Pay Up Whitey, You Have Jews to Protect

Jewish institutions will receive the majority of U.S. federal funds -- your tax money -- 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.


Center director John Kim Cook said: "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’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.


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.


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.