Through the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) grant program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded 34 grants amounting to $20 million this week, providing significant financial aid to local communities’ security.
“As the recent racially-motivated shooting in Jacksonville made painfully clear, targeted violence and terrorism can impact any community, anywhere,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said. “The Department of Homeland Security is committed to confronting this threat. Through the partnership and collaboration this grant program helps build, the Department will continue to work with communities to prevent such abhorrent targeted acts from occurring.”
The TVTP is administered by the DHS Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It offers financial assistance for local communities looking to create targeted violence and terrorism prevention programming, launch pilots on prevention approaches and identify best practices that other communities could replicate.
Since the program was launched in Fiscal Year 2020, it has doled out $70 million in grants and helped more than 10,000 people participate in violence prevention training. Total, 35 behavioral threat assessment and management teams and 13 recidivism reduction programs have been supported.
This year, organizations in Connecticut, Minnesota and Wisconsin received funding for the first time. Of those selected, 41 percent of this year’s recipients are focused on underserved populations, including one Historically Black College and University (HBCU) among seven Minority Serving Institutions (MSI), an organization serving indigenous populations, another serving the LGBTQIA+ community and five organizations serving rural communities.