Emergency Food & Shelther Program (EFSP)

United Way of Greater New Bedford plays a leading role in distributing funds from the federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), which was created by Congress in 1983 to help meet the needs of hungry and homeless people throughout the United States.

We serve as the local manager for Bristol County, working with a Local Board to distribute EFSP funds to expand the capacity of food and shelter programs in high-need areas. Local organizations, whether nonprofit or governmental, may apply for EFSP funding. The Local Board is responsible for considering all applications, and for determining which organizations will receive funds.

Criteria
Under the terms of the grant from the National Board, local organizations chosen to receive funds must:

  1. Be a non-profit
  2. Have an accounting system and conduct an annual audit
  3. Practice nondiscrimination
  4. Have demonstrated the capability to operate emergency food and/or shelter programs
  5. If they are a private volunteer organization, they must have a volunteer board
  6. Provide services in Attleboro, Fall River, New Bedford, or Taunton

Qualifying organizations are urged to apply. Any applicant that serves clients from more than one of the four major cities in Bristol County — New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton and Attleboro — must submit a separate budget for each city.

For more information about the Emergency Food and Shelter Board Program please visit http://www.efsp.unitedway.org/.

Phase 41

While notice of our Local Board’s award has been released. More information is still forthcoming.  We will open up Phase 41 as soon as we have final information from National Office.

Phase 40 - deadline to apply extended

Deadline has been extended for Phase 40.  Bristol County has been awarded federal funds made available through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/ Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the EFSP for Phase 40. Applications must be submitted to United Way of Greater New Bedford by March 8 at 4pm. For the full release, click here.

To apply, click here to download the application.

Contact

Please direct questions to Michelle N. Hantman, 508-994-9625, ext. 212 or mhantman@unitedwayofgnb.org