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New York awards $10 million to protect religious-based institutions, schools

Eligible recipients will each get $50,000 for cameras, security training, door-hardening and other security enhancements.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Credit: Picryl.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Credit: Picryl.

New York is providing $10 million to protect “religious-based institutions and non-public schools from hate crimes,” announced Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday.

The funds would support more than 200 projects, said the governor’s office in a statement. Eligible recipients will each get $50,000 for cameras, security training, door-hardening and other security enhancements.

Agudath Israel of America lauded the announcement.

“Governor Cuomo called threats to religious and cultural institutions a ‘cancer of hate and division,’ ” said the group’s executive vice president, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, in a statement. “These are true words, and it is heartening to see New York State’s top elected official stand up against this cancer.”

Earlier this year, Cuomo announced an additional $25 million in the state budget to extend the Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes Grant Program for another year.

“Advancing religious freedom protects a fundamental human right that underpins a nation’s security, economic prosperity and stability,” said the chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
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