News & Events News

Project Announcement: Prevention Academy — Training City Leaders and Officials on Addressing Hate, Extremism and Polarisation

Publication Date:

03/10/2024

Content Type:

News

Share:

Tags:

National League of CitiesNorth America Regional HubPrevention AcademyPrevention Programmes

— 5 minutes reading time

October 2024 – September 2026  

The Challenge

Mayors and other local elected leaders around the country are increasingly concerned about the impact that hate, extremism, and related threats are having on community safety and cohesion in their cities. These leaders recognise that due to their immediate proximity to these incidents and their deeper, more nuanced understanding of affected communities, they have an important role to play alongside federal and state counterparts in both prevention and incident response. However, many feel they lack the tools necessary to assume this role, which may vary depending on the context. 

The Prevention Academy: Goals and Objectives

The Strong Cities Network, through its North America Regional Hub, and the National League of Cities (NLC) – who entered a strategic partnership earlier this year – will launch a Prevention Academy for mayors, other local elected officials and senior city officials to help them: 

• better understand and identify the threats, needs and vulnerabilities in their cities as they relate to hate, extremism and related threats;  
• appreciate the benefits of a public health approach to prevention and the essential role they play in operationalising and sustaining it; and  
• understand how to apply such an approach in their cities, including through the development of whole-of-city approaches to prevent hate, extremism and polarisation that can lead to violence and ones that are driven by the needs and priorities of local communities. 

The Prevention Academy will impart to cities how to best leverage: 

• local prevention interventions and approaches that have been supported by DHS’ Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships;  
• promising practices from across the Strong Cities’ 260+ members; and 
• violence prevention and other public safety improvement efforts from across the NLC programming and membership. 

Attention will also be given to ensuring that hate and extremism prevention approaches are aligned with, and in some cases embedded into, broader existing safety and violence prevention efforts. 

The Prevention Academy: Methodology and Curriculum

The Academy will include both on-line and in-person elements. It consists of a series of ten learning modules delivered over the course of ten months, complete with technical support to advance the city’s work in operationalising a comprehensive approach to addressing hate and extremism that can lead to violence.  

Technical support includes standing biweekly virtual office hours to assist cities with issues related to hate and extremism as they arise and/or assist with longer-term efforts to develop comprehensive approaches. 

Over the two-year project, Strong Cities and NLC will run two rounds of the Academy with eight cities per cohort. Each session will include two in-person workshops, at the beginning and end of the cycle, where the participation of mayors (or their deputies) and other local elected leaders is expected. The workshops will take place in or on the margins of already planned events where mayors and other local elected officials would be attending. For example, the first cohort will meet at the NLC Annual City Summit in Tampa in November 2024 and at Strong Cities’ North America annual mayoral retreat in Pittsburgh in August 2025. 

In between the in-person roundtables, city leaders will complete eight modules. Together with the in-person workshops, the project modules would address the following topics: 

1. Local leadership in prevention: the role of mayors and other local elected leaders in prevention.

2. Understanding the on- and off-line hate and extremism landscape (e.g., data collection, monitoring, etc.). 

3. Federal, state and local government action in prevention and how cities can take the lead in a public health approach to prevention. 

4. The role of communities, community-based organisations and law enforcement in prevention. 

5. How to identify potential stakeholders in city-led prevention and build a multi-disciplinary prevention team.

6. Community engagement models, including with faith and historically marginalised communities. 

7. Referral mechanisms, behavioral threat assessment and management, and ongoing provision of psycho-social and other support.

8. Rehabilitating and reintegrating former extremists and offenders. 

9. Sustaining city-led prevention efforts, with a focus on monitoring, evaluation and learning, and building city-level public-private partnerships for prevention.  

10. Crisis communications and post-incident response and recovery, with a particular focus on the role of mayors and other local elected officials. 

Throughout the course, participating cities will be able to access the Strong Cities “help desk” and living library of online resources, as well as its growing global network of members and subject matter experts from different disciplines, for support in the application of the knowledge being shared during the course.  

Partner Contributions

In addition to the Strong Cities team, former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and current Mayor of Highland Park (Illinois) Nancy Rotering will serve as senior mayoral advisors. Both led their cities through the aftermath of attacks – at the Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018 and an Independence Day Parade in July 2022 respectively – to develop response, recovery and a long-term prevention infrastructure. Together, they will lead project engagement with mayors and other local elected officials. Strong Cities will also leverage its growing pool of subject matter experts – including current and former city officials – to contribute to the development and delivery modules based on the areas of their expertise. Finally, Strong Cities will leverage the experiences of cities across its 260+ member network and the tools it has developed to support city-led prevention efforts, resources which will be tailored for the US context. 

About the Strong Cities Network 

Strong Cities is an independent global network of 260+ cities and other local governments – including more than 25 members in the United States – dedicated to addressing all forms of hate, extremism and polarisation, while promoting a human rights-based prevention framework. Through in-person and online convenings, exchanges and trainings, Strong Cities facilitates sharing and learning among mayors and other local leaders as well as municipal-level practitioners. By doing so, it helps local authorities leverage their full potential in prevention, while complementing national, regional and global efforts.  

About the National League of Cities 

The NLC includes 2,700+ city, town, and village leaders focused on improving the quality of life for their current and future constituents. NLC’s mission is to advocate for, and protect the interests of, local administrations by influencing federal policy, strengthening local leadership, and driving innovative solutions. In March 2024, it entered into a strategic partnership with the Strong Cities Network to jointly assist cities in tackling rising hate, extremism, and polarization. NLC brings considerable experience launching and supporting similar initiatives, from its Municipal Reentry Leaders Network and City Justice Policy Advisors Network to the Mayoral Network on Community Safety and Violence Prevention. It also hosts NLC University, which offers over 50 training courses for municipal leaders on critical issues related to public policy and social cohesion. 

News & EVENTS

Stay up to date with recent news, articles and event reports

News & Events

Looking for something in our Resource Hub?

Or explore all resources

Nominated for Best Animated Short at Cannes

Watch now

Join US

Looking to become a Strong City?

Get in touch