The
purpose of the Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) Program is to help
improve the quality of existing emergency shelters for the homeless.
It helps to make available additional emergency shelters, meet
the costs of operating emergency shelters, and provide certain
essential social services to homeless individuals. These persons
are provided with access not only to safe and sanitary shelter,
but also to the supportive services and other kinds of assistance
needed to improve their situations. This program is also intended
to restrict the increase of homelessness through the funding of
preventive programs and activities.
Hillsborough
County Board of County Commissioners Community Action Program
uses a "Request for Application (RFA), a competitive process,
to invite interested non-profit organizations providing services
to the area's homeless population in Hillsborough County to submit
applications for funding. The RFA is advertised through the local
newspapers, and specifies the criteria needed to participate in
this competitive process.
Funds
under the ESG program are used to augment existing local programs
serving the homeless by providing partial payment of related operating
expenses and homeless prevention activities. The types of projects
that have been funded in the past are shelters for women and children,
transient shelters, shelters for domestic violence, and day centers.
