Dear Recipient's Title and Name:
On behalf of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America—the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization—I am writing to express my support for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) and to ask you to sign the Dear Colleague letter being led by U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rob Portman (R-Ohio).
Since its creation in 2005, the NSGP has provided $599 million in grants that have improved the security of nonprofit organizations—including many Orthodox Jewish synagogues and schools—considered to be at risk and vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The NSGP has been a critical help for nonprofit organizations in communities such as ours to acquire and install necessary fencing and lighting, video surveillance, X-ray and metal detectors, and reinforce blast-resistant doors, locks, and windows. Such protective measures make our nonprofit organizations—and the populations they serve—safer and better able to withstand potential terrorist threats.
In FY 2021, the NSGP was funded at $180 million. Recipients of this grant included community centers, houses of worship, day schools and other organizations at risk of terror attacks. Recent such threats—at home and abroad—make the NSGP more important than ever. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security, which administers the program, estimates it will receive more than 3,300 applications for these security grants in the coming year, a demand that far exceeds available resources. Many applications are expected to be turned away.
Some of the worst attacks (and attempted attacks) on the Jewish community have occurred in recent years. They include:
- The killing of 11 Jewish congregants gathered to pray at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October 2018;
- The killing of a woman attending a Chabad synagogue in Poway, Calif. in April 2019;
- Five violent attacks this past spring in the Bronx;
- A shooting in Jersey City that killed four people–including two Jews and a police officer—during an anti-Semitic rampage that ended in a kosher grocery store;
- A bomb plot against the Temple Emanuel Synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado, in November 2019.
Given the well-documented rise in anti-Semitism and domestic terror attacks, we are respectfully requesting that NSGP funding be doubled to $360 million for FY 2022.
Your continued support of this program in the coming year and many ahead will help our schools, synagogues and other foundations of communal life continue to operate and better serve your constituents.
Please stand for the security of our vulnerable communities and sign the Gillibrand-Portman letter requesting that the NSGP is funded at $360 million. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Your Full Name
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