Mukhtar Ibrahim, MPR

Federal officials and Somali-American community members will announce Wednesday a slew of new programs intended to make Somali youth more resilient to recruitment and radicalization by overseas extremist groups.

The news comes on the same day that one of six young Twin Cities men arrested in April on charges of trying to join the terror group ISIS is expected to change his plea to guilty. Hanad Musse has a court hearing scheduled for 10 a.m.

The announcement about the community partnerships follows months of meetings held by U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger with Somali community members, foundations and corporations about a new federal pilot program launched in Minneapolis.

The Building Community Resilience pilot project, which was initially called Countering Violent Extremism, was launched last year and has since generated intense debates in the Somali community.

In a briefing with reporters Tuesday, Luger said the project has received about $1 million in funding from state and federal grants, corporations and foundations.

“This is literally just getting done,” Luger said. “It has been both gratifying and very interesting work to be engaged in.”

He said Youthprise, a Minneapolis-based community foundation, will act as the project’s fiscal agent and determine which projects will receive funding. The U.S Attorney’s Office said it won’t be involved in those funding decisions.

The pilot program has attracted the support of corporations such as Cargill and the Mall of America and non-profits groups including Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Cargill, for example, will launch a youth leadership institute for promising youth in the Somali community. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is interested in starting a mentoring program in the Somali community, while the Mall of America will fund a youth-led program.

“This is the right thing to do,” Luger said. “This is what community members asked us to do.”

Read more: New Somali youth programs launched amid terror recruitment concerns

Source: MPR