NY Congress members promote federal
grants to combat anti-Semitic crimes
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JAN. 10-JAN. 16, 2020 19
BY MARK HALLUM
Members of Congress from
New York City plan to make
federal grants more accessible
to nonprofits and institutions
of worship for better security
measures and even security
staff.
Up to $90 million in enhanced
grant funding is being
promoted by the New York Congressional
delegation after a recent
wave anti-Semitic attacks
across the five boroughs and
surrounding communities.
“When someone applies
for this grant, what it can apply
to is a camera not only
inward facing but outward
facing which is important as
it pertains to prosecuting a
crime but preventing it. This
grant can be used for security
guard personnel,” Brooklyn/
Staten Island Congressman
Max Rose said. “This grant
certainly is not a silver bullet,
there is so much more that
needs to happen.
Rose added that enforcement
should be a “wack-a-mole
situation” and should have
a preventative approach as
many of the recent attacks did
not happen in an institution of
any kind, but in the streets.
How quickly funds get
rolled out grant recipients
would be under the purview of
FEMA.
“We have worked to secure,
first in fiscal year 2018,
doubling the funding from
the year before to $50 million
and in this most recent fiscal
year to almost doubling it
to $90 million,” Queens Congresswoman
Grace Meng said.
“This funding is for mosques,
synagogues, churches and every
month that we go around
talking to our local nonprofit
institutions, we still find more
leaders who don’t know about
this grant.”
The announcement comes
less than a week after the final
day of Hanukkah, when Mayor
Bill de Blasio implemented
a heightened NYPD presence
in Jewish communities across
the city after attacks in upstate
Monsey and Jersey City
last month.
“The first responsibility
of government is to keep our
people safe… In New York we
are experiencing an historic
low in crime, but an increase
in hate crimes,” Manhattan/
Queens Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney said. “This
important non-profit security
grant… allows them to hire
security personnel.”
Brooklyn Congresswoman
Yvette Clarke said the funds
will help the government take
on anti-Semitism at the community
level rather than a less
focused measure.
“This is an issue we have to
deal with on the granular level,
in the communities where
we live,” Clarke said.
Rose also said the New
York delegation would continue
to work to social media
platforms accountable for
hate speech and graphic content
that is either never taken
down or not taken down fast
enough, such as the video of
the New Zealand mass shooting
at a mosque in March.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum
by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4564.
The Congressional delegation from New York combined to discuss
measures to make the Jewish community and other ethnic groups
safer in the city. Photo by Todd Maisel
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