FERA

Abbreviation for Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the U.S. government work relief agency created by the Federal Emergency Relief Act of May 1933 to provide direct aid to the states for the needy and unemployed during the Great Depression. The FERA also funded public works projects. With the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935, the functions of the FERA were assumed by the Social Security Board, which was then replaced by the Social Security Administration in 1946.