START launches training courses focused on community resilience

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) recently launched new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-certified courses focused on educating community members about violent extremism and how to respond to it effectively.

The multidisciplinary courses are based on social science theory as well as empirical research, exploring what leads from radicalization to violence.

The “Coalition-Building for Countering Violent Extremism and Community Resilience” course is a two-day, in-person training class that allows participants to develop locally-oriented partnership and coalition plans for resisting violent extremism.

In “Integrating Mental Health and Education Approaches into CVE,” participants can engage in a nearly 3-hour, self-paced online course that details how educators and mental health professionals can help address the needs of those people and communities contending with extremism. The goal is for participants to be able to identify different tiers of involvement for mental health and educators and lessons learned in the field.

The 4-hour “Community-led Action in Response to Violent Extremism” course also allows participants to work at their own pace online to examine the path of radicalization to violence and research a host of community efforts meant to foster resistance to it.

The development and delivery of the courses are funded by the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA’s National Training and Education Division.