$150,000 award for day camp in Passaic County will support security infrastructure improvements.
(Courtesy of the Office of Bill Pascrell, Jr.) Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) visited Camp Veritans, a celebrated generations-old summer camp, to tour the grounds, meet with campers and administrators, and announce that his office helped secure a $150,000 federal grant to the camp to help enhance its security in the face of growing domestic extremism and antisemitism. The award is part of over $30 million New Jersey received from the federal Department of Homeland Security Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) for houses of worship and other nonprofit facilities this year. The Ninth District received about $1.2 million for synagogues, yeshivas, churches, mosques and temples. One of those grant recipients is the Veritans Club, which runs a summer day camp in Haledon.
“In urban states like ours, escapes are especially important. Standing in a stunning place like Camp Veritans, it is hard to think about negative things, but the rise of domestic extremism is alive—and antisemitism is a big part of it,” said Congressman Pascrell. “This threat can touch any of us anywhere, even at a summer camp. Over the last two decades I have repeatedly raised alarms of the rise of antisemitism and won federal support to stop it. There is nothing more vital than keeping our communities, campers, counselors and administrators safe. If a child or a parent cannot feel safe in summer camp, then they can feel safe nowhere. Through this support, we do more to keep our kids safe and let them enjoy the beautiful summer.”
The $150,000 in federal support for Veritans will be essential to replacing windows, installing improved lighting and erecting new safety barriers.
This year, New Jersey is the second-largest recipient of the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program in the whole country. This program Pascrell helped create gives nonprofits and religious organizations protections and deterrents at facilities. The federal funds are evenly split between the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) NSGP and the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) NSGP. Security investments acquired through the NSGP program include physical security enhancements; emergency preparedness planning, training and exercises; and enhanced engagement and collaboration between public and private community representatives as well as their state and local homeland security and emergency management government agencies.
In Congress, Pascrell remains a leader to fund the NSGP to meet the growing threat. Over the past 10 years, funding for the program has increased from $10 million to $305 million in fiscal year 2023. This program was funded at $250 million in fiscal year 2022. Congressman Pascrell has led a bipartisan letter signed by 136 members of Congress urging support for funding the NSGP program at $360 million in fiscal year 2024. According to reports, the program acceptance rate fell to 42% due to the surge in applications, which included a total of 5,257 grant applications submitted for the fiscal year 2023 application cycle, and 2,201 applications were approved for funding. Approximately $679 million in funds were requested.
