If you’re serious about the security of your shul, school or community organization in Central New Jersey, one person you probably should thank for federal government support is Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), who sits on the Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery and on the House’s Appropriations Committee.

You should also thank the Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey, which has worked with many synagogues and Jewish day schools in Central New Jersey to help them apply for and administer grants from the federal government’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) as well as a similar grant program offered by the State of New Jersey.

To demonstrate the impact of the NSGP in her district, as well as the types of measures synagogues must now take to augment their security, the Jewish Federation and the East Brunswick’s Mayor’s Office invited Congresswoman Watson Coleman to tour Temple B’nai Shalom, an East Brunswick synagogue that has benefited from grants and greatly enhanced the security of their facility. The congresswoman accepted the invitation and visited the synagogue on September 1.

Amy Keller, the Jewish Federation’s director of security initiatives; Dan Rozett, the Jewish Federation’s manager of the Jewish Community Relations Council; and Bernard Zitomer, Temple B’nai Shalom’s security chair, led the Congresswoman’s tour of the Temple.

Outside the temple, Keller discussed the value of “layered defenses” and pointed out the placement of bollards, boulders and large planters around the facility as means of discouraging certain types of attacks. Inside the building, she and Zitomer pointed out the use of an armed guard, as well as the installation of lockdown buttons with annunciators, panic buttons and other security measures. East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen added that all the schools in the municipality have also been equipped with panic buttons.

Keller told the congresswoman that the Jewish Federation was one of the beneficiaries of an NSGP grant in 2016 and 2018 and they used it, in part, to hold training sessions that included “Stop the Bleed” workshops for community leaders. The workshops reached over 100 people, members of different shuls, schools and organizations, and provided them with critical skills and supplies that they in turn brought back to their respective groups. Keller pointed to a Stop the Bleed kit in the temple’s supply room that likely came from one of the workshops.

In a prepared statement released after the visit, Watson Coleman stated: “The first clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution protects our legal right to freely practice our religious faith, but we must ensure members of the community can safely exercise that right. Investments like this one, made through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, can help ensure safety and peace of mind for people of faith in every community.”

In a prepared statement issued by the Jewish Federation, Rozett stated: “As security needs grow for faith-based and other vulnerable organizations, Jewish Federation is committed to supporting elected leaders in realizing the full potential and impact of the NSGP.” And Keller stated: “Jewish Federation was delighted to showcase a grant recipient’s use of NSGP funds and advocate on behalf of all nonprofits across Monmouth and Greater Middlesex counties to align NSGP scope and funding with the evolving security landscape.”

For more information on security related activities provided by the Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey, please see:

https://jewishheartnj.org/crisis-preparedness-and-response/security

By Harry Glazer