Community Outreach

San Francisco Community Outreach

San Francisco, like each of the FBI’s local field offices, has a community outreach program that complements and strengthens our many efforts to protect you, your businesses, and your families in concrete ways through a range of activities and initiatives.

Supervisory Special Agent Steven Merrill was a keynote speaker at the northern District of California Hate Crimes Conference in early 2011.

The San Francisco Evidence Response Team and the San Francisco Citizens’ Academy Alumni Association participated in a “CSI Day” where members of the Alumni Association got to see some of the technology and techniques used by real life crime scene responders.

Citizens’ Academy students practice fingerprinting during the Evidence Response Team portion of the class.

Our recent activities include:

• On May 21, 2011 our 10th Citizens’ Academy graduated, bringing together a cross section of 30 members of our community to learn firsthand about our operations and programs. Citizens’ Academies not only demystify our work, but also help us forge new working relationships in the community. We hold Citizens’ Academies twice a year, and our fall session will begin September 22, 2011.
• In December 2010, we presented our annual Director's Community Leadership Award to Bridge the Gap College Prep, a non-profit organization that provides proactive tutoring and support to increase literacy and math skills and help at risk Marin City students graduate high school and attend college.
• On February 24, 2011, FBI San Francisco hosted its first Teen Citizens’ Academy, providing Bay Area high school students the opportunity to spend a day learning about the FBI and our programs. We will be hosting these events semi-annually, with the next one scheduled for October 18, 2011. Applications are currently being accepted.
• On April 19, 2011, we presented the February 2011 8th grade national FBI-SOS Internet challenge trophy to Ascencion Solorsano Middle School. This was the second win for the school and the awarded teacher. The top five students beat out more than 1,800 other 8th graders to win the challenge.

Among our other ongoing efforts:

• Meeting with civic organizations to talk about what the FBI can do with them and for them and hosting town hall meetings as needed to dialogue on key issues;
• Sending our special agents and other employees into schools, businesses, and civic meetings to explain emerging crime and security threats and to provide specific advice on how to prevent being victimized by these threats;
• Supporting the graduates of our Citizens’ Academies, who often band together in local alumni chapters to create programs to address crime and security threats and to provide specific advice on how to prevent being victimized by these threats;
• Hosting a Teen Citizens’ Academy that includes six to eight hours of instruction covering a variety of FBI programs;
• Serving on committees and boards for businesses, schools, community groups, and social services;
• Encouraging citizens to step forward to report crime and serve as witnesses in court;
• Partnering with the American Football Coaches Association and its National Child Identification Program to distribute Child ID kits at football games and other outreach events; and
• Hosting Adopt-A-School programs that put volunteer agents and staff members inside classrooms to mentor and tutor "at risk" kids.

Speaking engagements

All requests for speakers must be submitted at least two months in advance. Requests must be on official letterhead and include:

• Name of contact person;
• Telephone number;
• Nature of the event;
• Topics of interest;
• Number of attendees;
• Specific date(s); and
• Venue.

You can submit your requests by mail to: Public Affairs Specialist Alicia Sensibaugh, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, 13th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94102; or by e-mail to Alicia.Sensibaugh@ic.fbi.gov.

Visit our national In Your Community website for more information on our overall outreach efforts and on our work in other local FBI offices.