Maryland is directing $10 million toward protecting synagogues, houses of worship and other vulnerable community institutions, funding everything from armed guards and surveillance cameras to reinforced doors and active-shooter lockdown systems.

Gov. Wes Moore’s administration announced that 116 nonprofits, houses of worship and community centers across 16 counties and Baltimore City will receive grants through the state’s Protecting Against Hate Crimes program. The money can pay for security personnel, access-control systems, cameras, lighting, emergency communications, hardened windows and doors, staff training and other physical security upgrades.

Jewish institutions are among those receiving assistance. Beth El Congregation in Pikesville, a major Conservative synagogue serving the Baltimore Jewish community, said the funding will be used for security improvements protecting congregants, students and staff.

“This grant funding will allow our Congregation to make important security enhancements,” Senior Rabbi Dana Saroken said, adding that thousands of people spend time on the synagogue’s campus.

The investment comes as Jewish communities across the United States continue to operate under an elevated security threat. The Anti-Defamation League recorded 181 antisemitic incidents in Maryland in 2025, including 41 at Jewish institutions. That represented a substantial decline from 356 incidents in 2024, but the ADL says levels remain significantly above those seen before the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and the subsequent surge in antisemitism across the United States.

Federal figures show the threat remains disproportionately concentrated on Jews. The FBI recorded 1,528 anti-Jewish hate-crime incidents nationwide in 2025, accounting for 63% of all reported religion-based hate crimes, according to an ADL analysis of the newly released data.

Maryland created its Protecting Against Hate Crimes program in 2019 and has funded it annually since. The state awarded $5 million to 81 organizations in fiscal 2025 before doubling the program to $10 million the following year and maintaining that level for the new round of grants. The earlier funding helped pay for more than 400 security personnel and roughly 400 security assessments, while more than 2,000 staff members received security training.

The identities of many recipients are deliberately kept out of Maryland’s public grant map for security and privacy reasons, underscoring the unusual nature of a program designed to protect institutions precisely because they may be targets.

For synagogues and Jewish schools, the funding reflects a reality that has increasingly become part of daily communal life: security guards, controlled entrances and hardened facilities are no longer exceptional measures, but part of the infrastructure required to keep Jewish life open and accessible.