Lutheran Social Services Of The South, Inc.

Lutheran Social Services Of The South, Inc., doing business as Lutheran Social Services, is a tax-exempt nonprofit based in Austin, Texas, that operates as a federal grant recipient providing residential care, early childhood education, and family support services to vulnerable populations, predominantly unaccompanied alien children and low-income families. The organization operates under the subsidiary name Upbring for certain residential shelter and foster care programs serving unaccompanied children. Lutheran Social Services competes exclusively as a prime federal grant recipient (94% of recent awards) with minimal sub-recipient engagement; it has not held federal contracts and does not sit on federal contract vehicles or GWACs.

Customer concentration is extreme and non-diversified. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families funds 52 of 52 tracked awards (100% of award count), with the Department of State Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration funding 2 awards. Within HHS/ACF, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) under CFDA 93.566 (Refugee and Entrant Assistance State/Replacement Designee Administered Programs) and the Office of Head Start under CFDA 93.600 anchor all active work. Recent ORR cooperative agreements obligate the organization to operate residential shelter, group home, and transitional and long-term foster care programs for unaccompanied alien children across Texas facilities including Bokenkamp Children's Shelter in Corpus Christi (operating since 2007), New Hope Emergency Shelter in McAllen (since 2014), and Grace House in McAllen (opened 2019, providing up to 60 emergency shelter beds and 16 therapeutic beds). Representative ORR awards from the most recent cycle (April 1, 2026 effective date) total $8.94 million, $9.12 million, $8.29 million, $7.42 million, $6.17 million, $4 million, and $3.04 million for shelter and transitional foster care services. The Office of Head Start has awarded Lutheran Social Services multiple five-year project grants (CFDA 93.600) totaling $3.8 million to $5.87 million each for comprehensive Head Start and Early Head Start services across Texas, effective April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2031, serving pregnant women, infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children in low-income communities.

Activity shows sharp recent acceleration. The vendor recorded 3 awards in 2022, 6 in 2023, 4 in 2024, 2 in 2025, and 11 awards in 2026 through May. Combined dollars obligated across all 52 awards reaches $1.86 billion, reflecting the large absolute value of three- to five-year federal cooperative agreements and project grants in refugee services and early childhood education. Only 1 award faces ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal near-term recompete exposure within the tracked window. Sub-recipient work is negligible: Lutheran Social Services acts as a sub-recipient on three grants from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Inc., receiving allocations for FY2024 and FY2025 Reception and Placement programs and a 2025 Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Resettlement and Development award.

Lutheran Social Services' capability footprint centers entirely on federal grant-funded social services. The organization delivers temporary residential shelter, group home care, emergency services, transitional and long-term foster care, comprehensive case management, sponsor vetting and background checks, medical care, education, mental health support, and family reunification services for unaccompanied children, as well as early learning instruction, health screenings, nutritional services, and family engagement programming for low-income early childhood populations. Place of performance is primarily Texas with established multi-location operations in Corpus Christi, McAllen, and El Paso. The organization's federal grant footprint reflects two decades of ORR partnership (award record extends to at least 2005 for transitional foster care services in El Paso) and recent expansion into Head Start service delivery.