Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced an additional $45 million to help protect New York's religious-based institutions. It came after throngs of demonstrators streamed across the Brooklyn Bridge in a solidarity march against anti-Semitism and all acts of hate.
Cuomo put the number of participants at more than 10,000. The march was organized by New York's Jewish community in the wake of recent anti-Semitic attacks, including a knife attack at a Hanukkah celebration north of New York City that left five people wounded and a fatal shootout at a kosher grocery in Jersey City, NJ.
"We're here to say 'No Hate, No Fear.' We as the Jewish community are standing together with top elected officials of the State and City of New York and thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers, Jews that have come from across this country and around the world to say, 'No Hate, No Fear,'" said Michael Miller, executive vice president and CEO of the Jewwish Community Relations Council of New York.
The new funding is available through the state's "Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes Grant Program."
Created in 2017, the program provides funding to strengthen security measures and prevent hate crimes against non-profit day care centers, community centers, cultural museums, day camps and non-public schools, which may be vulnerable because of their ideology, beliefs or mission.
Since the program's inception, more than 500 such projects have been supported by $25 million in state funding.
"Discrimination, racism, anti-Semitism is repugnant to every value that New Yorkers hold dear and it's regugnant to every value that this country represents," said Cuomo. "Racism and anti-Semitism is anti-American."
The governor also announced the creation of a new tip line that New Yorkers should call if they experience bias or discrimination: 1-877-NO-HATE-NY.
He also said state police will continue increased patrols and security in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods across the state.