Cuomo proposes security grants for vulnerable houses of worship

Houses of worship vulnerable to bias attacks would be eligible for government-funded security grants — a change in New York State policy — under a $25 million proposal announced Thursday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Addressing a meeting of 600 representatives of religious institutions gathered at the state’s “NO HATE IN OUR STATE” conference at Manhattan’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Cuomo lamented the rise in reported crimes targeting Jews and their religious institutions in New York.

“My job is to make sure that government is doing everything that it can to protect the people of this state in giving you the ability to protect yourselves,” Cuomo said to an audience that included Jews, Christians, Muslims and people of other religions.

Cuomo said crimes against houses of worship had increased 35% in the last couple of years.

The governor was citing FBI nationwide statistics covering incidents from 2014 to 2018, his spokesman Peter Ajemian said. 

The state's recent security grants had covered community centers, nonprofit day care centers, private schools, nonprofit camps and other cultural institutions, Ajemian said. He said a house of worship — a synagogue, a church, a mosque — would be eligible but only if it had one of those places like a school or cultural center attached. 

The proposed $25 million is on top of $45 million, which is available now but has not been awarded. Institutions vulnerable to bias attack can apply for this money, though not stand-alone houses of worship. The deadline to apply for a piece of the $45 million is Feb. 27. The spokesman said there is no deadline for the $25 million pool because it's part of Cuomo's proposed budget that hasn't yet passed. 

In a round of security-grant funding announced in 2018, 40 organizations in Nassau and four in Suffolk got $2,137,785 million in grants, and in a second round, announced in December of last year, 41 organizations in Nassau and four in Suffolk got $2,161,410 in grants, Ajemian said.

Across New York State, 305 projects got funding totaling $14.8 million in the first round and 207 projects got $10.2 million in the second round, he said.

The money can be used for “physical security enhancements and support security training,” according to a news release from Cuomo’s office.

 According to the budget being proposed, a grant can be awarded for “nonprofit organizations at risk of hate crimes or attacks because of their ideology, beliefs or mission. Provided that an assessment of facilities at risk may include, but not be limited to, considerations of the vulnerabilities of the organization based on its location and membership, and the potential consequences of a hate crime or attack at the facility.”

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.