WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Jewish Federations of North America organized an advocacy fly-in of more than 400 Jewish leaders to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to support increased funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The program, administered by FEMA under the Department of Homeland Security, awards funding to nonprofits for security enhancements including door locks, security cameras, and bollards to prevent vehicles from crashing into buildings.

In fiscal year 2024, roughly 33 percent of applications were awarded funding. More than 12,000 applications were received, and approximately 4,000 received funds from the program and a related security fund. Funding for the program has increased since its launch in 2005.

At a Shabbat service in West Bloomfield, Michigan, Rabbi Jen Lader announced plans to lobby Congress to increase funding for the program. Temple Israel in West Bloomfield was attacked in March, and Lader said security personnel and rigorous staff training prevented any deaths other than the attacker.

"If we had not had those resources and that funding, this would have been a really different story," Lader said. "And we cannot allow a single other community to experience something as horrific as we've experienced, knowing that there were resources that could have gone into saving lives."

Lader was among the more than 400 Jewish leaders who traveled to Washington, D.C., to push for an increase in program funding. "We are not asking Congress to just protect Jews – we are asking Congress to protect every community of Americans that gathers to pray," she said. "And we are asking with the full weight of what we have just lived through behind us."

The Islamic Association of Greater Hartford began applying for the program in 2019 and was approved for $50,000 in 2021, which it used to strengthen doors and purchase security cameras and alarms. Co-president Fadi Hammami pointed to a shooting at the largest mosque complex in San Diego, where two teenage gunmen killed three people before being found dead in a car from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, according to police.

"It's one of those moments where you think, is this going to happen to us? Is it a matter of when or if? Are we prepared?" Hammami said. He said in an interview that although the program has merits, its reimbursement structure is unsatisfactory because nonprofits must wait for approval and initially fund projects themselves.

"Luckily, we are one of the bigger associations and we had some reserves that we applied towards that before we could get reimbursed," Hammami said. "But a lot of our smaller Islamic centers do not have that amount of cash."

Representative Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., is part of a contingent of lawmakers supporting increased funding. "I've got religious leaders constantly calling me and saying, 'I'm scared. My parishioners are scared.' We are meeting fewer than half of the requests from synagogues and churches and mosques around the country, so we need more resources," Gottheimer said.