About the CSSC

 

From Buffalo, New York to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Atlanta, Georgia, Charleston, South Carolina, Oak Creek, Wisconsin and far too many cities across the United States, we have seen that domestic violent extremist movements pose mortal threats to the American people. The Community Solidarity & Safety Coalition (CSSC) is a group of organizations across sectors who have come together to advocate for and support our communities, with a particular focus on community-based and nonprofit organizations, houses of worship, and educational spaces.

Domestic violent extremist movements target and threaten all Americans, from the Jewish community to HBCUs, Black churches, members of the AAPI community, and people simply shopping in grocery stores. The Jewish community and African-American community have spent decades building different elements of an infrastructure to document violent threats and advise on how to mitigate them, from attacks on synagogues to the burning of African-American churches. ADL (Anti-Defamation League) and the National Urban League (NUL), two of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations focused on the Jewish and African-American communities respectively, seek to invite other aligned organizations to work in common cause to develop a set of best practices, policies and active programming related to combating domestic violent extremism.

Founded on the eve of the White House United We Stand Summit (September 15, 2022), the Community Safety & Solidarity Coalition (CSSC) is an alliance of non-governmental and non-partisan leaders committed to collectively addressing critical community safety issues, especially focused on communities that have been targeted by hate-fueled violence (HFV). CSSC endeavors to shape community response to solidarity and safety challenges and partner with federal, state, and local governments to keep communities safe from rising threats like domestic terrorism.

By creating an Community Solidarity & Safety Coalition (CSSC), partners will prompt a broad national assessment of the security posture of private and nonprofit sector organizations and institutions; call for specific policies that strengthen the security capabilities of organizations and institutions across sectors; disseminate best practices for securing physical spaces; encourage planning and training that strengthens the security of physical spaces; and speak with joint advocacy against domestic violent extremist movements.

Desired Impact

As a result of the work of the CSSC, organizations across American life – from houses of worship to nonprofit organizations, mom and pop businesses to large national retailers, and more – will have access to a common set of protocols that ultimately leads to more secure spaces for all Americans.