Shannon Martinez is program manager for the Free Radicals Project and the US regional coordinator for Against Violence and Extremism (AVE), the largest network of former violence-based extremists and survivors of extremist violence in the world. With 20 years of experience developing community-resource platforms aimed at inoculating individuals against violence-based lifestyles and ideologies, she has worked in at-risk communities teaching and developing resiliency skills, including school systems, nonprofits, and community organizations. Martinez has participated in programs with the UN Office of Counter Terrorism, Hedayah, The Center for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, and UN Women. She has also assisted in training law enforcement officers and collaborated with policymakers.
Previously
Recent years have seen rising political extremism in both Europe and the United States, from Neo-Nazi rallies in Charlottesville to ISIS jihadists in Brussels. One of the hard...