PERIL offers various training programs and webinars in a range of formats to cater to the needs of educators, practitioners, communities, and governments at the local, municipal, state, and federal levels. Our workshops and training programs are designed to help individuals and organizations build resilience against extremism and polarization. Our team of experts works diligently to develop research-based and data-driven training sessions that can be customized according to the needs of different organizations. Whether it is a workshop, webinar, or a comprehensive training program, we offer a range of formats to make our content more accessible to everyone.
If you are interested in training for your organization or agency, please contact periltrainings@american.edu.
PERIL’s Summer Institute is an annual week-long residential training and education program aimed at building early career practitioner capacity and understanding of a public health approach to prevention of extremism, with a focus on supremacist and antidemocratic movements. The Institute features lectures, panel discussions, and interactive workshops led by experts in the field. Participants gain knowledge and skills to better understand and address the complex issues of polarization and extremism in their communities. The program is designed for a diverse range of professionals, including mental health professionals, educators, community leaders, and social service providers.
What would it take to develop a pilot training to counter polarization in a city where social and political strain has reached a breaking point? PERIL and the City of Seattle worked together to test baseline strategies in a training aimed at reaching all municipal employees. The pilot, Free to Disagree, was tested with a range of city employees, including the office of the Ombuds, sanitation, and the Seattle police and fire departments. PERIL produced video content explaining the dynamics of radicalization and polarization, and how those dynamics affect the ways we work together, accompanied by a package of discussion rubrics and secondary readings. Preliminary impact study demonstrated an improvement in awareness of the dynamics of polarization and willingness to step up to reduce it. The Free to Disagree program offered a small first step toward healing the rifts that have emerged in our society in recent years. Piloted virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic, Free to Disagree is adaptable to in-person contexts.
The BRICK (Building Resilient and Inclusive Communities of Knowledge) toolkit is a set of resources developed by the Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) to help the higher education sector build resilience against polarization and extremism. BRICK focuses on proactive strategies that center the needs of targeted groups, victims, and survivors of hate-fueled and political violence. The toolkit is grounded in evidence-based research, including focus groups and listening sessions with campus stakeholders across the country. It is designed to provide practical strategies and tools for identifying and responding to the risk of radicalization and polarization, both online and offline, and includes a range of resources tailored for faculty, staff, students, and campus administrators. This includes a PDF-downloadable guide and adapted web portal, tools for mediating difficult conversations, and resources for evaluation and assessment. PERIL also offers bespoke trainings for individual campus communities rooted in the BRICK toolkit, and in 2023-25 is offering a suite of trainings at national conferences in collaboration with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).
PERIL’s Summer Institute is an annual program designed for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners interested in gaining practical knowledge and skills related to public health approaches to the prevention of radicalization and extremism. The program provides an immersive learning experience with lectures, case studies, and simulations delivered by leading experts in the field of extremism research and prevention. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with PERIL’s research team and network with peers from around the world, building lasting connections in the field. The program also includes opportunities for hands-on training with PERIL’s innovative tools and resources. By the end of the Summer Institute, participants will have gained a deep understanding of the complex issues surrounding polarization and extremism, and the skills necessary to design and implement effective prevention programs. The program runs for one week and is held at the beautiful American University campus in Washington, D.C.
VEER’s train-the-trainers model leverages the knowledge of local communities and grassroots organizations to spread the techniques of prevention and resilience education nationwide. VEER offers self-guided training materials and media resources to grassroots, nonprofit, and state and local government organizations. This empowers our partners to identify sources of local concern and apply empirically proven approaches to reducing local risks and build resilience against extremism. VEER is hosted via closed, invitation-only web portal.
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