Regional Homeland Security Awarded $1.4 Million Federal Grant

WILMINGTON, MA — The Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council has received $1.4 million in grants through the Homeland Security Grant Program.

The Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council is comprised of 85 Massachusetts communities, including Andover, North Andover, Reading, North Reading, Burlington, Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Wakefield.

The funds were made available by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and administered via Massachusetts by the Office of Grants and Research.

More than $21 million was doled out to 11 state and regional agencies.

The grants are intended to support "regional and statewide efforts to build upon and sustain capabilities to prevent, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism and other security threats or disasters," according to a statement.

The funding invests in areas such as soft target hardening, increased intelligence sharing, domestic extremism prevention, cybersecurity advancements, election security improvements, and Active Shooter/Hostile Event Response (ASHER) training.

The funds are distributed among the regional councils based on a federal formula.

“Today’s security investments reflect our deep commitment to ensuring that communities are prepared and resilient when faced with today’s evolving threat environment. This federal funding will bolster the capabilities of our state agencies and regional councils to readily respond to and keep communities safe from any threat,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement. “The training, equipment, emergency preparation and response planning efforts funded through these grants will benefit every Massachusetts community.”

The Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council was created in 2004, one of five recipients in the state of federal funding from the Department of Homeland Security. The council is tasked with the development of regional homeland security plans and oversight of grant program expenditures.