2021 Highlights
Remaining resilient and steadfast in serving our communities, our youth, and advocating for the 800,000 Muslim New Yorkers, helping shift the narrative!
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Dear John,
I cannot tell you how fast this year has gone by! 2021 brought on new frontiers for MCN to be impactful in serving the Muslim community and the community at large. Our team has been so steadfast in fulfilling those programmatic goals and deliverables that we didn't realize how soon we have come to the end of the year.
Looking back, I am so proud of our team as we've continued to bring access and resources to our communities. Whether that has been in holding regular food drives and setting up systems for food security or educating the mosque going community about the importance of vaccinations, bringing access to city and state resources, such as the Excluded Workers Fund, or combating hate and continuing to provide education in our schools about the contributions of Muslims to American society and training our youth about civic leadership.
MCN's work has been recognized by the next NYC Mayor's administration, as I've been selected to serve on the civic-engagement committee for Eric Adam's transition team. Our team has grown from a four-person team to now nine staff members. As always, MCN's strategic goal has been to unite and collaborate with the Muslim serving community-based organizations and we're proud to convene the Muslim Stakeholder's Roundtable Discussions. The topics we've covered this year included mental health awareness; how to better welcome refugees into our city; and advocacy around the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
As we forge ahead and try to climb out of the disaster that this pandemic has caused, MCN remains resilient in making the most impactful contributions to our communities. We cannot do this work without the support of our incredible funders: with a big shout out to City Council members Daniel Dromm, Daneek Miller, Brad Lander, Farah Louis, Speaker Johnson, Mark Levine, Keith Powers, and Justin Brannan. Thank you for recognizing our work! And moreover, to the New York Women's Foundation and the Brooklyn Community Foundation for investing in our organization's impactful work; to Islamic Relief USA and the New York Immigration Coalition for your support for our community development and service work; and finally, to our friends and families who continue to donate to our cause -- without which we could not have had the agility to be responsive as swiftly as we did, to our communities' needs.
THANK YOU! Now let's take a look at some of our highlights of the year!
With Gratitude,
Aniqa Nawabi
Executive Director
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January 2021
MCN was deep in to voter education work in January and here's a picture of a group of women at the Masjid Muhammad Ali with whom we engaged to help register the community at the mosque to vote. We provided civic-education training, as well as enrolled 112 people to vote. Moreover, we were featured in a PBS highlight about the work we did during COVID-19 response, check out the video here.
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February 2021
Our MCN Summit took place in February. We are so proud to bring more than 25 thought leaders to an all-day virtual summit to provide thought leadership for the Muslim community, on topics involving youth development, civic engagement, and Muslim narrative changes in the media. Check out the video here.
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March 2021
MCN co-authored and helped develop, alongside the legislative team at Councilmember Daniel Dromm's office, Resolution 1257. This resolution would help combat hate and discrimination against religious minorities in our city, the most diverse city in the world, by bringing curriculum enhancements and teacher support and training on how to teach about religious diversity in our city. We held a press conference, along with our coalition partners, the Interfaith Center of NY, the Sikh Coalition, and the Tanenbaum Center for Inter-Religious Understanding.
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April 2021
Our MYNYC Youth Fellows worked on their community projects, and one memorable one was organized by Marjona Ulmasova, who wanted to run a forum where her community would learn about the office of the Brooklyn Borough President. Coincidentally, the Brooklyn Borough President is now our Mayor-elect! Watch the video here.
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May 2021
Our MYNYC youth continued to demonstrate leadership in their communities as they held multiple food drives and community clean-ups throughout Ramadan serving more than 200 families in Brooklyn. We also distributed 400 toys to communities in Harlem, Bronx, and Queens for our annual Eid toy giveaways and held two Iftar dinners at the Masjid Muhammad Ali in Harlem.
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June 2021
MCN's advocacy work took on new heights as we asked our interfaith partners to stand up for justice, whether it is at home or abroad. With the attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site for Muslims, during the month of Ramadan, MCN embarked on crafting a letter in response to the attack that is one of the strongest interfaith letter calling for justice in the face of hate in the Israel/Palestine situation. We have over 140 signatories to this letter from national and global institutions. Please read it here. As an institution that engages in interfaith bridge-building, we cannot build bridges without addressing the root causes of injustice and we applaud all the faith leaders and institutions who have endorsed this letter.
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July 2021
MCN's food drives continued. We served over 1200 individuals and families this year in locations all over New York City. The best part of it has been the partnerships we've built with various mosques, serving a diverse community in our city. Alongside our food drives, we would provide vaccination education and connect mosque-goers to resources from the city.
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August 2021
MCN conducted two vaccination pop-ups at the Parkchester mosque in the South Bronx, a community that is hard-to-reach in regards to access to vaccinations. This was the first time we were able to bring vaccination services to a mosque in the city! A big shout out to the Interfaith Public Health Network and Bronx Cares for providing this service to our community. Thanks to the pop-ups, 94 individuals got vaccinated.
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September 2021
This year marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. While we weren't able to gather our communities in person for our annual Children of Abraham Peace Walk, we commemorated the event virtually. The event also prompted us to look into the work activists had begun when the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum opened up. The controversial exhibits of the Museum portray Muslims and Islam in the most negative light, and so we re-engaged the group of activists and faith leaders to help continue the good work of shifting the narrative of the Museum.
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October 2021
With October being Domestic Violence Awareness month, we continued our #MuslimWomenStrong campaign where we distribute posters at mosques about how our faith teaches us against any violence against women. We also continued to enroll undocumented New Yorkers to apply for the Excluded Workers Fund, a key lifeline for many individuals and families who have missed out on critical financial benefits due to their immigration status. MCN helped enroll 203 individuals to the Fund.
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November 2021
In November, we made our final efforts in ensuring the Muslim vote was heard. MCN also held phone banking events and monitored poll sites thanks to the work of amazing volunteers. We also launched our Muslim Youth NYC program and welcomed 15 new passionate students from seven different high schools across NYC. Our Thanksgiving food giveaways were a major success, where we distributed for the first time 200 turkeys in the Lower East Side and in Brooklyn.
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December 2021
Finally reaching an end to this complex year, this is a picture of a group of Muslim stakeholders we took to visit the National 9/11 Museum and Memorial in an educational trip to see how we can advocate for the narrative change. As we wrap up the year, MCN is building a stronger Muslim community who can be strong voices for our children and future generations to come!
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