Austin, Texas – Nonprofit organizations that experienced damage or losses from Hurricane Harvey may apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Assistance to help them get back to the business of helping others.

The FEMA Public Assistance program may reimburse for eligible expenses incurred before, during and after Hurricane Harvey on a cost-share basis.

Federal cost-share for all categories of Public Assistance (PA) is 90 percent of total eligible costs, except for assistance previously approved at 100 percent.

Only certain nonprofit organizations (PNPs) are eligible. If they provide critical services, such as education, utility, emergency or medical, they can apply directly to FEMA. Those that provide non-critical, essential services to the community must first apply for a low-interest loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). FEMA may pay for all eligible emergency work and the permanent work not covered by an SBA disaster loan.

Essential service providers include:

Child care centers;

Libraries, museums and zoos;

Community centers;

Disability advocacy and service providers;

Homeless shelters and rehabilitation facilities;

Social and human services organizations for children, youth and adults; and

Senior citizen centers.

For more information about eligible essential and critical service providers, reference FEMA’s Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide on www.fema.gov.

A nonprofit that can prove tax-exempt status from the IRS, or the state, can begin the process by submitting a Request for Public Assistance (RPA) to the State of Texas. RPA form can be downloaded at https://grants.dps.texas.gov/site/PA.cfm click Forms, or contact your TDEM district coordinator. Return completed requests to TDEMrecovery.rpa@dps.texas.gov.

If you have questions, call:

TDEM at (512) 424-2208;

Or the FEMA Public Assistance Hotline at (855) 336-2003 from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Outside normal business hours please leave a voice-mail message, and your phone call will be returned the next business day.

SBA applicants may apply online, receive additional disaster assistance information and download applications at http://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.

For more information on Hurricane Harvey and Texas recovery, visit the Hurricane Harvey disaster web page at www.fema.gov/disaster/4332, or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FEMAharvey, the FEMA Region6 Twitter account at twitter.com/FEMARegion6, or the Texas Division of Emergency Management website at www.dps.texas.gov/dem/.