By David Bocarsly in Sacramento, California
We have extraordinary news to share. Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the state budget, finalizing $80 million in ongoing, annual funding for the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program as part of the three-party agreement between the Governor, the Assembly, and the Senate.
This money helps synagogues and other houses of worship, LGBTQ and community centers, schools, and reproductive health centers across California afford the security infrastructure needed to safeguard their congregants, staff, and visitors.
This is a generational win. For years, the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program has been funded one budget cycle at a time. The program began 10 years ago, and each year since Jewish California returned to Sacramento to make the case all over again. Nothing was guaranteed – in recent years, the program’s funding swung from $15 million, to $0, to $50 million, to $40 million, to $80 million, leaving institutions to plan their security upgrades around a number that changed every single year.
That era is over.
With the Governor’s signature, California has now committed to a guaranteed funding floor for the program every year into the future – a stable, predictable source that institutions can apply to with confidence.
This is the difference between fighting for survival every twelve months and building from a stable foundation. We will no longer start each year at zero. We begin with $80 million.
At our encouragement, California established the program in 2015 to supplement federal funds and help our institutions meet rising demand.
By 2018, state security funding stood at $500,000. Today it is $80 million in ongoing annual funding – a 15,900% increase.
That growth represents an immense investment of political capital and your advocacy, year after year, that translates directly into security doors, cameras, lighting, training, and personnel that keep our community safe.
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David Bocarsly is the chief executive officer of Jewish California.