HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - As rebuilding continues on a New Haven mosque after an arson fire last year, leaders are hoping to get some newly approved state aid aimed at helping religious organizations boost security measures to deter hate crimes and terrorist attacks.
State lawmakers created a $5 million competitive grant program for mosques, churches, synagogues and other houses of worship as part of a $3 billion bonding package approved Wednesday.
“We will apply,” said Haydar Elevli, president of the Diyanet Mosque of New Haven, which suffered major damage in the May 2019 arson fire. “It’s very helpful. We’re a nonprofit organization. If we can get help, it’s better.”
Rebuilding is continuing at the mosque, which was under construction at the time of the fire. Elevli said the goal is to reopen within the coming months with a new security system that includes nearly 40 surveillance cameras.
In approving the grant program, legislators cited the mosque fire, a threat to burn down an Islamic center in the Hartford area and increased anti-Semitic attacks across the country.
“We have unfortunately seen a consistent pattern of attacks against religious groups, a trend that we must not allow to continue,” state Sen. Saud Anwar, a Democrat from South Windsor, said in a statement. “This bond funding represents our state coming together to support our religious institutions.”
Anwar and Sen. Derek Slap, a West Hartford Democrat, first proposed the bonding plan last year. Nonprofit religious organizations can begin applying for grants, capped at $50,000 per group, on May 1.
The grants will cover certain expenses - developing security infrastructure, training staff to operate and maintain that infrastructure and buying metal detecting wands and other security-related devices - the organizations incurred on or after July 1, 2019.
Eligible infrastructure expenses include installing surveillance cameras, bullet-resistance glass and computer-controlled electronic locks.
Imam Kashif Abdul Karim, of the Muhammad Islamic Center of Greater Hartford, said the center has been holding fundraisers, but hasn’t collected enough money to do all the security improvements it needs. The center was threatened with arson last year.
“We’re still worried about the people we don’t know, and who don’t know us,” he said. “This bonding will definitely be useful, and it sends a good message.”
Jewish groups also support the grant program. There were nearly 60 anti-Semitic incidents in Connecticut in 2019, up from nearly 40 in 2018, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
“These dollars will hopefully deter future attacks on our houses of worship,” Michael Bloom, executive director of the Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut, said in a statement.
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