After an extremely active security grants year in 2024 in New York State, with organizations being able to apply for 3 different grants, now is a time to look at some staggering and important numbers as well as take stock for the coming year and the grant opportunities.
The NYS Security Communities Against Hate Crimes (SCAHC) granted 336 organizations with close to $65 million in funding. The success rate was a little over 50%, a huge shift from previous grant cycles that saw all, or the overwhelming majority, of applicants receive funding. The Federal NSGP grant had its highest level of funding ever at $454.5 million, but its lowest level of success for applicants nationwide at 32%. Finally, for the first time ever, there was an NSGP supplemental grant that closed on December 11 with another approximately $200 million available nationwide.
Despite all the grant opportunities and funding, the demand and subsequent competition for available grants has become very high. Organizations that took funding from SCAHC for granted were surprised to find that they didn’t receive a grant this year. As mentioned, the Federal NSGP was super-competitive, and judging from the flurry of grant requests that our Project Protect staff fielding for the NSGP supplemental grant, awards will be hotly contested by organizations vying for the funding.
Whether you received any funding in 2024 or not, it’s extremely important that you turn your attention to the grants coming out this year. We are waiting to hear more details about the next round of SCAHC, but last year, the RFP came out at the end of January. The NSGP funding release has been consistently in the spring, and the window to apply is always very short.
Now is the time to make sure your organization is prequalified on the NYS SFS system. The process is more involved than the old prequalification process and should be addressed immediately. Ensuring that you have an updated risk assessment and conducting internal security conversations with decision-makers about needs are also crucial steps you can take now to prepare for funding opportunities. The actual writing of the grant can also take place before the release of the RFP. Many organizations wait until the last minute to even inquire about the process, and they usually lose out by doing this.
Project Protect handles all the steps of the grant process, and we are happy to discuss with you our process and timelines. Please don’t wait to reach out if you have interest. Contact rybsteinr@teachcoalition.org for more information.