Lt. Gov. Austin Davis announces $10 million in nonprofit security grants
"Hate has no place here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania...every Pennsylvanian deserves the right to be safe and feel safe in their community."

During a Tuesday news conference at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis announced the renewal of the Non-Profit Security Grant Fund as part of the state budget, with $10 million available for nonprofit organizations to protect the safety and security of their facilities.
Joined by state Sen. Jay Costa, state Reps. Dan Frankel and Abigail Salisbury, Tree of Life, Inc. CEO Carole Zawatsky and the Federation’s Director of Community Security Shawn Brokos, Davis, who serves as chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, said the funding is double the amount provided the previous year.
Davis began by referencing the recent Tree of Life, Inc. groundbreaking, saying that he and Gov. Josh Shapiro attended and were greeted by a sense of hope, resilience and strength.
“I want to be clear,” Davis said, “Hate has no place here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. No matter what you look like, who you love or how you choose to worship, every Pennsylvanian deserves the right to be safe and feel safe in their community.”
The $10 million, he said, will support much-needed planning, training, equipment and technology upgrades in places of worship, community centers and other nonprofits.
This is the grant’s seventh iteration, Davis noted and said that, to date, it has provided $25 million in funding to more than 580 organizations across the commonwealth impacting about 4 million people.
Costa pointed out that while the grant is used largely by faith-based organizations, it is available to other groups.
“Those organizations that are at risk for harm based on gender, their faith, their ethnicity, who they love or don’t love, whatever the case might be,” he said.
What the organizations that have received the grants have in common is that they are community-based spaces where people want to feel safe, Costa said.
Frankel, whose district includes Squirrel Hill, noted that a “hateful gunman” murdered 11 members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community on Oct. 27, 2018. He said for some individuals who were wounded in the attack, their injuries “are a constant reminder of the worst day of their lives.”
“Then there are the scars we cannot see,” Frankel said. “Those who were forced to flee their own synagogues, the first responders, the family members who waited and waited, hoping to hear that their grandma or brother were alive, the neighbors that heard gunshots.”
No one should be afraid to practice their faith, celebrate their culture or their authentic selves in the commonwealth, Frankel said.
Pennsylvania, he noted, must never turn away from its obligations to fight antisemitism and other forms of hate.
Frankel said the commonwealth must update its anti-hate crime statutes to address modern threats.
Faith-based hate, Salisbury said, isn’t confined to the Jewish community. She referenced a gunman who entered a church in North Braddock, a community that is part of the district she represents.
Members of the Jewish community reached out to members of the church then, she said, and even attended the mass, explaining that the $10 million was vital but so was community support.
“Show up for people, reach out and see what we can do for each other,” Salisbury said.
Zawatsky said that while she was thankful for the $10 million grant and the unwavering support of state and local leaders, she is also “sad” the money was needed at all.
The Jewish community, she noted, is experiencing antisemitism in unimaginable ways.
“Jews are increasingly afraid of being identifiably Jewish,” Zawatsky said. “This is why government investments in ensuring safety and security, like the funding provided through the nonprofit security grant program, are incredibly important.”
After the news conference, Davis was asked about the news that Shapiro is being considered as a potential running mate for Kamala Harris.
Austin said that he would prefer not to talk in hypotheticals but that if Shapiro were to join the ticket as a vice presidential candidate, he would be ready to lead the commonwealth.
Costa said that Pennsylvania should be proud of Shapiro.
“I think it’s a testament to the work he and Lt. Gov. Davis have done over the course of the last two years, working with a divided legislature, making investments in education and economic development programs like this. It’s a wonderful story.”
Frankel said that he’s had a “front-row seat” to Shapiro’s career since 2004.
“[It’s] an honor, I think, having the governor of Pennsylvania be considered for this high office,” he said.
The Federation is available to help organizations prepare applications for the Nonprofit Security Grant Fund program. Entities do not need to be Jewish, Brokos noted.
Nonprofits can find the application at pccd.pa.gov. There is an Aug. 27 deadline. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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