When a young man dressed in black and holding a suspicious package entered St. Mary in Hagerstown for Sunday Mass, some parishioners felt uncomfortable and decided to leave the church during Mass. One of the members of the security committee, who happened to be sitting in the pew behind him, along with the ushers, asked the man to step outside where the police escorted him out of the facilities.
The incident was a reminder of the importance of security in parishes and schools.
“As Catholics, we take pride in our mission to be open and welcoming people, but we have to be vigilant for anyone taking advantage of that welcoming atmosphere,” said Daniel Taylor, director of parish operations at St. Mary.
There are numerous grants available to aid faith-based organizations in improving their security.
The Nonprofit Security Grant Program is a federal grant sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to which any nonprofit institution can apply for a grant of up to $150,000 per site.
Maryland offers the Protecting Against Hate Crimes grant to all nonprofit organizations, and the Maryland Center for School Safety also offers school communities state grants including the Hate Crimes Grant, the School Safety Grant Program and Nonpublic School Safety Grant. The Interagency Commission on School Construction offers the Nonpublic Aging Schools Program and the Nonpublic School Safety Grants.
All grants are focused on safety improvements of the facilities and security systems. Parishes and Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore are encouraged to apply.
St. Mary in Hagerstown was awarded the full amount of the NSGP for each of its sites, meaning $150,000 for the school and an additional $150,000 for the parish.
With the NSGP parish grant, St. Mary will install a new security system so the pastor, principal, facilities manager and director of operations will have access to live monitoring through their mobile devices. The FEMA grant will also be used for access control, security camera upgrades, upgrades for the parish center, adjustments to interior and exterior door hardware, and an additional gate.
The NSGP school grant will be used to improve the security of the vestibule. A secondary checkpoint will be added so visitor identities can be verified before having access to the secretary and the school. Also, the external wooden doors will be replaced with metal ones, exterior hardware, upgrade the access control system from keys to access code and swipe-cards to get in, and real-time visibility.
St. Mary Catholic School also received the NSSG, a non-competitive grant, for which the school applies annually and receives from $11,000 to $12,000. This year, it was used for security measures.
St. Lawrence Martyr Parish in Hanover received $49,227 from the PAHC grant. Clark Gaughan, business manager at the parish, said the grant was used to install cameras inside and outside the parish facility, a 30-day recording device and a large-screen monitor to show all the cameras. In addition, the grant covered the beginning formation of a lock-down system.
The parish was also awarded a $39,300 NSGP grant that was used for cameras, bollards, blast film on some windows and finishing the lock-down system.
According to Principal Annette Jones, St. John Regional Catholic School in Frederick, which serves grades pre-K, and K-8, also received grants thanks to its former director of advancement Sheila Evers.
The school received the HCG in 2021 for $51,818, which was used for fencing the playground and the PAHC for $132,000, which was used for cameras for the school, window reinforcement and finishing the fence.
Stephanie Roccograndi, director of finance for St. Maria Goretti Catholic High School, said the school used received several grants: an HCG of $60,000 for video surveillance, access controls, window covering; NASP of $22,923, for gym floor; NSSG for $12,000 in the fiscal year 2020, used for walkie-talkies, black-out shades, a fence and Raptor, a visitor screen software for schools.
The Catholic High School of Baltimore also received the NSGP for $83,936, which was used to replace existing doors and add security cameras.
The application process begins in a meeting with Christin Kinman, Western Maryland project manager in the archdiocese’s division of facilities and real estate management, in which she visits and makes an analysis of the facilities, evaluates the infrastructure and security systems, and then suggests the grants for which the site can apply according to its needs and the ability to satisfy the requirements.
“She (Christin) really helped us to prioritize which projects to tackle first. There is always so much more you can do than what you have funding for,” said St. Mary’s Taylor.
Before submitting an application, institutions get quotes from contractors and consultants. In the application, institutions must provide background about the facilities, population, risks involved and solutions to those risks.
Once grants are approved, institutions pay upfront for the improvements and get reimbursed later. Quarterly reports might be required for some of these grants.
“It is always a no if you do not apply,” Roccograndi said, “But if you apply, there is always a chance of a yes.”
Parishes and schools can contact Christin Kinman at christin.kinman@archbalt.org if interested in applying for any of these grants.
Email Priscila González de Doran at pdoran@CatholicReview.org
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