Monday, August 24, 2020

Pennsylvania Approved to Receive FEMA Grant to Provide Additional $300 a Week to the Unemployed

On Monday, FEMA announced that FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor approved Pennsylvania for a FEMA grant under the Lost Wages Assistance program.

The grant funding from FEMA will Pennsylvania to provide $300 per week to those unemployed due to COVID-19.  The additional money will be received on top of the person's regular unemployment benefit.

According to FEMA, the assistance is intended to help people support themselves and their families as they look for work. An extra $300 per week will help those struggling with unemployment to buy school supplies for their children, put food on the table and possibly prevent eviction.

FEMA says it will work with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to implement a system to make this funding available to Pennsylvania residents.

On Aug. 8, President Trump made available up to $44 billion from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to provide financial assistance to Americans who have lost wages due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, the state of Pennsylvania agreed to administer a lost wages program for its citizens who are unemployed due to COVID-19.