Community Awareness Program Improvement

The Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab’s (CELL) Community Awareness Program (CAP) is a nationally recognized and DHS SAFETY Act Certified education and training program designed to provide citizens with the tools needed to recognize and help prevent terrorism and targeted violence in their communities. The CELL seeks to update the content and expand the dissemination of the CAP to address the current threat of domestic violent extremism and to train citizens across Colorado, the region, and potentially the country on how to identify and report to authorities’ incidents of radicalization.

The updated CAP will enable the CELL to reach a broader targeted audience through the CELL’s enhanced online learning management system (LMS) platform. The updated CAP will include new content covering the threat posed by the recent rise of domestic extremism as identified by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. In situations when program participants recognize radicalization occurring, the updated CAP provides direction regarding contacting the appropriate public safety, social service, and mental health agencies. In addition to explaining the threats posed by domestic violent extremism, the updated CAP will teach identifying risk factors and indicators of radicalization and stress the importance of timely reporting of concerns to the proper authorities.