Danielle V. Minson — Raising the Bar
SAFE Cincinnati Helps Jewish Agencies Earn Ohio Preparedness Grants
With the support of SAFE Cincinnati, seven Jewish organizations in Cincinnati have been awarded grant funding from the state of Ohio to make security improvements that assist the organizations in reducing the risks of terrorism and other emergencies.
SAFE Cincinnati, coordinated by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, is an initiative to create a secure and participatory community through physical security improvements, emergency preparedness plans, and communication. SAFE Cincinnati provided strategic support to local Jewish organizations that applied for Security Grants for Nonprofits through the Ohio Emergency Management Agency (Ohio EMA) with tremendous success. Every local organization that submitted an application received funding.
The local organizations receiving grants are Adath Israel Congregation, Cincinnati Hebrew Day School, Chabad Blue Ash, Hebrew Union College, Mayerson JCC, Rockdale Temple, and Rockwern Academy.
The total amount of funding made available by House Bill No. 384 was $7.3 million. The bill allowed nonprofit organizations to apply for up to $100,000, to be used for security improvements including physical target hardening, terrorism awareness training, and cyber security.
“Incidents will happen,” said Mike Epstein, SAFE Cincinnati advisory committee member and senior director of risk management and business continuity at E.W. Scripps. “At some point, we will face physical and/or cyber security threats, let alone natural disasters. Our community has been the target of several incidents just this past year. However, with additional funding, we can minimize and prevent threats, and prepare to respond when they do occur.”
Inspiration for the bill came during a trip to Israel, which the Federation helped coordinate and fund. Jewish leaders, including Ohio Jewish Communities (OJC) Executive Director Howie Beigelman, led a group of Ohio lawmakers and business leaders to Israel in order to see firsthand the issues and challenges affecting Israelis and to discuss Jewish issues in the United States. Beigelman works closely with our local Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), a part of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, to advocate for the Jewish community and to secure funding; he was instrumental in helping coordinate the passage of House Bill No. 384.
“We truly appreciate the efforts of the OJC, JCRC, and SAFE Cincinnati to advocate for the protection of Jewish and non-Jewish nonprofit organizations,” said Federation President Tedd Friedman. “They helped secure critical funding outside of the Federation’s Annual Campaign and The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati. These dollars will strengthen physical security and increase preparedness within Jewish Cincinnati. Obtaining money from new sources makes it much easier to do this important work.”
While all nonprofits were eligible to apply, grant funds were awarded to those that demonstrated specific vulnerability to acts of terror, including Jewish and other religious organizations.
“Threats against Jewish organizations are real and imminent,” said Federation COO Avi Ram. “In April, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released its quarterly Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents and found an 86% increase in the number of incidents targeting Jews and Jewish organizations in the first three months of 2017, and according to their data, the rate of increase is accelerating. This illustrates the dire need for funding to preemptively address security threats.”
Qualifying organizations were informed of their award the week of April 24 and must complete installations of security improvements by June 30, 2018. SAFE Cincinnati will continue to work with local qualifying organizations to implement their security efforts and improvements.
