[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5474]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO SHARON BAILEY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DAVID E. PRICE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 29, 2016

  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, for more than 30 years, 
Sharon Bailey served the hungry and homeless of our nation as the Vice 
President and Director of the Emergency Food and Shelter (EFS) program 
at United Way Worldwide.
  Mrs. Bailey passed away on September 9th of last year. We offer our 
deepest sympathy to her husband and daughter and her extended family, 
but also to her staff at United Way, the National Board members she 
served over the years, and especially to the staffs at social services 
agencies across America that have worked with her since 1983.
  The EFS program began in 1983 as a creation of the House 
Appropriations Committee. It was reacting to an outcry across the 
country to help supplement the local food and shelter providers dealing 
with a burgeoning problem. Later it was authorized, in 1985, as Title 
III of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. It's a unique 
program that is administered by a National Board that determines the 
funding allocations across the country as well as the eligible uses of 
the funds.
  The EFS National Board is chaired by the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency (FEMA) with membership that includes the American Red Cross, 
Catholic Charities USA, the Jewish Federations of North America, the 
National Council of Churches, the Salvation Army and United Way 
Worldwide. The program is administered at the local level by an EFS 
Local Board whose membership mirrors the National Board but also 
contains a representative of local government as well as other agencies 
active in assisting the homeless and hungry in the community. Eligible 
services include the provision of overnight shelter and served meals, 
assistance to food banks and pantries, one month's rental or mortgage 
assistance to prevent evictions, and one month's utility payments to 
prevent service cut-offs.
  The program has a very broad distribution system, annually reaching 
out to up to 2,500 local communities and more than 12,000 local service 
organizations (both charitable and governmental). In order to 
administer such a large program, chiefly among the non-profit 
community, the EFS National Board chose United Way to serve as the 
program's Secretariat. It is in that role that Sharon Bailey began her 
three decades of service to the EFS program. That service included 
providing leadership to advance the emergency funds of more than $4 
billion over the life to the program rapidly while maintaining 
accountability at all levels.
  In her position, Sharon served as the sounding board and counselor 
not only to her own staff but to hundreds of staff on EFS Local Boards 
as well as Local Recipient Organizations all across the county. She 
interpreted program policy and, when in doubt, brought waivers and 
similar requests before the National Board at its monthly meetings. She 
coordinated the annual audit of the program by independent outside 
firms, fulfilled governmental requests for information, managed the EFS 
program's web site and maintained the overall budget of the program. 
It's important to note that all of this work at the national level was 
carried out with Sharon and her staff only using 1 percent of the 
program's 3.5 percent administrative budget.
  Sharon also arranged the National Board's on-site visits to meet with 
Local Board and provider groups to understand the program's impact and 
to learn how to simplify and improve its processes. I attended one of 
these visits in my District several years ago and can attest to the 
open exchange of ideas, and also to Sharon Bailey's devotion to the 
people the program served. Perhaps a recognition of that devotion is 
the most fitting memorial to her dedication and service to our nation 
and the people most in need our help.

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