Program honors Somali graduates in Columbus

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Somali community in Columbus is honoring high school and college graduates in a program meant to promote education among one of Ohio’s largest immigrant populations.

Somali community leaders have worked hard in recent years to emphasize the importance of schooling as an alternative to gangs or online recruiting by overseas terrorists.

The Somali Community Access Network hosts its second annual Ohio Somali Graduation Program Friday evening.

Columbus has the country’s second-biggest Somali population after greater Minneapolis.

Thousands of Somalis came to the United States beginning in the 1990s after civil war tore their east African country apart.