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Project Announcement: Unleashing the Potential of Community-Based Organisations in Preventing and Responding to Hate

Publication Date:

03/10/2024

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News

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Community-Based OrganisationsCommunity-Based PreventionGlobal Crises Local ImpactsHate SpeechNorth America Regional Hub

— 3 minutes reading time

October 2024 – September 2027  

The Challenge

Consecutive global crises are having significant impacts on social cohesion and community safety at the local level. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Stop AAPI Hate has received 11,000 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents. The Israel-Gaza crisis has contributed to a dramatic rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in communities around the United States. Beyond this, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-government and anti-migrant sentiment continues to fester, with social media enabling such hateful narratives to reach (and mobilise) larger audiences than ever before. Together, this landscape threatens to undermine the social fabric of communities across the country.   

The Need

Through its work with mayors and other local officials across the world to strengthen city and community-led efforts to prevent and respond to all types of hate, extremism and polarisation, Strong Cities has identified several needs for strengthening community-based efforts to prevent and respond to hate. These include: 

• Greater capacity among local actors to be able to assess and understand the relevant hate landscape – including how online mis/disinformation and conspiracy narratives can impact it – particularly to maintain a “live” threat profile and strengthen “early warning” whereby such actors can identify, report, and/or address inter-community tensions and/or hateful sentiment before they escalate to violence or undermine social cohesion;    
• Creating more incentives for community-based organisations (CBOs) to report hate crimes and incidents to the relevant authorities or organisations, including by reducing the barriers to reporting or to otherwise sharing information, whether due to a lack of trust to do so via traditional channels (e.g., reporting to the police), a lack of confidence or understanding of what constitutes hate or a “normalising” of hate, among others;  
• Greater understanding of and capacity to implement proven practices for strengthening community resilience against hate, including to enhance digital resilience;   
• Greater awareness of how to implement a “networked” response that: a) leverages the comparative advantages of a wide range of local stakeholders, including city departments, commissions, task forces and agencies, community-based actors, faith leaders and others; and b) avoids duplication of efforts, which can leave certain communities over-saturated with support and others neglected (e.g., those overlooked or underserved); and     
• Greater awareness of how community-led efforts to prevent and respond to hate can be sustained.   
    

Addressing the Gaps

With funding from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, and a roster of subject-matter experts that includes those with practical experience working to address hate at a city and/or community level, Strong Cities will work community-based organisations (CBOs) and local governments in five cities across the United States over the next three years to enhance community-based prevention of, responses to and reporting of hate crimes and incidents. 

Project Activities

These include:  

• An inaugural capacity-building workshop for CBOs and city officials from the five selected cities;  
• Calls for proposals to provide subgrants to two CBOs in each of the five cities to deliver two-year programs to increase community-led reporting of hate crimes and hate incidents and hate prevention efforts more broadly in their cities;
• Technical support for subgrant management and implementation;
• Opportunities to participate in Strong Cities networking and peer-to-peer learning events throughout the project; and 
• An in-person showcase for awarded CBOs to share achievements and lessons learned with fellow awardees, city officials and their beneficiaries.   

Expected Outcomes

These include: 

• Increased capacity of CBOs to prevent and respond to hate, 
• Increased collaboration between CBOs and local governments on preventing and responding to hate, and  
• Increased community-wide awareness of what constitutes hate and how to report and address it.   

Additional Information

For additional information on this project please contact the Strong Cities North America Hub: [email protected]. 

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.  

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