Secure Community Network

Last week, residents of Sandy Springs and Dunwoody awoke to a chilling sight—antisemitic flyers had been strewn across driveways, lawns, and sidewalks. It is clearly no accident that these flyers were dropped in two Atlanta suburbs with a large Jewish population. Luckily, the revolting flyers seem to be having the opposite of their intended affect; many people in the Jewish community say that their non-Jewish neighbors have been standing up and speaking out.

Georgia Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, of Stone Mountain, who is not Jewish, made an impassioned, unscheduled speech on the floor on Monday. “No one, not one Georgian, should ever wake up to hate. And as many of you well know, this isn’t the first time Jewish Georgians have been targeted.” She detailed not only historical incidents of antisemitism in Atlanta, but the well-documented rise of attacks against Jews in the last several years.

Her remarks were also hopeful and comforting for many who heard them. She said that, as a Black woman, she stands in solidarity with the Jewish community. “I understand what it feels like to be targeted on the basis of your identity.” She said she is proud that the Hate Crimes Law was passed in Georgia last year. You can click here to watch her remarks in full; they begin at 1:15:46.

Federation and its community partners—including the ADL, Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) are working with law enforcement to monitor the situation in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. Federation is home to Atlanta’s Secure Community Network (SCN) program, which works around the clock to keep the entire Jewish community of Atlanta safe. Atlanta’s synagogues, day schools, nonprofit organizations, and more are all protected by SCN.

Neil Rabinovitz, Atlanta’s Director of Community Security, says “We, along with SCN’s cadre of intelligence analysts, work behind the scenes on a daily basis with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in a coordinated effort to share information and intelligence, and monitor community events in order to keep our community safe.”

He also wants to remind Atlantans that Federation and SCN have set up an anonymous threat-reporting system. “We encourage every member of our community to remain vigilant and to report anything suspicious or concerning, no matter how small, to us through Federation’s online incident reporting system.”

But many people are still wondering what they can do to combat antisemitism before violence or threats occur. In December, the ADL reported that the FBI’s hate crime data showed at least 238 hate crime incidents in Georgia in 2021—an increase from 195 incidents in 2020, and the highest number of incidents in over two decades.

On Wednesday, the National Council for Jewish Women hosted a panel called Antisemitism: Where Do We Go from Here? at The Temple. Moderated by Julie Katz, the Assistant Director of AJC in Atlanta, the panel featured Jeremy Lichtig, Campus Director for Hillel University of Georgia (UGA), and Stephanie Guiloff, the Director of Internal Communications and Advocacy for AJC in Washington, D.C.

Stephanie shared an important key to framing antisemitism, “We can’t let hatred against our community define us; we have to let pride define us.” She also revealed a statistic from an AJC study that was released just yesterday: 9 in 10 Americans—Jewish and non-Jewish—believe that antisemitism is a problem for everyone. This suggests that despite recent acts of violence and intimidation, the vast majority of Americans are not prejudiced against Jewish people.

Jeremy recounted the swift response to an incident in the fall, when an antisemitic message was broadcast against the side of a stadium in Jacksonville, Florida following the UGA/University of Florida football game. He said that the response from both universities, the cities of Athens and Jacksonville, student government leaders, and more was swift, and reflected the seriousness of the event. Months later, they are still actively working with DEI groups, students, and faculty to address what happened and prevent future incidents. Recently, fifteen of UGA’s student athletes attended a Shabbat dinner hosted by Hillel, where Jeremy says, “the Band-Aid was ripped off,” and vital conversations began.

All three of the panelists urged attendants to contact their Georgia state legislators and tell them to support House Bill 30, which asks the State of Georgia to recognize the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. AJC and the ADL both support the bill, which would make it easier for anti-Jewish acts to be prosecuted as hate crimes in Georgia.

Senator Butler also mentioned the bill in her speech and urged her colleagues to pass it. “I hope you will support us in our endeavor to ensure Georgia is a place where hate against any community is not only untolerated [sic], but staunchly rejected,” she said. “Our communities stand together in the tradition of love, and it is up to each of us to demonstrate that love for one another through action in the face of injustice.”

While antisemitic acts in our community are sobering, they do not define Jewish Atlanta—not to its members, or to its allies. If nothing else, this week showed us that Jewish Atlantans are not alone in our fight to end hatred.

Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) has awarded a substantial security grant through LiveSecure to Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. The matching grant, secured thanks to donations raised by our Federation, will enhance overall security for Jewish organizations all over Atlanta’s metro area.

LiveSecure is a $130 million campaign launched by JFNA in 2021 with the goal of securing every Jewish community across North America and saving lives. It is the largest initiative in history to secure North American Jewish communities.

Eric Fingerhut, President and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, says, “LiveSecure is the collective responsibility of every Jewish community. This campaign is a tremendous investment in our Jewish future, because only when we can safely and freely participate in Jewish communal life can we build flourishing Jewish communities.”

Atlanta’s Jewish community raised $1.5 million in order to receive the full matching grant of $750,000 from LiveSecure. The funds will be used by Federation to hire a dedicated grant writer for non-profit security grant applications, provide security for community-wide events and festivals, begin the initial phase of installing a community-wide panic alarm system, and more.

Neil Rabinovitz, Atlanta’s Community Security Director, says “This grant and subsequent fundraising will enable us to enhance overall security throughout the entire community. We’re so thankful for all the donors who recognized this need to keep the community safe and secure.”

Atlanta’s Jewish organizations (including Federation, the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, synagogues, day schools, and other organizations and agencies) are protected by the Secure Community Network (SCN), the official safety and security organization of the Jewish community in North America.  SCN was established by JFNA and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in the aftermath of 9/11 to secure the American Jewish community. Over the last two decades, community security initiatives across the continent, including those managed in partnership with SCN, have saved countless lives and thwarted a multitude of potential threats against Jewish people and institutions.

The LiveSecure grant comes at a timely moment, as we observe the one-year anniversary of the Colleyville hostage crisis. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, of Colleyville’s Congregation Beth Israel, has credited the security training he received through SCN to saving his life, and the other hostage’s lives, during the attack. This grant will ensure that Atlanta’s Jews continue to have access to the highest possible level of security infrastructure.

Federation is partnering with the Secure Community Network (SCN) to launch an online form for the public to report threats, incidents, and suspicious activity related to the Jewish community. This standardized form will be available nationwide and will ensure a timely and accurate response to any threat against Jewish organizations, facilities, or community members. 

SCN is the official safety and security organization for the Jewish community in North America. Information reported through the form goes immediately to Federation’s security professionals, as well as the 24-hour Duty Desk at SCN’s National Jewish Security Operations Command Center. SCN’s team of intelligence analysts will communicate with local Federation security personnel and determine which people or facilities are at risk, and the appropriate next steps. Credible threats will be referred to local, state, or federal law enforcement agencies, as needed. 

The new form can, and should, be used to report in-person assaults or threats, suspicious activity, vandalism, suspicious packages or letters, antisemitic flyers, threatening phone calls, text messages, or social media posts, or any other incident of concern to the Jewish community. Reports can also be made anonymously.   

The form is available on Federation’s website. Please bookmark it so you can access it quickly if you ever need to do so.  

Eric M. Robbins, President and CEO of Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, says, “Our new online reporting form is one of the many ways that Federation is working to protect the Jewish community, along with our partner organizations such as ADL, The American Jewish Committee, and the Jewish Community Relations Council. Together with the Secure Community Network, we urge everyone to report anything suspicious or concerning so the appropriate action can be taken.” 

Atlanta is just one of more than 30 Jewish Federations that will be using this reporting system. “This is the first nationally standardized incident reporting effort that ties together local Federation security initiatives and SCN as a national partner, ensuring that wherever someone is, there can be timely, consistent, and accurate reporting of threats, incidents, and suspicious activity,” said SCN National Director and CEO Michael Masters.  

Masters says, “Through a coordinated, best practice approach to information sharing, this initiative will help us more effectively and efficiently address threats and issues before they turn to action.”  

Please remember that in an emergency, you should always contact 911 first. If you find yourself in a situation where online reporting is not practical, you should follow established protocol to report suspicious activity, including contacting local law enforcement, and/or the SCN Duty Desk at 844-SCN-DESK. 

Did you know that Federation’s Community-Wide Security Program protects the entire Atlanta Jewish community? Jewish Day schools, camps, synagogues, and more benefit from the expertise and assistance of the national partnership with Secure Community Network (SCN). In 2022, Federation helped many local organizations secure grants from the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), which will help keep Jewish Atlanta safe throughout the year.

The Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) is an initiative through Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It provides support for physical security enhancements and activities, including planning and training, to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of terrorist attack due to their ideology, beliefs, or mission.

NSGP funds are historically allocated based on criteria including threat and/or hazard assessments, identification and substantiation of prior threats or attacks (or closely related organizations), and the symbolic value of a site as a highly recognized national or historical institution which could render the location a possible target of terrorism.

In 2022, Federation’s Community-Wide Security Program assisted 25 Atlanta Jewish organizations with the application process, resulting in a total award to the community of $2.3M for security enhancements to their buildings.

Our assistance included conducting required security assessments of their facilities, conducting webinars, discussing best practices for completing the application, reviewing applications and making recommendations for improvement, and consultations concerning the application process.

Thank you to Neil Rabinovitz, Federation’s Community Security Director, and Bryan Underwood, Deputy Community Security Director, for helping these vital organizations receive this funding!