newjerseynewsroom.com

$37.2 million earmarked for Newark, Jersey City, seven surrounding counties

New Jersey has been awarded more than $59.2 million in federal homeland security dollars, state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness Director Charles B. McKenna announced Friday.

The state’s seven-county Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) received more than $37.2 million in funding for 2011, the same amount it was awarded in 2010. The UASI includes Jersey City, Newark, and the counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic and Union, an area considered at a greater risk of a terrorist attack.

Additionally, the area was awarded more than $1.2 million under the Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program, which allows for regional planning for terrorist incidents and other catastrophic events in coordination with New York City.

McKenna said that nonprofit groups in the UASI area will be able to compete for funds to improve security and purchase equipment under the UASI Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

The director also said that New Jersey’s funding under the State Homeland Security Program (SHSP), which consists of grant funds dedicated for use throughout the state’s 21 counties, was cut in half compared to last year. This year, the state was awarded more than $11.9 million under the SHSP.

McKenna said his office will be notifying each county of its award amount in the coming weeks. “Consistent with Governor Christie’s commitment to protect the state and our citizens, we will continue to distribute all homeland security funding based entirely on risk,” he said. “While I would have liked to see the SHSP awards higher; I am pleased to see the commitment to the UASI area, given the area’s close proximity to New York, high population density and significant number of critical infrastructure sites. While we will award and administer these funds accordingly; we will work with DHS to maximize funding to New Jersey for next year’s funding cycle.”

As part of the announcement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security also revealed the state’s funding awards:

$7.9 million to be awarded to the New Jersey State Police under the Emergency Management Performance Grant Program to enhance all-hazards emergency management capabilities.

More than $563,000 to be awarded to Newark and Jersey City under the Metropolitan Medical Response System Program to enhance regional mass casualty incident response capabilities.

More than $241,000 awarded under the Citizen Corps Program to better coordinate community involvement in emergency preparedness planning, response and recovery.

Counties and municipalities will be eligible to compete for funding under the Emergency Operations Center Grant Program to improve emergency management preparedness capabilities at their local emergency operations centers.

This year, the Department of Homeland Security is distributing more than $2.1 billion to states across the country for a wide variety of homeland security measures, which represents a reduction of more than $680 million.

—TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM