Fiscal Year 2020 Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grantee Abstracts

Local Prevention Framework

Boston Children’s Hospital

Youth Resilience, Civic Engagement, Threat Assessment and Management Team, Recidivism Reduction and Reintegration

$749,995

Boston Children’s Hospital will develop the Massachusetts Area Prevention(MAP) framework that will target the reduction of mental health problems and increase the social belongingness among adolescents through a multipronged, evidence-informed, and community-based program This proposal builds on the trauma and resilience work currently based out of Boston Children’s Hospital and on the existing capacity of the MassBay Threat Assessment Team.

Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative

Training and Awareness, Youth Resilience Programs, Threat Assessment and Management Team

$830,242

The Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) proposes a multi-faceted approach to prevent targeted violence in schools and houses of worship in the 12 counties and three major cities that comprise the Bay Area UASI. The project follows a building-block approach, is a blend of in-person and online training, organizational enhancements, and technologies meant to standardize threat assessments to prevent targeted violence and enhance the resiliency of 55 high schools and 100 houses of worship.

Chatham County, GA

Threat Assessment and Management Team, Hotline

$430,000

Chatham County will establish a coordinated Homeland Security Program inclusive of a county-wide multi-disciplinary threat assessment and management network which will utilize standardized protocols regarding violent crime, increase awareness and competencies through multi-jurisdictional training sessions, and increase community-based efforts and awareness to encourage reporting threats.

County of Bexar, TX

Training and Awareness, Civic Engagement, Youth Resilience Programs, Bystander Training

$175,613

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office plans to implement a local prevention framework that focuses on community engagement with law enforcement to enhance resilience to individuals mobilizing to violence. The Sheriff’s Office will also enhance trainings for service providers, other law enforcement agencies, and the general public in identifying individuals with risk factors for targeted violence and increase outreach efforts to enhance protective factors for local youth, utilizing partnerships with local service providers.

Hawaii Department of Defense

Threat Assessment and Management Team

$302,169

The Hawaii Department of Defense proposes to expand Threat Team Oahu (TTO), a collaborative platform developed in 2017 that assesses risks of targeted violence. The TTO analyzes the unique factors in each case, and accesses and leverages an effective combination of multidisciplinary capabilities to address and mitigate the potential for targeted violence. The threat team assessment funded by this initiative will continue to expand TTO to the neighbor islands, bringing together the collaborative efforts of law enforcement, mental health, and human services professionals to address the threat of violence in communities.

Kentucky Office of Homeland Security

Bystander Training

$250,000

The Kentucky Office of Homeland Security will enhance two existing counterterrorism and public safety trainings with existing TVTP training made available by DHS, the Law Enforcement Awareness briefing (LAB) and Bystander Training. Training audiences include first responders, school safety personnel, and middle, high, and college students who will receive the information alongside information about their school safety tip line.

Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency

Youth Resilience, Threat Assessment and Management Team, Bystander Training, Hotline

$524,547

The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency proposes to advance threat assessment and management practices and increase awareness and utilization of bystander trainings and hotlines within Southwestern Pennsylvania through a comprehensive pilot program. The panel noted the strong program design of the regional threat assessment hub approach and the strong support from various state offices.

Simon Wiesenthal Center

Training and Awareness, Recidivism Reduction and Reintegration, Preventing Targeted Violence, Preventing Domestic Terrorism, Online to Offline Intervention

$225,692

The Simon Wiesenthal Center-Museum of Tolerance proposes to expand an existing program for individuals who have committed a hate/extremist crime or have risk factors for targeted violence and terrorism. The proposal includes a private facilitated museum experiences, meetings with “credible messengers”, and goal-setting and facilitation and coaching with reintegration professionals.

The Citizens Crime Commission on New York City

Threat Assessment and Management Team, Recidivism Reduction and Reintegration

$741,878

The Citizens Crime Commission proposes to pilot a long-term intervention and recidivism reduction capability building upon previous testing of various intervention models. The project would receive referrals and provide services to individuals and organizations in the New York City area.

University of Denver Graduate School of Professional Psychology

Training and Awareness, Civic Engagement, Threat Assessment and Management Teams, Bystander Training

$491,865

The University of Denver Graduate School of Professional Psychology proposes to expand the Colorado model by increasing the capacity of the Colorado Resilience Collaborative (CRC). The CRC will provide training and educational resources on threat assessment and prevention of targeted violence, facilitate expert consultation and networking events for professionals and organizations, and develop an online resource library to promote sustainable training and technical assistance materials for the prevention of targeted violence.

University of Central Oklahoma

Youth Resilience Programs

$657,281

The University of Central Oklahoma proposes to utilize a series of class modules that address prejudice in pre-K and elementary schools throughout the state. The module will assess the effectiveness of early interruption on the evolution of violence. The project will also evaluate the impact of the training in urban, rural, and suburban areas. The project is adapted from a prior Peer-2-Peer: Challenging Extremism contest winner.

Utah Department of Public Safety

$205,850

Training and Awareness, Threat Assessment and Management Team

The Utah Department of Public Safety proposes a framework that will provide training and awareness to public safety and community leaders, enhance multidisciplinary threat assessment and management teams, and implement a statewide process for threat assessment teams to document and share threat assessments and management information.

Replication

Case Western Reserve University

Training and Awareness

$184,981

The Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University will work with the Northeast Ohio Regional Fusion Center (NEORFC) to provide training to identify and report violent extremism in rural areas and create a local, scalable threat assessment tool specific to the rural communities of Northeast Ohio.

District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency

Training and Awareness

$150,000

The District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (DC HSEMA) will provide mobilization to violence awareness training to schools, faith-based institutions, higher education institutions, and local law enforcement agencies. The DC HSEMA will stand up a Task Force to review and revise training materials to meet local needs and provide standard operating procedures for a sustainable program. Local training will inform community members on how to identify and report individuals or groups mobilizing to violence and provide local resources for outreach and referrals.

Florida International University Police Department

Threat Assessment and Management Team

$7,001

The Florida International University Police Department (FIUPD) will provide the Advanced Violence Risk Assessment Certification Course for the entire department to help standardize and professionalize their threat assessment and management case process. The training will enhance the engagement tools of FIUPD that will help build community trust and relationships and provide resources to network across stakeholders through training, awareness programs, education, and other community resource points.

Greenlight Project, Inc. - The Counter Extremism Project

Recidivism Reduction and Reintegration

$277,755

Greenlight Project, Inc. will enhance the capacity of an in-community reentry and recidivism reduction initiative at the Donovan Correctional Facility. Greenlight Project, Inc. will design and deliver curriculum to individuals of terrorism-related offenses prior to release or individuals vulnerable to the risk factors of radicalizing to violence, and also provide post-release support programming. The project will also help identify important risk and protective factors that might inform further recidivism reduction and reintegration programs nationally.

Muflehun

Bystander Training

$77,025

Muflehun, with support and commitment from the American Jewish Committee (AJC), will utilize existing training developed by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority under the FY16 Countering Violent Extremism Grant Program. The training for bystanders and gatekeepers: Communities Acting to Refer and Engage (CARE), will be piloted online for select community leaders. Training will be customized to each community leader and their local referral networks with the assistance of AJC’s 22 U.S. regional offices.

Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lighthorse Police Department

Youth Resilience Program

$28,994

The Lighthorse Police Department (LHP) will host a youth police academy and launch a youth mentoring program that will help implement a day-to-day trust and engagement strategy with youth community members. The LHP proposal fulfils the diversity of applicant criteria, as the DHS CVE and TVTP have yet to award a tribal authority with funds.

New York Presbyterian Hospital

Threat Assessment and Management Team

$149,985

The New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) will provide train-the-trainer awareness briefings and threat assessment and case management to staff leaders, who can train all security and hospital employees in threat assessment, mental health first aid, and targeted violence awareness trainings. NYP will also create a threat assessment and management team to accept case referrals from hospital staff and help mitigate potential threats of targeted violence and terrorism.

New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services

Threat Assessment and Management Team

$164,850

The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (NYS DHSES), with commitment and support form the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), will enhance the development of the Rochester Threat Advisory Committee (ROCTAC) throughout Upstate New York. The ROCTAC will manage information flow for situations where the risk to violence is assessed to be imminent or the cluster of risk factors and warning signs commonly associated with elevated risks for targeted violence are present, and provide information coordination to the necessary community leaders, including mental health professionals, community outreach partners, law enforcement agencies, human resources, schools and school districts, and further supported by the various federal, state, and local authorities and public outreach centers.

Operation250: Prevention Through Education

Media Literacy and Online Critical Thinking

$121,278

Operation250 will implement an online safety workshop for teachers and students in New Hampshire and Massachusetts to increase the resilience of young individuals online to violent extremist material. The workshop is skills-based learning program that addresses student decision-making online, risk-inducing online behaviors, in- and out-group attitudes, and critical problem-solving capabilities.

Philadelphia Police Department

Training and Awareness

$43,300

The Philadelphia Police Department will conduct training and outreach with their Fusion Liaison Officers to identify violent extremism indicators as well as behavioral indicators of targeted violence. Training and awareness programs will focus exclusively on the tactics, techniques, and procedures of domestic terrorist groups known to operate in Philadelphia and any emerging violent risks.

The National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices

Preventing Targeted Violence

$435,000

The National Governors Association (NGA) will assist states and territories in adopting comprehensive, data-driven approaches to prevention by assisting those authorities with the implementation of replicative, locally-based prevention framework programming. NGA will conduct a policy academy in five states, which will help identify, develop, and implement essential prevention programming. This proposal builds upon NGA’s FY16 CVE grant with additional outreach to different states that will provide a library of performance metrics, key indicators, lessons learned, and a messaging toolkit that can be adapted nationwide.

Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians

Training and Awareness

$149,882

The Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians will onboard and dedicate Tribal Public Safety Department Captains to raise awareness of targeted violence and terrorism prevention issues on the Reservation. The dedicated Captains will receive train-the-trainer programs and provide addition training to Tribal members and employees through Community Awareness Briefings (CABs) in both English and Spanish.

Xavier University

Training and Awareness

$124,817

Xavier University Police Department, in conjunction with Norwood Police Department and Cincinnati Police Department, will provide training and awareness programs to community partners to help identify individuals radicalizing to violence, encourage community resilience against the mobilization to violence, and help to enhance or establish programming to develop protective factors in youth communities.

Innovation

American University

Preventing Domestic Terrorism

$568,613

The School of Communication at American University will define and describe the growing threat of violent white supremacist extremist disinformation, evaluate attitudinal inoculation as a strategy for communication to combat the threat, and develop a suite of operational tools for use by practitioners and stakeholders. With commitment and support from Google Jigsaw, American University will develop evidence-based methods for undermining the persuasive appeal of disinformation-based messaging and facilitate on- and offline inoculation campaigns.

Arizona State University

Sector Engagement

$433,141

The AZ Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University, under the McCain Institute, will work with local prevention and intervention practitioners to assist in conducting outreach across the mental and behavioral health sectors to grow prevention and intervention referral networks. The McCain Institute will develop a framework for referral program designs that will feature resources and recommendations to build upon existing or new prevention referral networks.

Life After Hate Inc.

Online to Offline Intervention

$749,996

Life After Hate, in collaboration with and support from Moonshot CVE, will uniquely provide program management to target individuals online to disengage from violence, further support their deradicalization from violent extremist movements, and sustain their ability to reintegrate from violent extremist lifestyles. Life After Hate programming fulfills the priorities of combating the threat of domestic terrorism and mobilizing threat assessment and management teams through evidence-based disengagement and demobilization tools.

Muflehun

Preventing Domestic Terrorism, Preventing Targeted Violence

$748,250

The Muflehun Community Resilience Early Warning System (CREWS) will create a data-driven vulnerability risk map to help inform local-level, whole-of-society prevention frameworks of gaps in non-criminal justice sectors in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. CREWS will work with State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) authorities and other community stakeholders to recommend budget allocation and programming priorities along with other prevention network essentials, all supported by letters of recommendation from federal, state, and local officials and letters of commitment from local organizations.