Durbin, Duckworth Announce $121 Million In Federal Funding For Emergency Preparedness In Illinois
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $121 million in federal funding to improve emergency preparedness across Illinois. The funding, awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will go to state and local authorities, nonprofit and religious institutions, transportation agencies, and port facility operators in Illinois to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism and other disasters.
“Illinois will be better prepared for acts of terrorism, hate, and other kinds of violence because of this federal funding,” Durbin said. “I’m especially pleased that more Illinois institutions representing vulnerable religious minorities are receiving this crucial security funding. Senator Duckworth and I remain committed to providing Illinois with the federal resources to keep people safe.”
“As we continue to see a rise in hate crimes and violence across the nation and our state, we owe it to Illinois first responders, religious institutions and essential workers to ensure they have resources to help keep them and their communities safe,” Duckworth said. “Senator Durbin and I will continue to work in Congress to help root out hate in our country while doing all we can to help ensure Illinoisans are proactive, prepared and secure in the face of potential violence.”
Earlier this year, Durbin, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reintroduced the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which would enhance the federal government’s efforts to prevent domestic terrorism by requiring federal law enforcement agencies to regularly assess those threats and provide training and resources to assist state, local, and tribal law enforcement in addressing these threats.
Under today’s announcement, DHS awarded the following grants to Illinois:
State Homeland Security Program: $14,427,260 to support the implementation of risk-driven, capabilities-based state homeland security strategies to address capability.
Urban Area Security Initiative: $68,000,000 to enhance regional preparedness and capabilities in the Chicago area.
Emergency Management Performance Grant: $13,730,502, including funding provided under the American Rescue Plan, to assist state, local, tribal and territorial governments in enhancing and sustaining all-hazards emergency management capabilities.
Nonprofit Security Grant Program: $8,636,669 to help 73 nonprofit and religious institutions, including churches, mosques, and synagogues across Illinois enhance security and preparedness.
Port Security Grant Program: $2,211,760 to help protect critical port infrastructure from terrorism, enhance maritime domain awareness, improve port-wide maritime security risk management, and maintain or re-establish maritime security mitigation protocols that support port recovery and resiliency capabilities.
Transit Security Grant Program: $13,963,049 for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) to protect critical surface transportation and the traveling public from acts of terrorism and to increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.
Intercity Bus Security Grant Program: $36,466 for Aries Charter Transportation, Inc. to protect surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from acts of terrorism and to increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.
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