Religious entities seek grants

31 groups seek state program support totaling $2,139,421

The Arkansas Department of Public Safety has received 31 applications seeking a total of $2,139,421 through its state Right to Worship Safely Grant Program, according to the department.

Information provided by the department shows the applicants seeking the largest grants are from John Brown University in Benton County, which applied for $226,000; West Side Baptist Church in Union County, which applied for $214,127; First Baptist Church-Siloam Springs in Benton County, which applied for $214,072; and St. Theresa Catholic Church in Pulaski County, which applied for $205,800.

On Dec. 15, the Legislative Council approved the state Department of Public Safety’s request for $500,000 in state-restricted reserve funds for the grant program to support physical security enhancement and other measures to assist “nonprofit ideology-based/spiritual/religious entities” in preventing and responding to terrorist threats and other extremist attacks. The council also decided to require the department to report which groups the grants are awarded to and how much each group is allocated.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders “promised to aid the Jewish community during the recent rise of antisemitic rhetoric crime, and this will allow funds for [the state Department of Public Safety] to provide grant funding to support security enhancements for nonprofit organizations,” the department’s chief fiscal officer, Karen Perry, told a legislative panel Nov. 14.

Asked about the request by John Brown University for a $226,000 grant, its chief marketing and communications officer Julie Gumm said, “With a 200-acre campus and 35 academic, administrative and residential buildings, the cost of additional security measures adds up quickly.

“For example, each building access control unit costs $4,000,” she said in a written statement. “Our grant proposal of $226,000 was an effort to provide the state with an overview of our priority areas for improvement, rath

er than an expectation of total funding, to assist in their informed decision-making about resource allocation.

Gumm said as “a Christ-centered institution, John Brown University is well known for our motto of ‘Christ Over All’ and the integration of Christian faith in the classroom and daily lives of our students.

“Students attend chapel three times a week in our Cathedral of the Ozarks, and we hold many faith-based events throughout the year,” she said. “These overt and explicit demonstrations of our Christian faith create a visible and strong target for individuals or groups with anti-Christian ideology. We take the safety of our community very seriously and access to grant funding would help us as we continue to make improvements in our security measures.”

Arkansas’ Right to Worship Safely Grant Program is modeled after the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program, according to the Arkansas Department of Public Safety.

The federal program provides “funding support for target hardening and other physical security enhancements and activities to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of terrorist attack,” according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s website. “The intent is to integrate nonprofit preparedness activities with broader state and local preparedness efforts.” The federal program’s allocation to Arkansas is $2.4 million in federal fiscal year 2023.

The Arkansas Department of Public Safety Research and Planning Division established guidelines to help ensure that submissions for the Right to Worship Safely Grant Program are organized in a consistent manner while addressing key data requirements, state Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said in a written statement.

The Arkansas Department of Public Safety accepted grant applications from Jan. 1-15, she said

An eligible nonprofit ideology-based/spiritual/ religious institution/organization must be designated as a 501(c)3 organization; have received an active terrorist threat or threats and/or an extremist attack or extremist attacks in the past 12 months; and “established risk to the organization (threat, vulnerability and consequence),” Murphy said. Applicants must also be located within Arkansas, she said.

Threats will be verified and evaluated by the Arkansas State Police for credibility and applications reviewed by the Right to Worship Safely Grant Committee, Murphy said. Those entities that have already received federal grant funding are prioritized to receive state funding under the state’s Right to Worship Safely Grant Program, she said.

Copies of the grant applications are not yet available to the public because the committee is still reviewing them, she said when asked if the copies of the applications are open to the public.

“After applications are reviewed, we will need to make redactions because some of the information provided is not subject to FOIA,” Murphy said, referring to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

None of the applicants for the grants are currently ineligible, she said when asked if any of the applicants have been determined to be ineligible for the grants. The grants will be awarded Feb. 12 and will be distributed by March 15, Murphy said.

“There is no maximum for the grant,” she said when asked whether a maximum grant amount has been decided upon.

According to the state Department of Public Safety, the other grant applications seek the following amounts of grant funds:

■ Mount St. Mary Academy in Pulaski County, $197,500.

■ Merge Church in Crawford County, $127,000.

■ Madina Institute of Arkansas, Inc. in Pulaski County, $122,120.

■ Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Pulaski County, $112,772.

■ St. Joseph Catholic Church in Washington County, $111,000.

■ Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Craighead County, $84,000.

■ Congregation B’Nai Israel in Pulaski County, $74,449.

■ Lubavitch of Arkansas in Pulaski County, $60,000.

m North Little Rock Catholic Academy in Pulaski County, $50,000.

■ Trinity Junior High School in Sebastian County, $45,000.

■ Congregation Agudath Achim in Pulaski County, $43,200.

■ Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Pulaski County, $34,500.

■ Lightbearers Ministries International Inc. in Washington County, $34,000.

■ Subiaco Abbey in Logan County, $30,805.

■ St. James Christian Methodist Episcopal in Faulkner County, $27,000.

■ University Baptist Church in Washington County, $14,800.

■ St. Raphael Catholic Church in Washington County, $14,305.

■ St. John Catholic Church and School in Pope County, $14,109.

■ Unitarian Universalist Church of Little Rock in Pulaski County, $13,100.

■ St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Randolph County $12,500.

■ Chabad of Northwest Arkansas in Benton County, $12,000.

■ Congregation House of Israel in Garland County, $11,273.

■ St. Mary’s Catholic Church Hot Springs in Garland County, $10,415.

■ Temple Shalom of Northwest Arkansas in Washington County, $8,400.

■ Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Sebastian County, $7,494.

■ Ecumenical Buddhist Society in Pulaski County, $5,950.

■ St. Mary Catholic Church/ School in Greene County, $1,730.