Amid the deadly Israel-Hamas War that has riled local communities and a rise in anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate crimes in the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders doubled funding for nonprofits and faith-based organizations to enhance their security measures.
That brings the funding total to $80 million in the current budget (which will be available in the fall) for the highly popular — and extremely competitive — California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The state budget also allots $80 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The program awarded $39 million to 193 community groups for the 2023 fiscal year – there had been 1,254 applicants.
Orange County groups collectively received around $2.4 million in grants in the last fiscal year, and about $12 million has been awarded locally in the last three fiscal years.
The grants established in 2015, according to the governor’s office, help fund “physical security enhancements to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk for violent attacks and hate crimes due to ideology, beliefs or mission.”
In 2023, legislation by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino expanded the program’s eligibility requirements to groups that support at-risk nonprofits and faith-based organizations – it was signed into law a day after the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.
Garden Grove-based Islamic Society of Orange County received $200,000 in 2021.
Executive Director Amir Mertaban said the money allowed ISOC to install gates outside its building — the largest and oldest mosque in the county — as well as security cameras and an access control system.
“You can tell as soon as you step onto our campus that it’s way more secure than literally any other mosque I’ve been to,” Mertaban said.
ISOC will be spending anywhere between $300,000 and $500,000 on security this year, Mertaban said, including replacing perimeter gates and adding more license plate readers and door locks, as well as providing security training for staff.
More people have been asking whether the mosque’s security measures are adequate, he said, since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
“Some community members have come to me, crying, asking for mental support,” Mertaban added.
Grant funding, especially this year, would greatly help keep ISOC safe and secure, he said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Islamic advocacy nonprofit, said it received 8,061 complaints of anti-Muslim hate nationwide in 2023, the highest number the organization has ever recorded in its 30-year history.
California, too, saw a 60% increase in anti-Islamic hate crimes from 2022 to 2023, according to a report recently released by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“Some people conflate our religion with what’s happening in Palestine and Israel, and assume it’s extremism,” Mertaban said. “And they start to lump the Muslim community into everything that’s happening over there. My plea is that a lot more attention is paid to security and funding at Muslim communities so that people could feel like they can come worship in peace and be involved without fearing that they will be targeted for their beliefs.”
Rabbi Yisroel Ciner of Congregation Beth Jacob in Irvine said the $131,584 the synagogue received last fiscal year had a “very profound” effect on security.
The synagogue, he said, did not have a fence around it, nor security guards. But in recent years, Ciner said there has been a need for better security, and the grant allowed the synagogue to install a gate and a video surveillance system.
Staff is able to monitor everything that’s going on at the property and have a clear understanding of “who’s moving where and what’s happening where,” Ciner said.
“With what’s going on now in the world … which has led to a lot of strife within the community, this grant enables us to raise the level of our security that is crucial to the safety and emotional well-being of the community,” he said. “It’s very sad that we need to have all this security, but we’re appreciative of the state offering these grants.”
While the number of overall hate crimes in California dropped last year, anti-Jewish bias crimes rose from 189 in 2022 to 289 last year, according to state data released by Bonta.
“These critical security resources will make a huge difference and send a powerful message when so many in our community are feeling on edge,” said Assemblymember Gabriel and state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, co-chairs of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus.
Other groups in Orange County that received the grant previously include Irvine Hebrew Day School, the Islamic Institute of Orange County and the Chua Dieu Ngu Buddhist Temple.
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