(As previously reported HERE on YW) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week that non-profit organizations in DHS-designated high threat areas will now be eligible to apply for funds as part of the FY2007 Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP). The grant program will provide over $24 million to strengthen the physical security of nonprofit institutions – through video surveillance equipment, alarmed and reinforced doors and windows, security barriers, metal detectors, locks, gates, fences, personnel training and other enhancements – that are at high risk of terrorist attack. 

A number of Jewish groups — which worked together within a United Jewish Communities-led coalition — hailed the decision to release the funding, which is expected to provide greater protection to Jewish community institutions and other nonprofits. Eligible entities include community centers, schools, places of worship, charitable organizations, social service agencies and other communal gathering places.

“Threats, and actual incidents, against Jewish targets in the United States and around the world, point to the particular vulnerability of our community and the need for these funds to bolster security,” said Rabbi Abba Cohen, Washington Director and Counsel of Agudath Israel of America.  Rabbi Cohen, a member of the coalition who worked with DHS officials and congressional leaders, was active in promoting the creation of the program in 2005, and in subsequent appropriations and proposed enhancements.

The release of the FY2007 funds concludes a lengthy bureaucratic saga.
After the program’s initial passage, DHS disbursed $24 million in the FY2005 appropriation. A segment of these funds went to bolster the physical security of synagogues with specialized equipment. But to the surprise and disappointment of many, the program then came to an abrupt halt.

In July of 2006, during a White House briefing to members of an Agudath Israel of America Washington Mission, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff  acknowledged that further appropriations had been held up because some officials within the DHS had not been convinced there was a ”tangible threat” to nonprofit facilities.  The Secretary used the occasion of his meeting with the Agudah delegation to announce that DHS would, in fact, be releasing the next installment of the grant funds earmarked for the protection of non-profit institutions, including Jewish religious and communal institutions.
Unfortunately, the problem was not immediately resolved with the Secretary’s stated commitment. The matter apparently got tangled up in the bureaucracy. In the ensuing months, the coalition coordinated its efforts to secure the release of the funds and move the program forward.

Rabbi Cohen stated, “This is a very welcome development, which will bring more money to more areas – from 18 in 2005 to 46 in 2007 – and their institutions.  Secretary Chertoff and DHS officials, as well as Senators Mikulski, Specter and Lieberman, and Representatives Weiner and Cantor, deserve our thanks for their commitment and hard work.
“But,” he concluded, “as the threat continues, we must look forward and continue our efforts to secure funding for FY2008 and for subsequent years.”