designated distributing agency, administers the award in coordination with local organizations participating in TEFAP via ongoing federal-state agreements. The assistance type is a formula grant.