Nearly 90 percent of the $10 million in grants announced last week by the Department of Homeland Security to help nonprofit organizations improve their security is going to Jewish institutions.
The department announced the federal security grants last week, noting that $9 million of the total went to Jewish institutions. The allocation is down slightly from last year’s award of $9.7 million.
“The Department of Homeland Security has demonstrated a great commitment to protecting at-risk communities,” said Michael Siegal, chair of The Jewish Federations of North America’s board of trustees.
“Since Sept. 11, nonprofits generally, and Jewish communal institutions specifically, have been the victim of an alarming number of threats and attacks,” said William Daroff, vice president for public policy and director of JFNA’s Washington office.
The money to help fight terrorism comes from Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
Both the JFNA and the Orthodox Union worked to obtain the grants.
Since Congress established the program in 2005, $138 million has been distributed across the country to help at-risk nonprofits acquire and install physical security enhancements and undertake preparedness training.
— Suzanne Pollak
