BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $4.3 million to the State of Rhode Island to reimburse the University of Rhode Island for the cost of testing students, staff and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $4,337,245 FEMA Public Assistance grant will reimburse the public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston for the cost of purchasing and administering 159,687 tests between August 2020 and June 2022.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the University of Rhode Island 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.
This grant brings the total awarded by FEMA to the State of Rhode Island to almost $600 million to reimburse the state for pandemic-related expenses.