NYS: More than $246M in federal funding for emergency preparedness & counterterrorism efforts

Funding will help communities across the state prevent, respond to, and recover from various disasters & emergencies

Gov. Kathy Hochul 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 the state said 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 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," 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 antiterrorism efforts."

FEMA'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.

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% of this funding to local jurisdictions. This includes the list of awards below, as well as an additional suite of targeted grants that will be made available in the coming months. The remaining 20% 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.

Local grant amounts include:

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 its critical antiterrorism 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.

An additional $16,532,588 million will also be allocated and is included in the awards 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.

Operation Stonegarden Grant Program, $2 million

Hochul’s team said 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 that are conducted along the northern border.

Local awards include:

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, visit its website.