As of 2017, persistent-poverty counties were predominantly rural and more frequently located in the South than in other regions. GAO identified 409 persistent-poverty counties (13 percent of all counties), roughly 50 percent of which were rural. In contrast, high-poverty census tracts—which represented 28 percent of all census tracts—were frequently urban (74 percent). Publically reported fed

The Small Business Administration (SBA) annually issues a funding opportunity announcement with an estimate of total funding for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Program. Individual SBDCs are required to use this estimate to apply for their portion of the funding. In fiscal year 2016, SBA began using the lowest funding estimate—the amount in the President's budget—rather than an e

GAO created the Disaster Resilience Framework to serve as a guide for analysis of federal actions to facilitate and promote resilience to natural disasters. It is organized around three broad overlapping principles and a series of questions that those who provide oversight or management of federal efforts can consider when analyzing opportunities to enhance their contribution to national disaster

Las agencias federales pueden apoyar los esfuerzos de recuperación de la red eléctrica a largo plazo en Puerto Rico a través de tres funciones principales—proporcionando fondos y asistencia técnica y coordinando entre agencias locales y federales. La Agencia Federal para el Manejo de Emergencias (FEMA, por sus siglas en inglés) y el Departamento de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano (HUD) son la

The Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which was enacted in December 2015, made a number of significant changes to the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program, but the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the modal administration that is responsible for the program, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), are still in the early stages of implementing

During the Hurricane Sandy Recovery, five federal programs--the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Public Assistance (PA), Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the Federal Transit Administration's Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers'

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is in the process of allocating, obligating, and disbursing the $13 billion appropriated by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013 (DRAA) for surface transportation relief. Most of the DRAA surface transportation funds--over $10 billion--were appropriated to the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) new Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program.

Of the approximately $608 million spent by the Department of Commerce's (Commerce) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in fiscal years 2009 through 2013 on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, NIST used most of the funds to directly support MEP centers. Specifically, NIST spent about $495 million on awards to centers and spent the rest on contracts, staff, agen

Brand USA's global campaign promotes travel to all 50 states through various television, print, billboard, Internet, and social media advertising activities, and its targeted campaigns conduct similar promotions in selected countries. To select countries for targeted campaigns, Brand USA uses several criteria, including volume of visitors and tourism revenue from the country. Brand USA launched t

During fiscal years 2009 through 2011, four administrations within DOT obligated about $144 billion from the HTF. As shown in figure 1 below, FHWA obligated the largest share--about 81 percent--of this total, specifically: 1) FHWA obligated $116.7 billion from the HTF. A majority--about 81 percent--was obligated to construct and maintain highways and bridges. The remainder was obligated for other