BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending almost $1.7 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse Northeastern University for the cost of steps taken to protect the health students, faculty and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $1,648,768 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the private research university in Boston for the cost of contracting and using its own staff to perform emergency protective measures between January and September 2020.
Among the steps taken were providing additional on-site security; provisioning emergency meals and water; purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) and disinfection and decontamination supplies; and completing disinfection and decontamination within the Northeastern campus.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Northeastern University with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Providing resources for our institutions of higher education to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is critical to their success, and to our success as a nation.”
FEMA’s Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency.
So far, FEMA has provided nearly $1.3 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.