By Adam Andrzejewski
CEO/founder, OpenTheBooks.com
The fiscal year of the U.S. federal government just ended on September 30. The most recent data shows that $64 billion in federal grants flowed to 294 entities with a Austin Texas address. That’s misleading, because Austin is the state capitol, and all but $1.6 billion flowed to state agencies.
Here are the top local governments that received a federal grant in fiscal year 2022:
TOP 12 FEDERAL GRANT RECIPIENTS (excluding state government)
FY2022 | AUSTIN TEXAS
|
NAME
|
FEDERAL GRANT AMOUNT
|
|
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
|
$   337,508,255
|
|
CITY OF AUSTIN
|
$38,437,543
|
|
TRAVIS COUNTY HEALTHCARE DISTRICT
|
$6,859,488
|
|
CAPITAL METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY
|
$5,164,508
|
|
AUSTIN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT (INC)
|
$4,621,497
|
|
AUSTIN-TRAVIS COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION CENTER
|
$3,993,635
|
|
TRAVIS, COUNTY OF
|
$3,991,398
|
|
AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
|
$3,401,075
|
|
HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN
|
$1,634,220
|
|
HOUSING AUTHORITY OF TRAVIS COUNTY
|
$1,149,159
|
|
AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
|
$541,118
|
|
CITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS CULTURAL ARTS DIVISION
|
$500,000
|
Source: Federal Checkbook FY2022 | Learn More at OpenTheBooks.com
A majority of the city’s federal grants -- $26.2 million was earmarked for airport improvements including 95,000 square feet of terminal upgrades, addition of more gates, and a new backage handling system. Other major federal grants included HIV emergency spending ($6.6 million); $57,000 for fair housing; $755,000 in police/justice grants; and even $375,000 to combat theft of intellectual property.
Here are the top ten non-government recipients in fiscal year 2022:
|
NAME
|
FEDERAL GRANT AMOUNT
|
|
SOUTHWEST KEY PROGRAMS, INC.
|
$790,808,385
|
|
LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE SOUTH, INC.
|
$82,076,650
|
|
NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE
|
$19,937,440
|
|
CHILD INC.
|
$17,063,789
|
|
WOMEN'S HEALTH AND FAMILY PLANNING ASSOCIATION
|
$16,150,000
|
|
URBAN MINING COMPANY
|
$7,201,202
|
|
FOUNDATION COMMUNITIES INC.
|
$6,000,000
|
|
YOUTH AND FAMILY ALLIANCE
|
$5,324,364
|
|
SAFE ALLIANCE FACILITIES HOLDINGS, THE
|
$3,513,258
|
|
CARITAS OF AUSTIN
|
$3,450,169
|
Source: Federal Checkbook FY2022 | Learn More at OpenTheBooks.com
Interesting federal grants to local entities include:
Go Workshop ($1.6 million) – to build capacity for building the creative forces. National Endowment of the Arts
BrilliantMD ($1 million) – to bring efficiencies to the healthcare space. Grant was through the National Science Foundation.
Workers Defense Project ($160,000) – an advocacy organization to organize immigrant workers in the construction industry.
As a city, Austin received an outsized share of federal grants because of the fact they are the location of the state capitol and home to many state agencies. However, outside of the state agencies, the numbers are still quite striking.
Here are the federal grants summarized and compared by major Texas cities:
Austin ($1.5 billion) with a population of 964,000 received $1,556 per capita.
San Antonio ($1.54 billion) with a population of 1.54 million received $1,000 per capita.
Dallas ($972.5 million) with a population of 1.3 received $748 per capita.
Houston ($1.9 billion) with a population of 2.8 million received $678 per capita.