News/Commentary

DHS doles out massive grants to black colleges and LGBTQ orgs to combat violence and terrorism

September 8, 2023 | | Print Article

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is doling out $20 million to black colleges and LGBTQ organizations for targeted violence and terrorism prevention, ostensibly protecting them from right-wing extremism.

The massive grant comes via the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program for Fiscal Year 2023.

The program, which is administered by the DHS Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is meant to help local communities strengthen their defense against attacks.

The agency announced that 41% of this year’s grant recipients will be underserved populations. That includes “one Historically Black College and University (HBCU) among seven Minority Serving Institutions (MSI), one organization serving indigenous/Native American persons, one organization serving the LGBTQIA+, and five organizations serving rural communities,” according to a DHS press release.

Conservatives fear that the grants actually target them. That would include not only white Americans and Republicans but Christians as well. And it would certainly include anyone who believes in being armed and supporting the Second Amendment.

“As the recent racially-motivated shooting in Jacksonville made painfully clear, targeted violence and terrorism can impact any community, anywhere,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated, according to the press release.

“The Department of Homeland Security is committed to confronting this threat. Through the partnership and collaboration, this grant program helps build, the Department will continue to work with communities to prevent such abhorrent targeted acts from occurring,” he proclaimed.

“In May, DHS released the latest National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin which identifies lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances as a persistent and lethal threat in the current heightened threat environment,” the press release continued.

Interestingly, DHS does not define exactly what is a domestic violent extremist (DVE). But many suspect it refers to anyone who does not agree with the current leftist political agenda that is attempting to stomp conservatives into oblivion.

“Both domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and those associated with foreign terrorist organizations continue to attempt to motivate supporters to conduct attacks, including through violent extremist messaging and online calls for violence. In March, DHS launched PreventionResourceFinder.gov to help prevent targeted violence and terrorism by giving the public easier access to available grants, research, training opportunities, and other resources across 17 federal agencies,” the press release elaborated.

“With $70 million in grants awarded since FY20, the FY23 grantees include organizations in Connecticut, Minnesota, and Wisconsin receiving funding for the first time. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia have received awards since the program’s inception. To date, TVTP grant programs have conducted 287 training sessions building prevention capacity among nearly 10,000 attendees. The program has supported creation of 35 behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM) teams and 13 recidivism reduction programs,” it added.

It’s almost as if they are building a leftist shadow army out there.

“The FY23 awards build on the prevention work done across the country and will create approximately 50 new prevention jobs in addition to the dozens of positions that have been partially or fully funded to date by these awards. Through grants and other innovative efforts such as CP3’s Invent2Prevent Program, CP3 engages students and professionals seeking to build careers in the targeted violence and terrorism prevention space,” the press release noted.

“Created in 2021, CP3 is tasked with strengthening our country’s ability to prevent acts of targeted violence and terrorism nationwide. To help accomplish this mission, CP3 cultivates partnerships across every level of government and within local communities, provides grant funding and prevention training, and promotes greater awareness and understanding of TVTP strategies and best practices,” the release stated.

“Leveraging a public health-informed approach, CP3 brings together behavioral and mental health providers, educators, faith leaders, social service providers, nonprofits, law enforcement, and other state, local, and community partners to address systemic factors that can lead to violence while strengthening protective factors at the local level that support the safety, well-being, and resiliency of communities in the United States,” the press release concluded.

Former Department of Homeland Security Acting Under-Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis John Cohen told ABC News in an interview that these grants reflect a change in the way the department views threat prevention.

“The strength of this program is that it recognizes that today the United States deals with a threat that’s very different than the one it faced after 9/11 and it requires a different investigative and violence-prevention toolbox,” Cohen, who is now an ABC News contributor, stated. “These grants are a step in that direction and are important because they can be local efforts to better address threats that have caused too many mass shootings in the United States already.”

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