Abdirizak Farah is a Senior Policy Advisor with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Secretary, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), where he serves as a key expert and advisor on homeland security, civil liberties, counterterrorism, and countering violent extremism.  He represents the Department at high-level meetings with executives from other government agencies, private sector, and non-governmental agencies providing expert analysis and recommendations that support leadership decisions. Additionally, Abdi provides training and high level briefings for department leadership and conducts CVE training for DHS personnel and other law enforcement agencies.    

 

Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Abdi worked for the City of Columbus as Coordinator where he developed and participated in the execution of a long term strategy that encompassed improved compliance of Title six of the 1964 Civil Rights act, the successful integration of immigrant/refugee communities into the social and commercial fabric of Columbus life,  with marked improvement in the coordination of resources between the City and State to enhance the delivery of vital public services.    He was also the host of the TV Show, Global Columbus on Government Channel-3.     

 

Before joining Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s team, Abdi demonstrated his leadership skills while working for the United Nations as Political Office where he worked on national reconciliation, grass-root level institution building and other capacity building initiatives, including conflict resolution, economic development and disarmament efforts.

 

In his free time, Abdi serves as the Superintendent of Focus Learning Academy of Northern Columbus, a High Progress School of Honor (Ohio Department of Education Designation), he founded in 2007 to provide inner city and immigrant students with learning skills to sustain them for a lifetime.