Increasing Members' Access to Recovery Funds

Washington office delivers on promise to members

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Today’s world of federal funding offers unprecedented new opportunities: $100 billion in education funding, $87 billion for Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentages (FMAP), and the list goes on. Organizations serving children, families, and communities can tap into the funds—but only if they know how to seize the opportunity.


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The report explains how ARRA invests in key programs that many Alliance and UNCA members depend on. These programs include FMAP, Head Start, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) youth funding track.

According to Patrick Lester, senior vice president of public policy at the Alliance and UNCA, “We want our members to be able to capitalize on this influx of funding. To do this, our members need a clear understanding of what new opportunities exist and how to get plugged into them.”

Shortly after the economic recovery package became law, the policy office published a report focused on how Alliance and UNCA members could benefit from the stimulus legislation.

In March and April, the public policy office conducted several conference calls to answer members’ questions about the recovery package. Lester facilitated the calls while David Gogol, a lobbyist who specializes in nonprofit funding and regulatory issues, answered members’ specific questions. (For an audio recording, contact Carey Pucel, member relations associate at the Alliance, at 414-359-6580.)

Many programs funded by the recovery act have narrowly tailored purposes, while others offer flexibility.

“There’s a great deal of complexity,” Lester says. “It might be intimidating for a member organization to try to sort through all the information to determine what funding opportunities it is eligible for and how narrowly those funds could be applied. We’re able to do this for our members and then funnel the information to them.”

Helen Eisner, the Alliance and UNCA policy analyst who focuses on the federal budget, says, “We want our members to have a full view of what the legislation includes so that they can make the best case for human service providers as recipients of recovery funds.”

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