California’s 2025-2026 budget, awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, includes millions of dollars for a program that supports Holocaust survivors and for security grants for vulnerable organizations, including Jewish nonprofits.
Once the $321 billion budget is signed and takes effect Tuesday, the California Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program will receive $14.5 million through the state’s Department of Aging.
This will be the largest single-year amount since the program launched in 2018, according to David Bocarsly, executive director of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC). The increased amount comes amid news of a $12 billion deficit in the state budget.
The two allocations “demonstrate that the state legislature, the governor, both Senate and Assembly leadership continue to stand with the Jewish community and invest in our top priorities. That’s something we should be really proud of, and we’re incredibly grateful for, even when times are tough,” Bocarsly told J. on Thursday.
As part of its 2025 agenda, JPAC lobbied the legislature to allot $36 million to the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program over a three-year period. It is unclear, however, whether the state intends to renew the program beyond the 2025-26 fiscal year. The Assembly’s budget committee indicated that the $14.5 million will go to the program “on a one-time basis,” according to its June 24 report.
Bocarsly said that JPAC plans to lobby the legislature next year to try once again to secure funding for the program over multiple years.
The Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program works with seven Jewish Family and Children’s Services agencies serving Holocaust survivors across the state. Among them are agencies based in San Francisco, the East Bay and Silicon Valley. The state program, in conjunction with funding from the Claims Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, provides survivors with services such as at-home assistance, direct financial aid, social and cultural programming, and counseling.
Meanwhile, California’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program will receive $80 million through the state’s Office of Emergency Services, as it did last year. That money represents the second half of the state’s two-year commitment to fund the grant program.
Regardless, the amount isn’t enough to cover all the applications the state receives.
“The demand for security grants has increased so much in recent years that even as the state and federal government increased their allocations, we are still seeing a lot of unfunded applicants,” Bocarsly said. “This is a welcome amount of money and a critical amount of money, and it will help a lot of communities. And there’s still a lot more work to be done.”
Any institution at risk of becoming a target of hate-motivated violence, including Jewish organizations and congregations, can apply for a grant of up to $250,000.