Mississippi Department Of Human Services

Mississippi Department of Human Services, doing business as MDHS Family and Children's Services, is a state government entity receiving federal grants as a prime recipient across a broad portfolio of child care, family services, nutrition assistance, and aging-support programs administered through the Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Labor, and Energy. MDHS operates as a subsidiary division of the State of Mississippi and does not compete for federal contracts; all federal work is grant-funded.

MDHS administers formula grants and block grants covering child care subsidies, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) operations, child support enforcement, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), low-income home energy assistance, nutrition and supportive services for older adults, adult protective services, and refugee resettlement. The agency holds a prime recipient role on 874 awards (97% of the portfolio) and passes significant funding downstream to sub-recipients—regional planning and development districts, community action agencies, food banks, and nonprofits—to deliver services at the local level. The source documents sub-awards to entities including Mid-South Food Bank, Catholic Social & Community Services Inc., Mississippi State University, the Children's Foundation of Mississippi, and nine regional planning districts serving multi-county service areas across Mississippi.

Customer concentration centers on three federal agencies accounting for the majority of awards. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (160 awards) funds child care development block grants and child support services; the Administration for Community Living (117 awards) funds Title III nutrition and supportive services for older adults under the Older Americans Act; and the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (112 awards for FNS) administers SNAP, TEFAP emergency food assistance, and commodity supplemental food programs. HHS Administration for Children and Families appears twice in the top-five ranking (160 and 102 awards), indicating both discretionary and block-grant streams. Combined, these three agencies (treating HHS-ACF as one entity) account for approximately 64% of all awards; the portfolio spans 29 distinct federal agencies including the Department of Energy (weatherization), the Department of Labor, and the Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps Seniors).

Recent grant work includes a $295.4 million Child Care and Development Block Grant Discretionary award (CFDA 93.575, October 2025 through September 2028) for child care subsidies and quality improvement statewide; a $214.3 million Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant (CFDA 93.558, October 2025) funding family assistance, workforce training, and family dynamics programming; a $97.5 million Child Support Services block grant (CFDA 93.563, October 2025) for child support enforcement; a $68 million Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program award (CFDA 93.568, October 2025) distributed to 18 nonprofit sub-recipients for utility assistance and weatherization; and an $11.9 million Special Programs for the Aging Title III home-delivered meals award (CFDA 93.045, October 2025) distributed to nine regional planning districts. Smaller awards fund Medicare enrollment assistance ($351 thousand, CFDA 93.071), AmeriCorps Senior Companion services ($237 thousand, CFDA 94.016), and SNAP fraud framework implementation ($238 thousand project grant, CFDA 10.535).

Activity has remained steady over the past five years (49 awards in 2022 to 57 in 2024, with 38 in 2025 and 7 in the first month of 2026), generating $11.37 billion in combined obligated dollars across 905 total awards—all grants, no contracts. The portfolio carries substantial downstream pass-through obligations: MDHS distributes funding to regional planning districts, community action agencies, and local nonprofits in roughly 30+ named sub-recipient relationships, making the agency a significant federal funding intermediary for aging services, child care, nutrition assistance, and emergency support across Mississippi. Thirty-three awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, generating recompete activity primarily in the child care, SNAP administration, and older Americans Act service categories.