Community Security Service Graduates 10th Advanced Academy Course Amid Surge in Demand for Professionally Trained Jewish Community Security Volunteers

For Immediate Release -- May 1, 2026

Community Security Service Graduates 10th Advanced Academy Course Amid Surge in Demand for Professionally Trained Jewish Community Security Volunteers

CSS Surpasses Reaches New Milestone with 150 volunteer leaders trained since launch

NEW YORK — Community Security Service (CSS), the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to training Jewish organizations in community-based security, announced the completion of its 10th CSS Academy leadership course. The CSS Academy is the first and only national security training institute that certifies volunteers to perform security leadership roles in their own communities. 

More than 150 participants have been certified to perform security planning and training responsibilities since the Academy launched in 2025. After gradually expanding course offerings, CSS is now running these multi-day Academy courses monthly, up from quarterly, to keep pace with surging demand.

“The CSS Academy provides professional-grade training tailored to address the security threats faced by Jewish organizations, equipping qualified volunteers with an actionable toolkit to increase security in their own communities," said Richard Priem, CEO of CSS. “Now more than ever, we need to ensure that anyone able and eager to protect their local community’s synagogues and events has the skills, support, and training they need to do so. By empowering the most motivated volunteers in our network to perform these security and training roles, we are building a sustainable, effective and long-term security solution to the unprecedented threat environment and rising security costs faced by our community.”

CSS Academy certifies Jewish community members to perform a range of different functions, from organizing security at their organization, to liaising with commercial security and law enforcement, to leading and training their own and other volunteer security teams in their regions. The immersive, multi-day courses bring volunteers from across the country to CSS’s national training center — the first dedicated facility for volunteer security guards in the United States — for instruction in surveillance detection, intelligence, security planning, emergency response, and defensive tactics. The Academy fosters the leadership skills needed to mentor peers and build the next generation of Jewish protectors.

Demand for the Academy has accelerated sharply amid a string of attacks on Jewish communities in West Bloomfield, Michigan; Boulder, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; Manchester, U.K.; and Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Recent Academy cohorts have drawn participants from more than 20 states — representing a vast range of backgrounds including neurosurgeons, attorneys, college students, military veterans, first responders and retirees — and ranging in age from their 20s into their 60s. Applications now routinely outpace seats, prompting CSS to add additional courses to keep up.

While graduates often learn to teach security training in their local communities, all courses at the Academy are led by seasoned security professionals with tenure in American or Israeli security services. 

“We see that community members of all professions and backgrounds are desperate to be empowered to be involved in the response to the growing number of violent incidents targeting their communities,” said CSS Senior Vice President of Operations Grant Mendenhall, a former senior executive in the FBI. “Whether they are neurosurgeons, teachers or rabbis, anyone returning from the Academy will have skills to bring their home organizations that will help them be more safe.”

In 2025, more than 20,000 community members completed training and 6,100 CSS volunteers stood shift to protect 440 synagogues and nearly 100 Jewish events nationwide. CSS volunteer leaders, including many Academy graduates, led teams that jointly completed over 300,000 guard hours last year. 

To match the growth in demand for advanced leadership training, CSS plans to expand the Academy’s footprint, offerings and facilities throughout the remainder of 2026.

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About the Community Security Service (CSS):

Community Security Service (CSS) protects Jewish life and the Jewish way of life through professional-grade security training and ongoing support. Thousands of CSS volunteers stand shift every week at synagogues, schools, events, and campus organizations, safeguarding over 750,000 community members in 24 states and ensuring Jews can continue to live openly and proudly. Learn more at thecss.org.