Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The stimulus fund will give $100 million to the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program (EFSP), a public-private organization that was created in 1983 to help provide for the needs of hungry and homeless Americans. The program, which is supposed to be overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), awards grants to local social service organizations. It sounds like a good idea, but there’s one catch: the EFSP has only one employee.
A recent report by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security put the problem succinctly: “Staff within the Emergency Food and Shelter Program declined from six in 1997 to one in 2008, According to FEMA program officials, this decline led to a significant decrease in financial and program monitoring. Having one staff member responsible for both monitoring activities reduces FEMA’s ability to ensure the appropriate use of grant funds.” A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told The Center for Public Integrity that, despite the influx of $100 million, there are no plans to add to EFSP’s staff of one.
-David Wallechinsky
Government: FEMA’s Emergency Grant Program Gets $100 Million, but Where’s Oversight? (by Sarah Laskow, Center for Public Integrity)
Improvements Needed in Federal Emergency Management Agency Monitoring of Grantees (Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General) (PDF)
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