Governor Hochul Announces More than $246 Million in Federal Funding for Emergency Preparedness and Counterterrorism Efforts

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced more than $246 million in federal funding to support counterterrorism and emergency preparedness efforts across New York. The funding, provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through its FY2022 Homeland Security Grant Program, supports regional homeland security preparedness efforts, including planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercise activities which are critical to sustaining and improving community prevention, protection, response, and recovery capabilities. The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services manages these programs in close coordination with local stakeholders.

"Public safety is my top priority — that's why I fought hard to secure federal funding for New York to help our state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies enhance their preparedness and counterterrorism efforts," Governor Hochul said. "We continue to face a myriad of threats such as cyberattacks, domestic extremism, and potential attacks on our election system, and the more than $246 million announced today will be critical to help law enforcement agencies across the state continue their emergency preparedness and anti-terrorism efforts."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Homeland Security Grant Program is comprised of three separate risk-based grants aimed at assisting state, local, and tribal efforts in preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to acts of terrorism. Those programs are the State Homeland Security Program, the Urban Area Security Initiative and Operation Stonegarden.

New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray said, "This critical funding supports emergency responders across the state by giving them the resources they need to bolster their response capabilities and keep our communities safe. These funds will help strengthen ongoing counterterrorism efforts throughout New York State and help our local partners continue to protect New Yorkers from existing and emerging threats."

Representative Adriano Espaillat said, "I commend Governor Hochul on today's announcement allocating $246 million in federal funding to help bolster counterterrorism and emergency preparedness programs throughout New York State. These funds, which will be effectively distributed across three programs - the State Homeland Security Program, the Urban Area Security Initiative, and the Operation Stonegarden Grant Program - are vital to ensuring the safety, security, and preparedness in case of emergencies, which benefit each of us."

State Homeland Security Program - $68 million
The State Homeland Security Program provides funding to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism and other catastrophic disasters. Per federal guidelines, the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services awards 80 percent of this funding to local jurisdictions. This includes the list of awards below, as well as an additional suite of targeted grants which will be made available in the coming months. The remaining 20 percent of funding is used by the state to further enhance New York's counterterrorism and emergency preparedness posture statewide.

Investments were required to support the following priority areas in an effort to build statewide capabilities: strengthening intelligence and information-sharing capabilities; enhancing cybersecurity capabilities; enhancing the protection of soft targets/crowded places; combating domestic violent extremism; community preparedness and resilience; and election security.
Grant amounts are listed below:

Urban Area Security Initiative - $176.5 million
This funding is awarded to jurisdictions in the New York City metropolitan area under the Urban Area Security Initiative grant. The region will use this money to sustain and enhance their critical anti-terrorism programs. Based on federal guidelines, 80% of the award is allocated to partners in the region's Urban Area Working Group, using a consensus-based process, and the consensus agreement for these funds is outlined below.

An additional $16,532,588 million will also be allocated and is included in the awards below from the State's portion of the FY2022 Urban Area Security Initiative grant, in recognition of the New York City urban area partner's unique position in terms of potential threats from terrorist-related activities. The remaining funding is used by the state to further enhance New York's counterterrorism and emergency preparedness posture within the urban area.

Award amounts are listed below:

Operation Stonegarden Grant Program - $2 million
This grant provides critical funding to enhance cooperation and coordination between federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies through the support of joint operations which are conducted along the northern border.

About the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services
The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services provides leadership, coordination, and support to prevent, protect against, prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate disasters and other emergencies. For more information, find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or visit our website.