ORANGE – Renee Higer, executive director of Temple Emanu El, said an Ohio Emergency Management Nonprofit Security Grant for $99,998 that the temple has received will help it achieve a safer environment for students, congregants, staff, faculty and guests.
The grant is dedicated to target hardening of the physical site and will provide a number of different ways to make the site safer, Higer said. It will cover costs to update existing security systems and install new security elements throughout the facility and 11-acre property.
“The ability to receive the grant for target hardening is so valuable,” Higer said.
“As we continue to increase our advocacy work, we hope to host even more events on the issues that are important to us, (such as) gun violence, immigration and getting out the vote. Bringing in the public provides us with large obstacles, especially as incidents of anti-Semitism continue to be on the rise.”
The temple was notified on July 9 by the office of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman that its grant application, submitted in March, was approved.
The Nonprofit Security Grant Program is offered by the Ohio Emergency Management Agency through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
A key security enhancement that the grant will provide, Higer said, is an Alertus Alert Beacon – which serves as an in-building emergency notification system – in two locations. This system will enable the temple to have immediate communication if a threat were to occur to any of the local Jewish institutions.
“It’s like a texting system,” Higer said. “If something were to happen at another Jewish agency, like on the Green Road campus, then we could go into a soft lockdown, which would allow us time to get into a lockdown.”
Other new security features will include an exterior video/camera system, which will cover all 11 acres and connect with the local police dispatch and Jewish Federation of Cleveland for 24/7 monitoring; and a license plate reader, which will be networked with Cuyahoga County and Ohio Homeland Security Region 2.
“With the current public health crisis, our main safety focus has, of course, been related to coronavirus,” Temple Emanu El President David Sperling said in a press release.
“I am so grateful to our executive director, Renee Higer, for being proactive and considering the safety of our congregants post-COVID-19. Her efforts in securing this grant will help make Temple Emanu El even safer in the future.”
In January 2019, the temple received a $29,000 School Safety and Security Grant from the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation. The funds were used to make security improvements to the building.
Work on the new security upgrades will begin after multiple quotes are received and reviewed for each project, per state guidelines, Higer said.
“It’s my understanding that we will get more information over the next month or so, so our hope is we can start getting competitive bids in September,” she said. “Then we would actually be able to start work in the fall and finish in the winter.”
Temple Emanu El, a Reform congregation, has a membership of about 400 households.
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