[wvns] Jewish Groups Secure Homeland Security Funding
Jewish Groups Secure Major Funding From
Department Of Homeland Security
Beth Young, Washington
JTA Wire Service
OCTOBER 09, 2007
http://www.jewishtimes.com/News/7042.stm
Jewish institutions will receive the majority of U.S. federal funds
designated this year to help secure non-profit organizations. Of the
308 grants awarded through the Urban Areas Security Initiative
Non-Profit Security Grant Program, 251 are being allocated to Jewish
groups totaling $19.6 million.
The $24 million in total grants announced by the Department of
Homeland Security last week vary in amounts, with $100,000 the
maximum. The funds are used to provide everything from roadblocks to
security cameras to blast-proof doors and windows at locations that
could be terrorist targets.
The grants were announced a few days after representatives of the
Department of Homeland Security's Center for Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives toured the Jewish community's national security alert
organization in Manhattan.
A presidential order created the center in March 2006 in response to
the lack of coordination between the Federal Emergency Planning Agency
and faith and community-based groups that volunteered on the Gulf
Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Center director John Kim Cook, who took over six weeks ago, is meeting
with community organizations across the country to understand how his
agency can best help them take care of their own.
"Our objective is to get right in the middle of [Department of
Homeland Security] policy to really work with the programs of DHS to
make sure there's not discrimination, and secondly to provide outreach
to faith-based community organizations," Cook told JTA. "We want to
foster an environment that welcomes participation of these
organizations. With our preparedness programs, if we touch
congregations throughout the land, we would touch the majority of the
people in the U.S."
Cook's deputy, Greg DiNapoli, joined him Sept. 25 in touring the
Secure Community Network facility. Representatives from the DHS bomb
prevention squad and members of the New York Police Department were on
hand as well to meet with the SCN advisory board, which is comprised
of representatives from the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, the Anti-Defamation League, United Jewish
Communities, the New York Board of Rabbis and the Jewish Institute for
National Security Affairs.
SCN director Paul Goldenberg said he believes the potential for future
attacks against Jews in America cannot be underrated.
"Anywhere where Jews gather is a potential target," he told JTA. "I
think synagogues are particularly susceptible because they're
considered soft targets, but my concern is the lone wolf, the most
difficult to investigate. The only real mitigation we have is to make
the community aware of these types of individuals and train them about
what to look out for."
The research bears out Goldenberg's concerns. "DHS conducted a
two-phase assessment based on investment justifications and state,
local and national law enforcement review," United Jewish Communities,
the umbrella body for Jewish federations, said in a news release. "The
result underscores a troubling fact: The Jewish community is at risk
in a way and at a level not shared by other groups."
After one woman was killed and five were wounded in an attack on the
Jewish federation building in Seattle last year, UJC stepped up its
involvement this year to ensure that the SCN program was funded and
that Jewish organizations were informed how to apply for grants.
That work apparently paid off. The grant program was funded with $25
million in 2005, but had not been funded in 2006. Beyond the $24
million approved for this year, he Senate is now considering approval
of $20 million in grants for 2008.
"Since Sept. 11, non-profits and Jewish institutions have been the
victims of an alarming number of threats and attacks," said William
Daroff, UJC's vice president of public policy and the group's
Washington director, who played a major role in securing the funding.
"We just marked the one-year anniversary of the attack in Seattle. One
federation staff member was killed in that attack. We hope this
recognition will help make it so that attacks like this do not occur
in the future."
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle received the maximum grant of
$100,000 for this year, but had applied with the purpose of helping
other groups in Seattle, including the Seattle Hebrew Academy and the
Seattle Community School, to install security cameras and doors that
can withstand heavy impact.
"Since the shooting we have definitely upgraded the facility, but it's
something we're constantly working on, we're constantly upgrading,"
said Zack Carstensen, director of government affairs at the Seattle
federation. "Security is one of the top priorities here. You'll find
that throughout the Jewish community in Seattle."
Many of the grants were awarded to organizations in the New York area.
Another large concentration was in Maryland, where $900,000 will go to
19 Jewish organizations, including individual congregations and
institutions such as the Jewish Museum of Maryland and the Maimonides
Academy of Baltimore.
Goldenberg said that despite the high level of security concerns at
Jewish institutions, it is important not to "get to the point where
we're building walls around our synagogues and around our federations."
"We have to do everything that we can to harden our locations and to
make them much less appealing to people who want to do harm to our
communities," he said, "but Secure Community Network is not out there
to say the sky is falling."
Cook said he was impressed by the communication and coordination
within the community that makes SCN an effective organization, and he
pledged to work with SCN to offer disaster response training to the
Jewish community.
"It is comprehensive training that teaches citizens how to respond to
an act of terrorism, first aid, how to stay alive during a
catastrophic event and help others," Goldenberg said. "We're formally
and officially working at the highest levels to promote that training.
It can save lives."
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