Trump administration releases $94 million in security grants for Jewish institutions

JTA — The US Department of Homeland Security announced it would award $94 million in security grants to 512 Jewish organizations Friday, citing recent violence against Jewish groups.

The agency said the funds would “help protect Jewish faith-based institutions from further attacks,” such as those in Washington, DC, and Boulder, Colorado.

“DHS is working to put a stop to the deeply disturbing rise in antisemitic attacks across the United States,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. “That this money is necessary at all is tragic. Antisemitic violence has no place in this country. However, under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that Jewish people in the United States can live free of the threat of violence and terrorism.”

The shooting in Washington in late May killed two Israeli embassy staffers outside the city’s Jewish museum. Less than two weeks later, a firebombing attack in Boulder on a rally supporting Israeli hostages injured more than a dozen people, one of whom recently died of her wounds.

Last week’s grants mark the release of around half of the funding still tied up from a Trump administration review of federal spending.

The funding, which is distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), was expected to include the full $220 million that has yet to be released to recipients.

NSGP provides funding for faith-based institutions, including synagogues, schools and Jewish community centers, to pay for security measures to protect their buildings from attack. Last month, FEMA lifted the Trump administration’s two-month-long freeze on funding.

Lauren Wolman, the director of federal policy and strategy at the Anti-Defamation League, told Jewish Insider that while the recent funding announcement was welcome, “the job isn’t done.”

“We welcome the administration awarding $94 million in Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) funding to help protect over 500 Jewish institutions amid the historic levels of antisemitic threats that ADL is tracking,” said Wolman. “But the job isn’t done. DHS must urgently release the additional NSGP supplemental funds Congress appropriated to meet overwhelming demand and save lives. ADL will continue working with lawmakers and senior officials to underscore both the urgency of increasing funding and moving previously appropriated funding.”