See What's Happening at MCN - November Newsletter

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GREETINGS OF PEACE

November 26th, 2019

Holiday Season is Giving Season

Dear Friends and Supporters,

The holiday season is upon us and I hope you all will have a happy and joyous celebration with your friends, neighbors, and family. This is also the season to find ways of giving back, whether it is by volunteering or donating to your favorite charities.

Here are five reasons why I'd like for you to consider donating to MCN:

1. We are one of the few organizations serving Muslim youth, CITYWIDE.

2. We are helping shape the narrative to stop bullying and discrimination of the Muslim community, on both a local and national level through our diversity education workshops and our engagements with media, city agencies and private offices.

3. We are the only Muslim civil society based organization engaged in interfaith bridge-building with our interfaith partners, helping deepen understanding of Muslims and building larger coalitions to achieve our mission.

4. We are unifying the Muslim community, at the service level among non-profit organizations, with our trailblazing Muslim stakeholder convenings that is bringing our collective efforts together and leveraging each other's strengths and uplifting the community in ways that are unprecedented.

5. We are advocating for the Muslim community on multiple levels, whether it is by helping introduce halal lunch program for public school children with our allies, or by helping curb discrimination by law enforcement, and more.

This holiday season, I'd like to request your support in helping us raise $10,000 to help us expand our work and widen our reach.

Let me not do all the talking though. I'd like for you to take a look at our work yourself by reading the rest of our newsletter.

With gratitude,

Aniqa Nawabi
Executive Director

Support MCN's Mission

Forward

MCN Gives Back

MCN's volunteer services program is called, MCNServes. As part of this program, we have monthly volunteer engagements at the Church of Holy Trinty, providing a halal meal to attendees, and we support the parents at the NICU Center at Bellevue Hospital, supporting the tiniest New Yorkers. We also engage in one-off events that support the communities we serve.

October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month and MCN was proud to sponsor a luncheon for the families at Asiyah Women's Shelter - the first shelter for Muslim families and children.

November 19th, 2019: MCN volunteered at New Alternatives for Children, a nonprofit institution that provides high-quality services in support of birth, foster, and adoptive families caring for medically complex children. The evening's theme was paint night, and the children surely enjoyed painting their own canvasses. A big shout out to our long-time volunteers, Omera and Hira for joining us!

November 23rd, 2019: Our Interfaith Soup Kitchen continues to be a big draw for volunteers from all across the city. Happening every month, the 4th Saturday of the month, we provide a halal meal for more than 100 attendees. The service activity not only gives back to the community but brings together people from diverse backgrounds to learn from each other and share in giving back. A big thanks to our incredible and dedicated volunteers who make it every month to serve in the kitchen.

Help Give Back to the Community

Building Community

MCN's Community Education Program aims to strengthen and build the Muslim community by providing civic education workshops to community members and bringing together the Muslim nonprofits serving the community to help foster collaboration and unity in our work and efforts to serve the community.

October 30th, 2019: MCN partnered with the Yemeni American Merchants Association (YAMA) to bring two self-defense workshops to the Yemeni community in the Bronx and Brooklyn. We had over 50 women attend both workshops that helped build the confidence of the women in our community and also taught them techniques for community protection.

November 5th, 2019: MCN convened the second Muslim Stakeholders Meeting this month and we had over a dozen organizations represented at the meeting. We delved into an exercise of community mapping which helped identify all the assets we have in our community and how we can leverage them to support our missions. Although it was election day, we had a full house and the insights we were able to gather was invaluable. These quarterly meetings are what building and uplifting the Muslim community looks like.

Support Building the Muslim Community

MCN in the Community

November 12th, 2019: MCN's Program Manager for Community Engagement, Kujegi Camara participated in a panel discussion on faith and reconciliation at the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

October 29th, 2019: MCN was proud to sponsor an interfaith comedy show supporting Abe's Eats, which is the first of its kind meat product that is both halal and kosher.

November 19th, 2019: MCN participated in a panel discussion with WNET - Channel 13 - PBS - news station regarding how Muslim communities face and perceive discrimination in our times. We recommended ways in which the media can help shape the narrative around Muslims.

Support MCN's Shape the Narrative Work

Muslim Youth

MCN's core programming is with Muslim youth. We run two programs that support Muslim youth: MYNYC after-school leadership program and the MYNYC Bridge Mentorship program. The aim of these programs is to provide Muslim youth with a support network and give them the tools for fostering their civic leadership in our city and nation. We also have a program to bring interfaith youth together, as part of our Generation Peace program.

Support Muslim Youth

UPCOMING EVENTS

SCRIPTURAL REASONING: INTERFAITH SCRIPT STUDY
Join an interfaith table of participants learning from each others holy books and exploring the ways in which our communities are similar.

Thursday, December 5th
6:30-8:30 PM
Location: Marble Loft. 274 Fifth Avenue, New York

MYNYC BRIDGE WORKSHOP w. SENATOR ROBERT JACKSON

Saturday, December 7th, 2019
Time: 11:00 - 1:00 PM
Location: 110 Wall Street

Join MCN's Bridge Mentorship program in December with a special guest speaker, NYS State Senator Robert Jackson.

To RSVP, please email Shiraz Bheda at [email protected]

BELLEVUE HOLIDAY VOLUNTEER SERVICE

DECEMBER 13th, 2019

Join us on December 13th for a special holiday edition of our Bellevue NICU Center volunteer service opportunity. We will be giving gifts to the parents and siblings and there might be a few more special appearances as well.

GET INVOLVED

VOLUNTEER

Sign up to volunteer at MCN volunteer events, whether at our monthly interfaith soup kitchen at the Holy Trinity Church, Manhattan, NY, or at Bellevue Hospital to do crafts and activities with families and children at the NICU center. Click here for more information.

SERVE AS A YOUTH MENTOR

MCN engages with a strong group of mentors who serve as role models for our high school youth. Learn more about how to become a MCN Mentor.

BECOME A MEMBER

A monthly membership helps MCN sustain its programs and grow an active community of influencers. Membership includes discounted tickets to MCN events; access to a Resource Bulletin that helps you connect with other members and services; and much more! Membership Tiers include:

Sponsors: $100 per month
Bridge Builders: $50 per month
Family Protectors: $25 per month
Young Professional: $20 per month
MCN Network Member: $10 per month

For more information, contact Aniqa Nawabi at [email protected]

I'd Like to Become a Member of MCN

Forward

Our mailing address is:
MCN
110 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005

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