WASHINGTON (JTA) — More than 60 percent of $15 million in security grants released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will go to Jewish-affiliated groups.
Homeland Security did not release a list of grant recipients, but a person with knowledge of the list told JTA that 144 of the 227 nonprofits that received awards Tuesday are part of the Jewish community.
The grants are part of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which allows nonprofit groups in 62 designated high-threat urban areas to apply for money to acquire and install physical security enhancements intended to deter and detect terrorists and extremists such as video surveillance, blastproof windows and doors, and other enhancements. A total of $80 million in grants has now been doled out in the four years of the program.
United Jewish Communities and the Orthodox Union lauded the distribution of the grants.
"The last few weeks have reminded us that we cannot afford to be complacent when it comes to our safety and security as a community,” said William Daroff, vice president for public policy and director of UJC/Jewish Federations of North America’s Washington office. “If we have learned anything from the foiled attack at the Riverdale synagogues, the Holocaust Museum and elsewhere, it is to remain vigilant. The Nonprofit Security Grant Program is a proven resource that helps supplement the work of local and federal law enforcement to help keep us safe.”
