Agudath Israel of New England celebrates the inclusion of many community priorities in the FY23 Massachusetts state budget.
The Massachusetts legislature made significant investments in community security including the creation of a new security personnel pilot program. This program will provide matching grants to nonprofits at high risk of terrorist attacks or hate crimes and will be used to fund security guards. This is the very first time that Massachusetts is investing in security personnel and this program was created in direct response to the advocacy from the Orthodox community. Please see the video of Senator Lesser’s comments on the Senate floor regarding this program. The legislature also increased funding for the nonprofit security grant program to $3 million.
In addition, the legislature made historic investments in education, providing $250 million in grants for operational support to early education and care programs including Jewish preschools and expanding the school health and mental health line item for students attending nonpublic schools including Jewish day schools.
Massachusetts also passed another year of universal free lunch to continue to feed students across the Commonwealth for an additional school year. Massachusetts is one of the only states that not only took over the responsibility of universal feeding initiated by the federal government during the pandemic, but also ensured that private schools were included.
“We are deeply grateful to Senate President Spilka, Speaker Mariano, Senator Rodrigues and Representative Michelwitz for investing in the security of our community and ensuring that all children across the Commonwealth can access the services and supports they need to succeed. We also owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Senator Eric Lesser who championed the security personnel pilot program. Senator Lesser is a fierce advocate for community security and clearly understands the needs of our community,” said Ariella Hellman, director of government affairs for Agudath Israel of New England.