New York state to direct $70 million to Jewish and other hate-crime-vulnerable nonprofits as antisemitic incidents rise

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on September 7 that the state will distribute $70 million in grants to 290 nonprofit community organizations the state says are "vulnerable to hate crimes and attacks due to their ideology, beliefs or mission," during a visit to a kosher supermarket in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood of Queens ahead of the Jewish High Holidays.

"The Jewish community has been subjected to horrible, horrible acts of antisemitism," Hochul told JNS in comments published around the announcement. "It's on the rise, and we have to do something about it... I want Jewish New Yorkers to know that I will always be there for them."

The funding announcement arrived alongside new data on anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York City. According to figures reported by JNS, confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes in the city were up 8 percent so far in 2026 compared to the same period in 2025 -- 229 incidents, up from 212 -- and Jews have been the target of 53.9 percent of all confirmed hate crimes recorded in the city this year, a share far exceeding the Jewish share of the city's population. The city also said it would step up police presence at synagogues for the High Holidays.

Some Jewish communal leaders, including the Zionist Organization of America's Morton Klein, described "little comfort" in what they characterized as "minor fluctuations" in the monthly data, arguing that a slight month-to-month dip does not change an elevated year-over-year trend that has persisted since October 7, 2023.

What this means in practice: the $70 million is directed at nonprofit organizations' physical security and programming, not at individuals. Community security organizations continue to recommend that individuals and institutions report suspected hate crimes to local police so incidents are captured in the data driving decisions like this one.