Religious leaders push $1 billion as attacks spur alarm

More than 400 Jewish and Muslim leaders are pressing Congress for $1 billion in federal funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, arguing that too few houses of worship receive support and that reimbursement rules leave smaller communities behind.

In West Bloomfield, Mich., Rabbi Jen Lader stood at Shabbat and described the quiet calculus that now follows every service: who is ready, who isn’t, and whether federal help will arrive in time.

She was speaking about a plan to lobby Congress for more funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. a federal effort administered by FEMA under the Department of Homeland Security that helps houses of worship harden security—everything from door locks and security cameras to bollards meant to stop vehicles from crashing into buildings.

Lader pointed to the March attack on her congregation of Temple Israel. No one was killed other than the attacker. She said that outcome reflected the security personnel and rigorous staff training they had been able to put in place.

“We are not asking Congress to just protect Jews – we are asking Congress to protect every community of Americans that gathers to pray. And we are asking with the full weight of what we have just lived through behind us,” she said, referencing the March attack.

If the funding and resources had been different, she told NPR, the story could have ended much differently. “If we had not had those resources and that funding, this would have been a really different story,” Lader said. “And we cannot allow a single other community to experience something as horrific as we’ve experienced. knowing that there were resources that could have gone into saving lives.”.

The pressure on Capitol Hill came with terrifying speed. The advocacy push in Washington this week landed just one day after two teenagers attacked a San Diego mosque. killing three men and themselves. For Fadi Hammami, co-president of the Islamic Association of Greater Hartford, the timing wasn’t abstract.

“It’s one of those moments where you think, is this going to happen to us? Is it a matter of when or if?” Hammami said. “Are we prepared?”

Hammami said his organization began applying for NSGP in 2019. The program, he said, uses State Administrative Agencies, which provide materials like vulnerability assessments, budget estimates, and proposed expenditures.

His group was approved for $50,000 in 2021. With that money, Hammami said they strengthened doors and bought security cameras and alarms. But he described a pause in further applications—less about the need than the administrative and cash-flow strain.

“While the merits of the program are great. the administration part has a lot to be desired. ” he told NPR. pointing to the program’s reimbursement structure. Under NSGP. nonprofits must wait for approval before starting security enhancements. and they must cover costs up front before seeking reimbursement. Hammami said some states offer a cash advance option, but the federal process remains reimbursement-based through FEMA.

“Luckily, we are one of the bigger associations and we had some reserves that we applied towards that before we could get reimbursed,” Hammami said. “But a lot of our smaller Islamic centers do not have that amount of cash.”

At the same time, advocates say the program’s design was never meant to be a full staffing solution—yet they argue the need has evolved. Shane Dennis, the community security director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, said he helps organizations navigate what applicants must map out.

“We start from the outside, whether there’s fencing or gates in the parking lot, how many entrances it has, lighting, cameras, access,” Dennis said. “And inside, looking for door locks, locations to secure yourself within a building, blind spots for cameras, things of that nature.”

Under NSGP, Dennis said individual houses of worship can request up to $200,000. Nonprofits with multiple sites can submit for up to three sites for a maximum of $600,000 per state—though he said nonprofits often apply for less.

“There’s low hanging fruit,” Dennis said. He gave examples including “good door locks” that can cost “$40-50 a door,” and the use of “stickers on doors” so law enforcement can quickly find where someone is sheltering if a lockdown is needed.

Even with clear targets, Dennis called the administrative process cumbersome and frustrating. It requires a long list of forms coordinated with state agencies and “many layers of follow up.” He also said the timeline can stretch to years, made worse by recent DHS shutdowns.

That delay—one that can turn a planned upgrade into a postponed reality—was the experience of Jerry Sorokin, executive director of Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor, Mich. Sorokin applied in 2024 to install bollards outside the school entrance.

“The problem is that you cannot begin the project until the grant has been approved, and so everything got put on hold while we waited for a response from the government,” Sorokin said. “When that response ended up being ‘no’, we were months behind where we wanted to be.”

Then the news of a truck ramming into a synagogue preschool—forty miles away—arrived this March. Sorokin said it changed how quickly he felt he had to act.

“When Temple Israel was attacked, it showed me that, in fact, this could happen to us, that we weren’t exaggerating our concerns,” Sorokin said. “And we immediately went out to rent bollards.”

He said the work is still hard because it forces other priorities to shift, and because fear itself is part of the cost.

“It’s a challenge. We have to put other priorities on hold in order to focus on upgrading security needs in the building,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter how well heated or cooled your building is – if people don’t feel comfortable being there because they’re scared, that’s not acceptable.”

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., tied the push for more funding directly to what he hears from religious communities.

“I’ve got religious leaders constantly calling me and saying, ‘I’m scared. My parishioners are scared,’” he told NPR. He said the NSGP is not meeting demand. “We are meeting fewer than half of the requests from synagogues and churches and mosques around the country, so we need more resources.”

For fiscal year 2024, Gottheimer pointed to numbers that show the mismatch between need and funding. Roughly 33 percent of applications were awarded funding. Of more than 12,000 applications received, roughly 4,000 were awarded with funds from the NSGP and a separate, related security fund.

Funding for NSGP has grown since its launch in 2005. In FY 2025, congressional appropriations were $274.5 million. That money was delayed heading out because of an extended shutdown of DHS, which ended last month. FEMA is expected to announce the FY 2025 awards in June.

“We are working diligently and as fast as we can to get the money out of the door,” said Victoria Barton, Associate Administrator for the Office of External Affairs at FEMA. “If there hadn’t been a shutdown, there wouldn’t be this delay.”

Lawmakers have pressed for an increase before this week’s lobbying. In January, they sent a letter to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem raising concerns about compliance requirements. Applicants expressed confusion about whether NSGP application materials indicated grants could be contingent on cooperating with federal immigration enforcement.

Gottheimer said houses of worship were alarmed by the possibility. “We were hearing from houses of worship that were concerned about applying, if suddenly your temple is not a safe space from an ICE raid,” he said.

New guidance to clarify requirements is expected from the department, which is under new leadership.

At the center of the current push is a bill proposed Tuesday that would increase congressional funding for the program to one billion dollars. The bill would also expand resources for state-level grant administrations and require reimbursement processing to be released within 90 days of congressional appropriations. It would ease limitations on hiring security personnel.

Advocates say the money is needed not just for locks and cameras, but for the people who keep watch.

Fingerhut, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, framed the stakes in stark terms, connecting the security guards on the ground to survival.

“The security guards at Temple Israel and the Islamic Center in San Diego were the difference between saving lives and not. ” Fingerhut said. “Security guards who work for the institution are so much more effective – they know the buildings, the families, the employees. They know when something is out of sorts.”.

That argument is echoing in the wake of the San Diego attack. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, sent a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin after the attack, expressing concerns that Islamic centers were blocked from access to NSGP funds under prior DHS leadership.

CAIR’s letter calls on DHS to host a briefing for American Muslim leaders on ensuring equal access to the NSGP and to instruct FEMA to remove any conditions on the program that restrict free speech.

Robert McCaw, CAIR’s government affairs director, said CAIR had worked with FEMA and DHS in the past to issue guidance clarifying that applying to the grant program would not trigger hostile investigations.

“I don’t think that guarantee exists under the Trump administration,” McCaw said.

FEMA told NPR that DHS has not blocked NSGP funds to Muslim groups and encourages all eligible entities to apply. FEMA said. in a statement to NPR. that under President Trump. the Department of Homeland Security is committed to protecting all Americans. no matter their faith. from terrorism and targeted violence.

McCaw said CAIR has benefitted from NSGP funding in the past to harden its headquarters. He also echoed calls from other religious institutions for funds to increase, pending confirmation from the administration of equal access to funds.

For Lader and for the more than 400 Jewish leaders who are in Washington to make the case this week. the policy debate isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s happening while congregations live with the memory of attacks and the uncertainty of whether the next one will arrive before a grant is approved. before a reimbursement is processed. or before a small community can afford to pay upfront.

They’re asking Congress for $1 billion to change the math—one grant, one lock, one guard, one prepared congregation at a time.

Nonprofit Security Grant Program NSGP FEMA Department of Homeland Security Capitol Hill religious security houses of worship Josh Gottheimer Markwayne Mullin Kristi Noem Temple Israel Islamic Center of San Diego CAIR