Earlier this spring, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman declined to support a budget provision that would have recommended the county allocate funding for security at vulnerable minority communities in the fiscal year 2027 budget.

On June 11, the Anne Arundel County Council voted to include a provision that earmarks $150,000 for that exact purpose, with the caveat that the exact specifications of the program will be worked out later and could end up including nonprofits as well.

For Jewish community leaders in Anne Arundel County, the unanimous vote was a strong message that their constant efforts to help the Jewish community and its peers amid rising antisemitism and discrimination of all kinds were heard by their elected officials.

“They understood what we’re facing, and they wanted to have our backs, and they, you know, we feel really good about it,” said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, co-founder and secretary of the Jewish Federation of Annapolis and the Chesapeake. “The amount of money that’s in the pool is small, but important. But what’s even more important is the sense that they see us and they understand what we’re going through and they really want to partner with us.”

In an April 24 letter to constituents, Pittman called antisemitism “a national epidemic.”
He added that similar hate against Black communities, Muslims, immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community is, as well.

But, in that same letter, he announced his office would not be including a provision to fund a county-administered program that helps pay for security for vulnerable minority communities in the county in its final budget proposal for the next fiscal year.

At the time, Laszlo Mizrahi said that the issue is particularly important in Anne Arundel County because the Jewish institutions in the area are small and less equipped than their peers in areas with more Jews and their deeply ingrained institutions.

“The original reason that we got the new Federation going was our concerns about security. We saw that despite caring leaders in our community who care about hate crimes, there is just a tremendous amount of toxicity,” she said last month, citing antisemitic graffiti that appeared locally, as well as internal pushes by Anne Arundel synagogues to increase security that have stressed institutions’ budgets.

The council voted unanimously to support the provision, with little discussion coming around the decision itself on June 11.

Councilmember Lisa Brannigan Rodvien said in an interview that the council was aligned in their view that a program like this is necessary.

“All of the councilmembers recognized that we are indeed seeing increased threats and increased incidents around the country, targeting a number of different groups, some on [a] religious basis, some on gender identity, and so there was definitely desire on the part of the community to seek out support and help for additional security measures,” she said.

She added that the council works closely with Pittman and his office, and that Pittman did place the program in the county’s supplemental budget when the council requested it.

In a statement, Pittman said he is happy the program was ultimately included in the budget.

“The budget is a collaborative process, and I thank the County Council for working with us over the past six weeks to improve the budget,” said Pittman. “I’m pleased that we were able to work together to add additional firefighter positions, investments in our public school system, and funding for a security grant program to protect houses of worship.”

Rodvien, who represents District 6, asked about the parameters of the program at last week’s vote, and whether the funding will also be eligible for nonprofits. The answer is it’s actually up to the council itself. The June 11 vote was simply to put aside funds. Who will be eligible for those funds will be determined by the seven councilmembers at a later date.

Laszlo Mizrahi said that the Federation is pushing for this, too.

“Our community had gone in asking for it, because we’re in strong coalition with the LGBTQ Pride Festival, which also has threats. They’re not a faith organization, but they are going to need security dollars [too],” she said.

Last week, District 5 representative Amanda Fiedler called the inclusion of the security funding one of her sources of pride in terms of what the council accomplished this year.

Laszlo Mizrahi said that a key component of the Federation’s efforts to advocate for this funding was taking councilmembers to synagogues in the area.

“Each of them met with us on-site for 90 minutes. They understood what we’re facing, and they wanted to have our backs and we feel really good about it,” she said.

Laszlo Mizrahi said that there was a specific part of these site visits that, in her mind, really resonated with officials.

“[They seemed] especially [compelled] when they saw the childcare facilities,” she said. “What it means to have people on site that are at risk, that are toddlers, they really got it.”

For Rodvien, the site visits were important, but she was more moved by the conversations.

She added that it helped solidify her thoughts when she saw the intricacies of Congregation Kneseth Israel in Annapolis, which was built long before modern security design considerations existed.

Ahead of the vote, the Federation and its partners received indications it would go well. Each of the councilmembers had expressed support for the measure, hence the speed that the vote was done and the lack of deliberation.

While the prospects of funding being allocated for security seemed in question after Pittman’s lack of support, which he based on the idea that Anne Arundel County’s budget is stretched thin and “that a small grant program that rejects most applicants leaves too many feeling rejected,” Jody Goldsmith, the Federation’s co-founder and president, was optimistic at the time. That optimism turned out to be well-founded.

“Maybe Steuart Pittman hasn’t seen the light yet for whatever reason, [but] I think this security piece will get through,” he said last month.

aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com