WRAPPING UP THE YEAR
We are welcoming the end of the year with a big push to ensure that Muslim New Yorkers are educated about their rights. We started off with an Immigrant Rights Workshop that we presented to more than 200 individuals from the Yemeni American Merchants Association; and the Department of Youth and Community Development's limited English proficient members. We talked about hate crimes and defined the legislative background on issues like the Muslim travel ban and DACA.
We are so proud of our Muslim Youth NYC students who were excited to continue their fellowship at our new office 450 Lexington Avenue. A special shout out to our MYNYC student Abdulrahman Khaldi for presenting his capstone project on Muslim persecution and hate crime prevention to his classmates at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn this past week.
We didn't stop there, we made sure that all of our MYNYC students, whoever was eligible also signed up to vote. We also tabled at the Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Manhattan to sign students up for MYNYC and voting. Civics is an important pillar of this work and being registered to vote is the first step to taking part in our democracy. Thanks to our Coordinators, Fatimah Zahra-Thiam and Maryam Khaldi, for signing up the youth to vote!
Our Muslim Women's Empowerment program wrapped up its 8-week session and we were happy to graduate 13 amazing women from the Yankasa Masjid Sisters group. As part of this program, each individual must finish up a checklist of items that qualify them for graduating from the program. Check out the checklist and our amazing women leaders!
 
We continued to support the influx of migrants and asylees to our city. Many of our mosques are supporting the migrants with very limited support from the community. We are thankful to the families of the Herricks Muslim Families (HMF) for donating more than one thousand hygiene kits to be distributed at the Port Authority and to various mosques housing the migrants throughout the city. Together, we can alleviate the pressures that our houses of worship are facing during this unprecedented crisis.
 
Our advocacy and education work doesn't stop there. MCN was proud to be a part of two events this month that helped shape our narrative on what it means to be a civil society-based organization in the United States. On December 15th, we hosted a dozen public officials from the Middle East (Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia) as part of the Depart of State's International Visitor Leadership Program to talk about the state of Muslim civil society organizing in the United States. Additionally, In commemoration of International Human Rights Day, MCN’s Advocacy Manager AjiFanta Marenah, joined a panel discussion with NYU’s Student Government focused on human rights and bodily autonomy in a time of global protest regarding the hijab and the rights of Muslim Women internationally.
On November 8th, we held our Muslim Stakeholders Roundtable Discussion on how Muslim civil society organizations can advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of our work under the SDG 16 - which promotes peace through civil society organizing. MCN is proud to support this pillar and we were grateful to the Gambian Mission and Religions for Peace USA for supporting this important discussion. We had foreign missions from Morocco, Norway, Brazil, and Muslim stakeholders from ICNA Relief, Asiyah Women's Shelter, Muslims Giving Back, Nene, take part of this discussion.
In closing, I want to give a big shoutout to our incredible volunteers who continue to inspire us with their leadership at our monthly soup kitchen! Our soup kitchen feeds more than a hundred veterans and homeless New Yorkers each month. We cook a fresh meal for them. Look at those smiling faces. We are grateful for the opportunity to provide Muslim New Yorkers the opportunity to serve their communities - to live their faith in action.
As you can see friends, MCN is filling an important role in our community. From establishing partnerships and leveraging each other's strengths, to helping shape the narrative on issues that have impacted our communities the most!
MCN is a trusted organization in our community as detailed by Charity Navigator and Guidestar.
 
Therefore, please give with confidence to MCN this holiday season. It is with your support that we can build a Muslim civil-society-based institution advancing the narrative for Muslim Americans. Please consider a donation of $50, $100, $250, $500 to help us continue building a Muslim institution that empowers our community!
With Gratitude,
 
Aniqa Nawabi
Executive Director
|
|
