State Senator Andy Dinniman and other senators announced the Tolerance, Respect, and Understanding (TRU) Program, Senate Bill 676, to address security needs and confront violence against faith-based organizations and those with diverse members.

Teach NYS lauded the New York State Legislature’s announcement of an additional $25 million to protect nonpublic schools, daycares and cultural museums at risk of hate crimes.

Hate crimes in America rose 17 percent last year, the third consecutive year that such crimes increased.

U.S. residents experienced an average of 250,000 hate crime victimizations each year from 2004 to 2015 and the majority of these were not reported to police.

The Canadian government is doubling investments to help communities at risk protect themselves from hate-motivated crimes. The government committed additional funding of CAD$5 million over five years in support of the Communities at Risk: Security Infrastructure Program (SIP), which supports communities to enhance security infrastructure against hate-motivated crimes.

The FBI released statistics related to hate crimes committed in 2013, showing that nearly half of the victims were targeted on the basis of race.

The FBI is reporting that hate crime incidents were slightly down last year.

Despite growing awareness of hate crimes, the share of those crimes reported to police has fallen in recent years.

New reports from the FBI show a 6 percent decrease in hate crime in 2011, but not all states are participating in the data collection effort.