El Paso, 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:

• On March 20, 2009, Director Robert Mueller presented the 2008 Director’s Community Leadership Award to Susan Oliva. Ms. Oliva is the director of The Advocacy Center for the Children of El Paso, a local nonprofit organization that advocates for child victims of abuse and neglect in the El Paso area. Ms. Oliva, a 2006 FBI Citizens’ Academy graduate, has worked to develop effective relationships with all levels of local, state, and federal law enforcement in the El Paso area. For the past decade, she has coordinated the planning of the annual Southwest Regional Crimes Against Children Conference for law enforcement and social service providers. She has also worked with the community’s three school districts to train more than 5,000 teachers to facilitate “The Do’s and Don'ts of Child Abuse Reporting Training.”
  
  

• Each year we hold a Citizens' Academy, bringing together a cross section of community leaders to learn firsthand about our operations and programs, not only demystifying our work but creating new contacts and channels for working together and sharing information. Participants gather once a week for six weeks for three-hour information sessions. The classes are taught by FBI executives and senior special agents. Topics include: international and domestic terrorism; cyber crime; criminal enterprises/violent gangs; white-collar crime; firearms training; and SWAT operations. Potential candidates must be business, civic, religious, or community leaders who are at least 21 years old; have no prior felony convictions; live or work within the jurisdiction of the El Paso office; and must pass a background check.

The 2008 Citizens' Academy Class

• In the fall, executive managers from the community are invited to a CREST (Community Relations Executive Seminar Training) Shoot Out. The agenda includes brief presentations on all programs, demonstrations by the SWAT and Evidence Response Teams, and a chance to fire the weapons in the FBI's arsenal. For more information, please contact Special Agent Andrea K. Simmons at (915) 832-5373.
• This fall our employees participated in events such as the Special Olympics Bowl-A-Thon, Elder Law Day, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) “Papeleros with a Purpose,” a Crimes Against Children seminar, and El Paso Chabad’s Mumbai memorial service.

Among our other ongoing efforts:

• Meeting with minority groups and civic organizations to talk about what the FBI can do with them and for them;
• Sending our special agents and others from the FBI 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;
• Partnering with the American Football Coaches Association and its National Child Identification Program to distribute Child ID kits at El Paso’s annual Texas vs. The Nation all-star football game; and
• Hosting a Junior Special Agent program that puts volunteer agents and staff members inside classrooms to mentor and tutor "at risk" kids.

The El Paso Division personnel are available to deliver speeches in a variety of areas concerning FBI jurisdiction, Bureau programs, and crime prevention. Contact Terri Castillo at (915) 832-5065 for more information on how to request speakers.

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

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