Why Is It Necessary to Determine If There is Federal Assistance

In order to determine whether Title VI, Title IX, and other grant related nondiscirmination statutes apply to the programs or activities of an entity, it must be determined whether the entity is a recipient of federal financial assistance.  Deteriming which federal agency funds an entity will also help identify the agency where the discrimination complaint should be sent.

Possible Sources of Federal Assistance to Recipients

The websites included below can help identify whether an entity is recipient or sub-recipient of federal financial assistance from one or more federal agencies.

• Office of Management and Budget, USA Spending.gov, http://www.usaspending.gov/
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAAGS), http://taggs.hhs.gov/index.cfm
• Office of Justice Programs, OJP Grant Awards, http://grants.ojp.usdoj.gov:85/selector/main

In addition, recipients must report grants received from the federal government pursuant to the Single Audit Act and OMB Circular 133.  This database is searchable by entity and yields information about specific grants and grant amounts received, among other things.  This data base can be accessed by going to:   http://harvester.census.gov/sac/dissem/entity.html

Sources of Information on Federal Financial Assistance

• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
• Enforcement of Nondiscrimination Laws in Programs and Activities that Receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funding Memorandum from Attorney General Eric Holder – September 27, 2010