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Programs
Fall 2023 & Annual 2023-2024
Program Registration Launch
Our Community Programs are back & we have made some new changes to our programs that we are excited to share with our community. We are now separating our Community Programs into two categories–Annual 28-week programs and 10-week Session Long programs. We will still be offering the majority of our usual programs as 10- week programs, but now our Dabka and Arabic Programs will be considered Annual 28-week programs! This means that when you register for Dabka or Arabic, you will automatically be registered from the Fall to the Spring. This will help our students stay consistent with learning throughout the year while also building relationships and connections with other children in our community.
Registration for both our Fall 2023 10-week Programs and our Annual 2023-2024 Programs are now open on our website. Make sure to register yourself or your kids for our programs today!
PACC Summer Fun Continues!
After six weeks of fun and activities, we have wrapped up our 2023 PACC Summer Fun program! Throughout the summer, our students were able to learn about Palestine in their HOPE class, cook some delicious recipes in their cooking class, get creative in our Arts & Crafts and Coding classes, and so much more. To end the summer, we had a celebration with water activities, blow up carnival games, an obstacle course, pizza and ice cream. We will miss our PACC Summer Fun students & team! Browse through pictures of PACC Summer Fun here!
Soccer Program at Jalazone Refugee Camp
Mahmoud Ihmeidan and Islam Zidan are two young adults who grew up in the community and are very passionate about soccer and actually coached our soccer program at PACC throughout the years. They reached out to PACC in 2019 with an idea: they wanted to start a summer coaching program for Palestinian youth in Palestine. After many discussions, much planning and a global pandemic - we were finally able to host an 8-day soccer program this summer in Jalazone Refugee Camp for 40 youth between the ages of 8 and 14. It was an experience of a lifetime for many of these kids and definitely one for our coaches. We thank the Jalazone Refugee camp for opening their space for our premier program and we look forward to growing the program in the coming years. We thank our coaches Mahmoud and Islam for their time, dedication and vision. For more pictures on our Soccer program, click here.
We toured Palestine for our Homeland Project!
We wanted to provide our community with the opportunity to see Palestine in a unique, fun and educational way, so this month we organized 2-day trips in various Palestinian cities. Those who joined us got to bask in the beauty of Bethlehem, Battir, Ras Al Naqoura and Akka. We toured and learned about the rich history of the Old City and the Church of Nativity, walked along the Apartheid Wall and visited the Dheisheh Refugee Camp.
In the North of Palestine, we also visited Haifa and the hanging bridges along with the Baha’i Gardens, then we made our way over to Ras Al Naqoura where we enjoyed a spectacular view. Finally, we walked through the old city of Akka. For the beautiful images we took during these trips, check out our Homeland Project Facebook album here
Community Outreach
We hosted Members of the Aida Youth Camp!
Anas, the head of youth work at Aida Youth Center, visited PACC as a guest speaker in our HOPE Class where he discussed all the wonderful work that he does with kids in Palestine. Our kids enjoyed an educational presentation and asked many questions about life in Palestine. Check out pictures of his visit here
CAIR’s Muslim Youth Leadership Intensive
Our Palestine Education Director, Abire Sabbagh, was a guest speaker on CAIR’s career panel for the Youth Leadership Intensive at the State House in Trenton. The panelists spoke about how they came to the careers they have now and gave advice to young Muslim high schoolers about finding their path and following their passions.
Commemorating the 2022 War on Gaza
We uplifted a powerful Instagram post by the Palestinian Feminist Collective on our stories. For more information about the 2022 War on Gaza, click here!
Blood Drive Community Outreach
Happy 9-Year Work Anniversary to our Executive Director Rania Mustafa!
On August 9th, we celebrated our Executive Director Rania Mustafa’s 9-year work anniversary! Our staff and PACC Summer Fun kids surprised her with signs, flowers, edible arrangements, and an award for all her hard work in the past 9 years! 9 years ago this month, Rania launched PACC with a vision to empower our community and has accomplished so much since. We thank her for all her tireless efforts organizing for the Palestinian community. For pictures, check out our Facebook album here.
We partnered once again with the American Red Cross to host another blood drive this month!