FEMA Awards More Than $2 Million to Berklee College of Music for COVID-19 Testing Costs

BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $2 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse the Berklee College of Music for the costs of providing testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $2,026,245 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the private music and performing arts college in Boston for contracting to provide 121,120 COVID tests for students, faculty and staff between June and December 2021.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the Berklee College of Music 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 more than $1.3 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.