The FBI’s Community Outreach Program supports the Bureau’s investigative mission by working to address multiple interrelated societal problems—including crime, drugs, gangs, terrorism, and violence. Linking community service, prevention, and law enforcement is a national trend spurred by grass roots efforts around the country, and FBI employees have joined this movement, volunteering in a wide variety of community-related efforts.
Outreach Specialist
Louisville.Outreach@fbi.gov
Social Media Outreach
Community Relations Flickr Gallery
Community Relations Facebook
The Citizens Academy is an engaging six-to-eight-week program that gives business, religious, civic, and community leaders an inside look at the FBI. Classes meet in the evening at the FBI field office. The mission of the FBI Citizens Academy is to foster a greater understanding of the role of federal law enforcement in the community through frank discussion and education.
Candidates are nominated by FBI employees, former Citizens Academy graduates, and community leaders. Participants are selected by the special agent in charge of the local FBI field office.
To Apply
Submit an online nomination.
Since 1990, the Director’s Community Leadership Awards has been the principal means for the FBI to publicly recognize achievements of individuals and organizations that make extraordinary contributions to education and the prevention of crime and violence in their communities. Each field office nominates an individual or organization for the award, and, once selected, the recipients are invited to a ceremony and reception at FBI Headquarters.
The Teen/Youth Academy allows high school students an opportunity to get a comprehensive look into today’s FBI during a six-to-eight-hour block of instruction and demonstrations at the field office. Students are provided with several presentations on topics, including terrorism, cyber, public corruption, polygraph exams, evidence response, SWAT, and the day-to-day operations of a typical FBI office.
Future Agents in Training (FAIT) is a program that originated out of the FBI’s Washington Field Office but has expanded to additional field offices throughout the country. FAIT invites high school students to receive hands-on training and works to educate and inform students about the mission of the FBI’s criminal, counterterrorism, intelligence, counterintelligence, and administrative divisions. Students learn from special agents, intelligence analysts, language specialists, and professional staff about investigative tactics that include gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, and assisting with cases.
The 16-week Junior Special Agent Program aims to give fifth- and sixth-graders in disadvantaged neighborhoods the information, skills, and discipline they need to stay away from gangs, drugs, and crime. Students also take a course in civics and learn about the FBI and the ways in which law enforcement helps to serve and protect their communities.
The Child ID app—the first mobile application created by the FBI—provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and vital information about your children on your smartphone (note: no information is stored or collected by the FBI). In the event your child goes missing, users can show the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers on the spot. Using a special tab on the app, users can also quickly and easily e-mail the information to authorities.
The app also includes tips on keeping children safe, as well as specific guidance on what to do in those first few crucial hours after a child goes missing.
FBI-SOS is a free, fun, and informative program that promotes cyber citizenship by educating students in third to eighth grades on the essentials of online security. For teachers, the site provides a ready-made curriculum that meets state and federal Internet safety mandates, complete with online testing and a national competition to encourage learning and participation. A secure online system enables teachers to register their schools, manage their classes, automatically grade their students’ exams, and request the test scores.
Anyone—young or old, in the U.S. or worldwide—can complete the activities on the FBI-SOS website. The testing and competition, however, are only open to students in grades 3-8 at public, private, or home schools in the U.S. or its territories.
Don’t Be a Puppet: Pull Back the Curtain on Violent Extremism is an interactive website that uses activities, quizzes, videos, and other materials to teach teens how to recognize violent extremist messaging and become more resistant to self-radicalization and possible recruitment.
The website makes teens aware of the destructive reality of various forms of violent extremism, including hateful attacks based on race, religion, or other factors. Through its Don’t Be a Puppet theme, the program encourages teens to think for themselves and display a healthy skepticism if they come across anyone who appears to be advocating extremist violence.
The FBI CREST (Community Relations Executive Seminar Training) is a shorter, more focused version of the FBI Citizens Academy Program and is conducted in partnership with a specific community group at an offsite location. The program is designed to build trust and strengthen relationships between the FBI and the communities we serve. Classes are taught by FBI executives, senior special agents, and program managers. Participants are selected by members of their organizations or community.
