local
JEPP To Expand Security Training
Program in 2023
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
Courtesy of Rebecca Ash
T he Jewish Emergency Preparedness
Project class of 2022 has gradu-
ated. Now the organization is looking for
its class of 2023.

JEPP, a Philadelphia-based nonprofi t
providing security training to faith-based
organizations, has opened applications
for its 2023 cohort. In 2022, 12 organi-
zations in the Philadelphia area, such
as synagogues, summer camps and
schools, completed the training.

“We’re building a culture of prepared-
ness,” JEPP CEO Yoni Ari said.

“We are focusing mainly on crisis
management and human behavior,” he
continued. “We found that many Jewish
organizations are investing a lot of time and
money on security means — on hardening
cameras, lawyers, et cetera — but nobody’s
investing time on human behavior.”
Created at the end of 2021 by President
Sherrie Savett and Vitaly Rakhman, JEPP
aims to provide a broader and more
thorough concept of security, address-
ing medical emergencies and natural
disasters in addition to hate crimes,
bomb threats or active shooters.

The nonprofi t draws on the Talmudic
principle, “All of Israel are responsible
for one another,” according to a press
release, meaning that communities must
be committed to taking care of one
another and their members.

In 2022, funding for JEPP came from
$150,000 in donations as well as smaller
grants, which helped subsidize the cost
of the training for participating organiza-
tions. JEPP is looking to increase grant
funding in the coming year.

JEPP hopes to not only expand its
training to 30 organizations but also
reach organizations outside of the
Philadelphia community in New York,
New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.

During its 30 hours of training for
participants, JEPP gives an evaluation
of an organization’s campus, helps to
design a customized set of procedures
and conducts drills and exercises with
staff members.

Kaiserman JCC staff members
participate in a team exercise
during a JEPP training.

While training last year’s cohort, Ari,
who has more than 20 years of security
training, found that despite organiza-
tions having the physical materials to
address emergencies, staff members
were unaware of how to operate them.

In one instance, synagogue staff were
not properly trained in how to use a
defi brillator in case of a heart attack.

In the fi rst phase of training, JEPP
works with an organization to take stock
of the measures and procedures in place.

“It’s both hardening of equipment, but
more learning to use what they have in the
best and most effi cient way,” Savett said.

In many instances, according to Savett,
while having technologies can help keep
people safe, communication and clear
procedures are an equally big piece of
the equation. If students have to evacuate
a school building, how do staff eff ectively
communicate with each other to carry out
a plan? If it’s cold outside, how can teach-
ers make sure students are prepared to
brave the weather with winter coats?
Preparedness requires a written plan,
as well as point people to eff ectively
execute the plan.

“It starts with forming a crisis manage-
ment team. Somebody has to know
that they’re in charge of a crisis,” Savett
said. “And there has to be coverage all
the time — not just when a school is in
session — because there are special
events all the time at unusual times.”
Staff members need to know emergency
contacts and how to perform a lockdown
before an emergency happens.

JEPP’s training often goes hand-in-
hand with funding and infrastructure
provided through the commonwealth’s
Nonprofi t Security Grant Program, but
the two address diff erent aspects of
security needs.

Last year, the Kaiserman JCC in
Wynnewood, a three-time recipient
of Pennsylvania’s NSGP, was among
JEPP’s 2022 cohort.

“We were, through the generosity and
investment of the state, able to invest
in physical infrastructure that helped
make the Kaiserman JCC a more secure
environment,” Kaiserman JCC CEO Alan
Scher said. “The JEPP program was a
learning endeavor.”
The yearlong JEPP training helped the
JCC staff consider how to best use their
enhanced security as well as connect
more of their staff to updated emergency
procedures. After a fi ve-year trend of increas-
ing antisemitism, according to the
Anti-Defamation League, as well as physi-
cal threats to Jewish spaces, such as
the Colleyville, Texas, hostage crisis in
January 2022, security continues to be of
greatest concern to Jewish organizations.

“Ensuring that emergency procedures,
safety and security is top of mind in our
muscle memory … this is critical,” Scher
said. “It’s top priority.”
Applications for JEPP’s 2023
cohort can be found at forms.wix.

com/f/7008204234743087213. ■
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com EXTRA, EXTRA,
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