Washington, D.C. – Last night, Congress reached agreement on a FY17 year-end spending bill. Included in the budget is an increased allocation to the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP). Find below a statement from William Daroff, the senior vice president for public policy and director of the Washington office for The Jewish Federations of North America on the NSGP funding:

“Since September 11th, nonprofits, in general, and Jewish communal institutions, in particular, have been targeted by international terrorist organizations and homegrown violent extremists from across the ideological spectrum. Today, threats to Jewish institutions are an unfortunate reality we live with, and justify the need to continue and bolster the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) as a vital security resource and preparedness catalyst to our communities.

“We are grateful that Congress has acted upon our concerns and has agreed to direct $25 million in new funding to the NSGP program this year in bipartisan spending legislation that is expected to pass later this week. This amounts to a $5 million increase over the FY 2016 level and a return to the program’s initial appropriation in FY 2005. With the passage of the pending spending bill, Congress will have appropriated nearly $210 million to the program since its inception.

“NSGP grant awards protect against threats and mitigate the effects of attacks, including the installation of access controls, barriers, blast-proofing, monitoring and surveillance capability, and cyber security enhancements. The Jewish Federations first proposed this program to Congress in 2004 and has been the lead advocate for its continuation, along with coalition partners such as the Orthodox Union.”