Lutheran Social Service Of Minnesota

Lutheran Social Service Of Minnesota, a tax-exempt nonprofit headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, receives federal grants as a prime recipient and sub-recipient to operate youth and family homelessness services, senior volunteer engagement programs, and refugee social services across Minnesota and North Dakota.

The organization's federal footprint is dominated by grant work, not contracts. Lutheran Social Service holds 213 prime grant awards (39% of its 548 total awards) and serves as a sub-recipient on 335 grant sub-awards (61%), for a combined obligated value of $305.8 million across recent activity. The vendor does not hold federal contracts or contract vehicles. Customer concentration sits heavily with the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (spanning 168 awards in the source data) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development (115 awards), accounting for 87% of recent award count.

Prime grant work centers on three federal programs. The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) Office of Grants Management awards Senior Companion Program grants under CFDA 94.016; a recent $2.184 million project grant (award date July 1, 2026, performance through June 30, 2029) consolidates prior awards and funds recruitment of volunteers aged 55 and older, particularly economically disadvantaged seniors, to provide companionship, transportation assistance, respite care, and household support to vulnerable adults. A second $1.981 million Senior Companion award dated September 5, 2025 (performance through June 30, 2028) carries a statutory match of 10% and budgetary match of 14.78%. HUD's Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development awards Continuum of Care Program grants under CFDA 14.267; recent examples include a $118,864 award (August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2027) funding permanent housing, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, supportive services, and Homeless Management Information Systems operations in Lauderdale, Minnesota, and a $116,961 award (March 1, 2026, through February 28, 2027) supporting the same program components in the same geography. HHS Administration for Children and Families awards youth shelter and homelessness intervention grants; examples include a $700,000 Basic Center Grant (CFDA 93.623, award date September 30, 2025, performance through September 29, 2028) funding emergency shelter, case management, and family reunification services for runaway and homeless youth under age 18 in Central Minnesota, a $700,000 Transitional Living Program grant for a maternity group home (LifeHaven) serving pregnant and parenting youth ages 16 to 21 and their dependent children (CFDA 93.550, award date September 30, 2025, performance through September 29, 2028), and a $350,000 Rochester Youth Services Transitional Living Program award (same CFDA and dates) providing residential shelter, street-based outreach, and life skills training to youth ages 16 to 21.

Lutheran Social Service acts as a sub-recipient on federal grants managed by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (covering refugee social services, refugee cash and medical assistance, family first transition implementation, child care administration, mental health block grants, and adoption assistance), the Minnesota Department of Commerce (administering the energy assistance program locally), Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Inc. (for safe release support and reception and placement of refugees), and Hearth Connection (for HUD Continuum of Care permanent supportive housing with rental assistance). Activity has declined year over year—75 awards in 2022 to 4 awards in 2026—with 10 awards facing ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. The vendor does not compete on contracts, IDVs, or GWACs; its entire federal footprint consists of direct federal grant awards and grant sub-recipient roles flowing through state agencies and nonprofit intermediaries.