In Wake of January Attack on Texas Synagogue, New Legislation Would Almost Triple Funding for Nonprofit Security Grant Program
Edited by: TJVNews.com
The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security passed a bill that would authorize $500 million each year for 2023-2028 for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), so that synagogues and other houses of worship, day schools and other nonprofits at risk of terror attacks can improve building security.
The Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act (HR 6825), introduced Friday by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), committee chair, and Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), ranking member, comes in the wake of the Jan. 15 hostage-taking at a Colleyville, Texas synagogue, as well as deadly attacks on other synagogues and churches nationally. The bill also directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which administers the NSGP, to establish a dedicated office within the agency to administer the grants.
The Nonprofit Security Grant Program is currently funded at $180 million, and Jewish advocacy organizations have been pressing to double that amount to $360 million for 2022. The new legislation, as an authorization bill, may modify the existing NSGP program, but can’t guarantee, the increased funding. The House and Senate Appropriations committees—and each full chamber—will determine final funding levels.
Jewish advocacy organizations have also successfully championed state-level security funding programs. In New York, for example, they pressed for increased monies for the state’s Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes, with proposed funding at $25 million, and $45 million for Nonpublic School Safety Equipment for 2022; in Pennsylvania, in the most recent budget cycle, the state’s Nonprofit Security Grant Fund awarded $5 million to nonprofits at risk for hate crimes, due to their work, the amount proposed for state NSGP funding is $2 million for 2022. In Florida, they pushed for Jewish day school security funding helped result in $4 million approved for 2021-22.
