Religious leaders and lawmakers are pressing Congress to increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, or NSGP, as communities seek more support to protect houses of worship. The lobbying effort, led in part by Jewish organizations, comes as advocates point to recent attacks and say they have repeatedly seen a gap between threats and what available grant dollars can cover.
Rabbi Jen Lader described the request as broader than protecting one faith community. Speaking at a Shabbat service in West Bloomfield, Michigan, she said the push is intended to secure “every community of Americans that gathers to pray,” and she linked the advocacy to what she said was the March attack on Temple Israel, where she said no one was killed other than the attacker. Lader credited Temple Israel’s security personnel and training for limiting casualties, and she said the absence of the kind of resources funded through NSGP could have led to different outcomes. She said the group could not allow other communities to experience what she described as a similarly horrific incident when funding exists that could help save lives.
Lader and more than 400 Jewish leaders traveled to Washington this week to press for an increase in NSGP funding. Eric Fingerhut, president and chief executive of the Jewish Federations of North America, said the week’s Capitol Hill meetings reflect the scale of demand for security upgrades and described the current level of support as insufficient to meet requests. He said the current program is meeting fewer than half of the requests from synagogues, churches and mosques, adding that the organizations need more resources.
The advocacy is arriving as lawmakers and religious organizations also respond to other recent attacks. NPR reported that the Capitol Hill effort was scheduled one day after two teenagers attacked a San Diego mosque, killing three men and themselves. Fadi Hammami, co-president of the Islamic Association of Greater Hartford, said the episode underscored the need to ask whether communities are prepared, and he described the planning question as whether an attack is “a matter of when or if.”
Hammami said the Islamic Association of Greater Hartford began applying for NSGP in 2019 and received approval for $50,000 in 2021. He said the organization used that money to strengthen doors and buy security cameras and alarms, but he said they later stopped applying while criticizing the reimbursement-based structure and the administration requirements. He said nonprofits cannot begin security upgrades until they get approval, and must provide funds up front to be reimbursed later, with FEMA’s process relying on reimbursement rather than immediate financing. Hammami said larger organizations may have reserves to cover that delay, while smaller Islamic centers may not.
Other security directors described how the program’s structure shapes what communities can do and how long upgrades can take. Shane Dennis, community security director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, said his role involves advising organizations on everything from fencing or gates and lighting to how many entrances a site has, which cameras cover particular areas, and where blind spots exist. He said NSGP can support requests up to $200,000 for a single house of worship, and nonprofits with multiple sites can submit for up to three sites for a maximum of $600,000 per state, though he said many nonprofits apply for less. Dennis also said some costs can be relatively small compared with the broader need—for example, quoting the typical price range of door locks and describing the use of door labels to help law enforcement locate a specific area when a building is locked down. He said the application can take years because of paperwork and coordination with state administrative agencies, and he said DHS shutdowns have made the timeline longer.
Jerry Sorokin, executive director of Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor, said his congregation applied in 2024 to install bollards outside a school entrance, but that the project was put on hold until grant approval. He said the response was “no,” leaving the congregation months behind on upgrades, before he said he later watched news of a truck ramming a synagogue preschool about forty miles away. Sorokin said that attack prompted him to rent bollards immediately, and he said the challenges of upgrading security require placing other priorities on hold. He also said that even if a building is climate controlled, it is not acceptable if people do not feel comfortable attending because they are afraid.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Josh Gottheimer said he hears directly from religious leaders who are concerned about safety and that lawmakers need more NSGP resources. He said, based on fiscal year 2024 figures, roughly 33% of NSGP applications were awarded funding. Gottheimer also said the program received more than 12,000 applications and that about 4,000 were awarded with funds from NSGP and a separate related security fund.
Gottheimer and other lawmakers are pushing for legislative changes tied to the size of the grant program and parts of its administration. NPR reported that for fiscal year 2025, NSGP congressional appropriations were $274.5 million, and that Barton said an extended DHS shutdown delayed the money reaching program recipients until the shutdown ended last month. Barton said FEMA expects to announce fiscal year 2025 awards in June, and she linked the delay directly to the shutdown. Separately, NPR reported that a proposed bill would seek to raise NSGP funding to $1 billion, increase resources for state-level grant administration, require reimbursement processing to be released within 90 days of congressional appropriations, and ease limitations on hiring security personnel.
Advocates also raised questions about administrative conditions and equal access. NPR reported that lawmakers said applicants were concerned and confused about whether NSGP materials indicated grants could be contingent on cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, and Gottheimer said some houses of worship feared applying could mean their congregation would no longer be treated as a safe space from an ICE raid. CAIR also weighed in after the Monday attack, NPR reported, sending a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin expressing concerns about access under prior DHS leadership and calling for a briefing for American Muslim leaders. FEMA told NPR that DHS has not blocked NSGP funds to Muslim groups and encouraged eligible entities to apply, and it said the department is committed to protecting Americans “no matter their faith” from terrorism and targeted violence.