On Friday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it had allocated nearly $724 million to federal preparedness grants.
The allocations include $454.4 million in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant program, an increase of nearly $150 million over last year’s allocations. The Nonprofit Security Grant program provides funding for faith-based groups and others to protect themselves from threats.
The six federal grant programs announced Friday provide funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments, nonprofit agencies, and the private sector, and help to build programs that prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism and other disasters, officials said.
Allocations included $81 million to Operation Stonegarden to enhance cooperation between state, local, tribal, territorial and federal law enforcement agencies; $13.5 million to the Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program that will implement preparedness initiatives to eligible Tribal Nations, and $90 million to the Port Security Grant Program that helps to protect port infrastructure from terrorism, as well as enhance maritime domain awareness, improve port-wide maritime security risk management and maintain maritime security mitigation protocols.
“The Department of Homeland Security is proud to work together with our federal, state, local, tribal, territorial and other partners to increase our nation’s resilience in a constantly evolving threat environment,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said. “The funds announced today will provide communities across the country with vital resources necessary to strengthen their security and guard against terrorism and other threats. The impact of these grants will be measured in lives saved and tragedies averted.”