COVID-19 Emergency Supplemental Funding Packages
Funding Directed to State, Local, Territorial, and Tribal Governments
April 9, 2020
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Money will be flowing to states, as part of recently passed federal emergency relief legislation to support COVID-19 response efforts. Consider the following as opportunities to build relationships with key partners and stakeholders in your state and leverage funds to meet the needs of people with disabilities. Sample messaging below to use and customize when contacting state and local partners.
General Aid
Coronavirus Relief Fund
- $150 billion over 10 years going to States, territories and tribes to offset costs of essential government services not budgeted in the wake of the economic downturn.
- Advocacy,capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your Governor's office to urge them to include the needs of people with disabilities in all of their planning and funding for coronavirus relief. This per state funding going through the Governor will clearly need to be used for a wide variety of purposes, but continually raising the needs and issues of people with disabilities is important.
- Contact: Your DD Act Partners and self-advocacy organizations to draft unifying letters and messages to state administration on including the needs of people with disabilities in relief response.
Disaster Relief Fund
- $45 billion to provide for the immediate needs of state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to protect citizens and help them recovery from the overwhelming effects of COVID-19 including personal protective equipment and community services nationwide.
- Advocacy, capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your Governor's office to urge them to include the needs of people with disabilities in all of their disaster relief planning and funding, including continuation of home and community-based services.
Disability Services
Centers for Independent Living
- $85 million for Centers for Independent Living (CILs)
- Advocacy, capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your State Independent Living Council and local Centers for Independent Living to ensure efforts include the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
Aging and Disability Resource Centers
- $50 million for Aging and Disability Resource Centers
- Advocacy, capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your State Area on Aging to plan for the needs of people with disabilities in their funded efforts
Healthcare
Enhanced Federal Medicaid Funding
- Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) - Section 6008 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides for a possible 6.2 percent increase in the FMAP.
- This increase will be retroactive and will continue through the end of the quarter in which the public health emergency for COVID-19 ends.
- Each state and territory, including the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands, are eligible for the increased FMAP as long as they adhere to the conditions outlined in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
- This guidance answers critical questions for states.
- Note which waivers are eligible for the FMAP
- Advocacy,capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your state Medicaid director to ensure plans include providing response and health care to people with disabilities.
- Research Opportunity: What data is being collected on the number of people with disabilities being served and newly enrolling in Medicaid?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- $500 million for Public Health Data Surveillance
- Advocacy, capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your Disability and Health State Programs (some UCEDDs have this contract with CDC). Coordinate with them to engage funder in utilizing funds for data collection on disability.
Extension of Money Follows the Person (MFP)
- Through November 30, 2020
- Advocacy, capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your State MFP program to ensure that people with disabilities transition out of institutions after COVID-19 care
- Research Opportunity: Track the number of people with disabilities living in communities versus institutional settings before, during, and after pandemic
Senior Nutrition Program
- $250 million for the Senior Nutrition Program, to provide meals to low income seniors who are home-bound, who have disabilities, who have multiple chronic illnesses, as well as caregivers for seniors who are home-bound.
- Advocacy, capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your provider of Senior Nutrition programs to ensure that seniors with disabilities are included in the meal programs they are providing.
- Contact: Your state aging services agency to ensure supplemental funding they are receiving for senior meals includes the needs of seniors with disabilities.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
- $250 million for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Expansion Grant Program
- Advocacy, capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your State Behavioral Health Office and offer to be a resource on the needs of mental health services for people with disabilities during this time
- Research Opportunity: Intersection of number of referrals to mental health services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities before, during, and after pandemic
Education
Formula Grants to States to Local Education Agencies
- $13.5 billion available for formula grants (distributed based on the Title I formula under ESEA) to States, which will then distribute 90% of funds to local educational agencies (LEAs) to meet needs of all students, including students with disabilities
- Advocacy, capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your State Department of Education and Special Education Agency to ensure guidance to LEAs on use of funds include students with disabilities
- Contact: LEAs near your center or statewide relationships to work on developing plans of use of funds going to students with disabilities.
- Technical Assistance Opportunity: TA to LEAs to implement best practice remote learning that meets individualized educational plans for students, to teachers for professional development, to parents on their rights.
- Research Opportunity: Impact of remote learning on students with disabilities, best practice delivery models
Emergency Support Grants for Education
- Governors in each state will receive a share of $3 billion toallocate at their discretion for emergency support grants to local educational agencies that the State educational agency deems have been most significantly impacted by coronavirus. As opposed to the formula grants (above), these funds are at the discretion of the Governor to support the local educational agencies to continue to provide educational services to their students and to support the on-going operations of the local educational agency.
- Advocacy,capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your Governor's office to ensure that the education needs of students with disabilities are included in the use of these funds.
- Contact: LEAs near your center or statewide relationships to work on developing plans of use of funds going to students with disabilities. LEAs may need to present plans to the Governor's office for use of these funds.
- Technical Assistance Opportunity: TA to LEAs to implement best practice remote learning that meets individualized educational plans for students, to teachers for professional development, to parents on their rights.
- Research Opportunity: Impact of remote learning on students with disabilities, best practice delivery models, etc.
Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
- $3.5 billion in new CCDBG discretionary funds that the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Office of Child Care (OCC) will distribute according to the typical state formula with some minor adjustments to better target the funds. These new CCDBG funds do not require matching funds from states, are not expected to fall under set-aside requirements or direct service requirements, and can be used in a variety of ways.
- Advocacy, capacity-building, and systems change:
- Contact: Your State's Office of Child Care to ensure the needs of children with disabilities are included meeting the needs of parents of kids with disabilities.
Contact Messaging
We are grateful for the work of your office and your boss to respond to the crisis that the COVID-19 virus has created. The [Name of Your Center] works to advance policies and practices that improve the health, educational, social, and economic well-being of all people with developmental and other disabilities, their families, and their communities. We are [Name of State's] federally funded [UCEDD, LEND, IDDRC] serving people with developmental disabilities and their families across the state. As we face the emergency and deal with the reality that it is disproportionately impacting people with disabilities, we stand ready to be a resource, provide technical assistance, service delivery, training, research, and information dissemination to the disability community. I would be happy to set up a time to share additional details and learn how you are working to meet the needs of people with disabilities as federal dollars come to our state. Thank you for all you are doing. I look forward to connecting,
