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.

Our recent activities include:

• In April 2009, we held our latest Citizens’ Academy, 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 plan to begin our next one in late October.

• In May 2009, we participated in a child fingerprinting session at Jose Ortega Elementary School in San Francisco in connection with the school’s 2nd annual Walk-A-Thon.
• In December 2008, we presented our annual Director's Community Leadership Award to the Richmond BUILD Program. Through a public/private partnership targeting at-risk residents, the program seeks to address rampant crime in the city of Richmond, California. It focuses on training and equipping participants for employment in the growing green construction field, thereby providing an alternative to gang association and criminal activity.

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.

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

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