As of October 13, 2009: 

Notes: All Rankings are from Highest to Lowest.  For example, a ranking of 15 for “Funds Announced” means that the state had the 15th highest amount of funds announced. A ranking of 15 for the unemployment rate means that this state has the 15th highest unemployment rate.       

Terms defined by http://www.recovery.gov/

Recipient Reported Data: These data are based on data submitted by federal contract recipients to www.federalreporting.gov between Oct. 1 and Oct. 10, 2009.  On Oct. 30, 2009, the final recipient federal contract data and the final data on grants and loans will be available. It is collected and updated quarterly.

Agency Reported Data: These data are based on weekly Financial and Activity Reports filed by federal agencies receiving Recovery Act Funds.

Funds Announced: Funds that have been publicly announced as available to entities outside of the federal government.  Not all available funds are announced publicly. For example, the funds going to a project started prior to the Recovery Act that are commingled with the project’s Recovery funds will not be announced publicly before being made available to a recipient.  The Funds Announced figure should not be viewed as the total funding that an agency has made available.

Funds Available (Obligation): The term used to describe when an agency informs the public of the release of money to recipients either immediately or in the future.  

Funds Awarded: This is the amount of contract dollars that will be made available to recipients. 

Funds Paid Out: Funds that have been released from a federal agency to a recipient. 

Funds Received: The amount of money each recipient received from a federal award.  

Current Update:

Recent reports show that $334.6 million in federal contracts awarded through the federal stimulus package created or saved 1,635 Florida jobs to date.  When the data was released, Agency for Workforce Innovation Director Cynthia Lorenzo said ''The recovery is coming slowly, but it is coming.''  In a report submitted to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the state also said it has spent $4 billion in stimulus funds so far and noted that the equivalent of more than 22,000 jobs have been created or saved.  The governor's budget office estimates that the actual effect of the spending, including indirect employment, is more than 64,000 jobs.

One example of successful program implementation with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars is the expansion of Florida’s successful drug courts. It has been suggested that, if the investment works, the state could save $95 million on capital and operational court costs in the Florida State Courts System.  More than 20 years ago,Florida initiated the nation’s first drug court.  Now, the state has 107 drug courts designed for adults, juveniles and individuals involved in family dependency cases. Each year, roughly 10,000 offenders in Florida enter these programs, which pair required drug treatment schedules with regular court appearances and supervision. Now, at a time when many government programs are getting slashed in budget cuts, about $20.8 million in federal stimulus money is being used to expand the drug court programs in nine Florida counties. The additional funding should allow another 2,000 people statewide to complete drug court regimens, officials say.

Earlier this year, state legislators directed circuit judges to avoid sending nonviolent criminals to prison while channeling the funding to the targeted state drug courts.  The expansion plans anticipate 4,000 "prison bound non-violent felony offenders" to be sentenced to drug courts in the nine target counties during the next two years. About 2,000 are expected to complete the programs. Officials estimate about 1,600 of them will not enter the state's prison system.  If so, the result: a $95 million savings, money that will not be needed to build new prisons and $28 million in annual operational costs.

Education also has benefited from stimulus dollars in the states.  Currently, more than half of the jobs created or restored were in the field of education. Those jobs are one result of about $4 billion in spending, out of $14 billion that the state expects to flow through its agencies.

In education, 18,000 teachers, administrators and support staff "would have either been cut or would not have existed without (stimulus) funds," Florida Education Department spokeswoman Kelsey Lehtomaa said.  Locally, districts' threats have indicated otherwise. Before receiving stimulus money, the St.Lucie County School District announced that 331 jobs would be cut, including 157 teachers. After state lawmakers infused its budget with stimulus dollars, 290 of those jobs were restored, including all but two of the teaching positions.

One unique strategy employed by the state of Florida is to funnel more than $2.3 million in federal economic stimulus grants to eight Tampa Bay area cosmetology and massage schools to pay tuition for the hairdressers, masseuses and nail technicians of tomorrow. Some say this is a boon for beauty trades, but others wonder if the demand for such is there. Only 1 to 2 percent of beauty school graduates will be working in the field five years from graduation, said Bonnie Poole, treasurer of the Florida Cosmetology Association.

The stimulus money is being paid to beauty schools in the form of Pell Grants, which are awarded to low-income students. The grants don't have to be repaid. The government doesn't allocate the money based on an assessment of what kinds of job skills are in demand. Rather, students apply to the government for the grants and if eligible can put the money toward the vocational school, college or university to which they've been accepted.

FloridaWorks received $1.5 million in stimulus funds for job services, $590,000 of which went to summer internships and job training programs for 500 youths ages 16-24. It was open to low-income, at-risk or learning disabled youths who received $7.50 an hour for up to 100 hours for training programs or jobs at 100 employers. This was a reflection of federal legislation aimed to promote clean energy alternatives.  It also gives students a leg up in those fields that will be in high demand.  Classes were held at local community colleges and high schools in the energy sector fields. Topics discussed included the basics of solar energy, solar panel materials and how to wire the panels together. The students installed solar arrays on two small portable sections of roofing they built. They also built solar cookers - boxes made of reflective panels and plexiglass that act as a magnifier - and cooked hot dogs.