A federally backed effort to stem the rise of homegrown extremists is underway in Massachusetts, nearly three years after the White House announced the initiative on the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured hundreds.
The state last week selected three organizations to use USD 210,000 in federal money earmarked for the pilot effort, The Associated Press learned through a request of public records. The organizations propose initiatives meant to keep youths from being drawn to the violent messages of extremist groups.
United Somali Youth, which operates out of New England's largest mosque, the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, was awarded USD 105,000 to help Somali, African and Middle Eastern youths build critical life skills through afterschool programs, counseling, college readiness assistance and other efforts.
Empower Peace, which was founded by a communications and marketing executive, was given USD 42,000 to teach high schoolers statewide how to develop social media campaigns promoting tolerance and combating bigotry so that they can produce them at their schools.
And the 20-year-old Somali Development Center has been given USD 63,000 to better integrate Somali immigrants and refugees into the broader community.
Abdirahman Yusuf, the center's executive director, said the Boston-area Somali community hasn't had to grapple with terrorist recruitment like those in other parts of the country but needs to take preventative steps.
"With events like Columbus, Ohio, it's important for our community to have a dialogue," he said, referring to last month's car and knife attack at Ohio State University by a Somali-born student that is being investigated as possible terrorism. "This is a relevant issue."
But with a new administration moving into the White House, there's "real concern" over the future of such programs, said John Cohen, who helped President Barack Obama's administration develop its "countering violent extremism" strategy that included pilot efforts in Los Angeles and Minneapolis in addition to Boston.
A spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump's transition team didn't immediately comment. But, on the campaign trail, Trump and his surrogates suggested they'd take more aggressive steps to combating Islamic extremism than the current administration, including banning Muslims from entering the country and surveilling mosques and Muslim residents.
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