Social Services Block Grant (Title XX): the federal money some states spend on rides

The Social Services Block Grant is the federal money states use for social services they choose themselves, and some of it goes to rides. It is Title XX of the Social Security Act, usually shortened to SSBG or Title XX. A ride company meets it through a county or an area agency on aging, as in the guide to area agency on aging transportation. Another county-run source of ride money is covered in the guide to TANF transportation.

How much money the grant provides

The statute sets the national amount at $1.7 billion a year, and each state receives a share based on population. Section 1397b(c)(11) of the statute gives that figure for fiscal year 2001 and every year after, and section 1397b(b) divides it among the states in proportion to their populations. A state has the year it receives the money and the next year to spend it. It may also move up to 10 percent of its allotment to certain health and energy block grants.

The statute lists five goals for the money. They include economic self-support, self-sufficiency, preventing abuse and neglect of people who cannot protect themselves, and reducing inappropriate institutional care by providing community-based or home-based care. Beyond those goals, Congress describes the grant’s purpose as giving states more flexibility, which is why spending differs so much from state to state.

Where transportation fits in what states buy

Transportation is category 28 in the federal list of services a state reports. Appendix A to 45 CFR Part 96 defines it as services or activities that provide or arrange for the travel, including travel costs, of individuals in order to access services or obtain medical care or employment. The definition adds special modes of transportation and personnel to accompany or assist people who ride. States report recipients and spending by category each year under 45 CFR 96.74, so rides are one line among the services a state buys.

Whether a given county buys them is a local decision, and two Ohio counties show how it differs:

• Ashtabula County. Its request for proposals of June 12, 2026 asked for rides in and out of the county for health care, work, school and daycare, and named Title XX among the programs whose eligible residents the rides serve. Proposals were due July 10, 2026.
• Trumbull County. Its federal fiscal year 2027 notice, posted in August 2026, lists Title XX home health aide, homemaker, chore and adult protective services as one group of services and non-emergency medical transportation and pregnancy-related rides as another, so no Title XX transportation category appears. Bids were due September 4, 2026.

How an area agency on aging pays for rides with it

Area agencies on aging can use the grant for senior rides, and the buyer’s solicitation sets the terms. The Southern Mississippi Area Agency on Aging’s request for the year from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027 shows one version:

• Funding. Title XX-SSBG federal funds of $500,000, with a match, and $90,000 of Older Americans Act Title III-B funds.
• Riders. People 60 or older who do not live in a long-term care facility.
• Match. The proposer supplies 25 percent of the SSBG-funded cost and 10 percent of the Title III-B-funded cost, in local cash or in-kind contributions.
• Payment. A fixed price per unit of service, which is one one-way trip, paid monthly after the provider files a monthly reporting worksheet. Awards go by performance and unit cost.
• Fares. Riders cannot be charged, though each must be given the chance to contribute, and the budget has to include program income of at least 1 percent of the total.

The notice of intent to propose was due April 24, 2026, about five months before the contract year began.

Finding the work in your state

1. Read the state’s intended use report. Under 42 U.S.C. 1397c, a state must prepare it before spending its Title XX payments, send it to HHS and publish it so anyone can comment.
2. Find who spends the money locally. In the examples above it was a county job and family services office and an area agency on aging.
3. Watch their solicitations, and ask each buyer for the unit of service, the match and how clients may contribute before you price a bid.
4. Ask which program each trip is charged to, and keep Title XX trips separate from Medicaid trips on your invoices.

Some of these contracts, like the Mississippi one, bill per one-way trip. In HealthRide every one-way trip is its own trip with GPS-recorded miles and timestamps, so the count you invoice ties back to a record.