feb 2021
PACC’S Monthly Newsletter
11
Events
Palestine Monday We hosted a book talk with co-editor Sumaya Awad about her new book Palestine: A Socialist Introduction and discussed the importance of having a class analysis and understanding of Palestine’s history and present day state. We had 1200 viewers, and had an interactive and lively question and answer discussion session!
book club
We revived our book club this month by meeting up and discussing Susan Abulhawa’s Against the Loveless World. We had 10 people in attendance 7 were in person and 3 joined virtually. Those that were joining virtually were from Connecticut and from Boston. In times of limited social contact, we facilitate a safe space that led to a great conversation about culture, family, identity, responsibility and much more.
how to tuesday
workshop wednesday Our workshop this month was titled “The Do’s and Don’ts of College Interviews’’. Providing advice on how to perfect all college/university interviews, it gave students an opportunity to hear people share, from their own past experiences, perspectives on how to behave in a college/university interview and the common questions that are usually brought up in interviews.
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We collaborated with Hidayah Services to provide our community with a workshop that helped explain the application process and answered all questions regarding financial aid! One of our participants joined us all the way from Jerusalem, since she was accepted into MIT for the upcoming school year and wanted information about financial aid.
Freedom is the future: From vision to action We launched our Freedom is the Future class this month, in partnership with Adallah Justice Project! We have 27 students in the class, and so far they explored their own identities in relation to the occupation of Palestine, presented their own creative group projects that explain how to counter Zionist myths, and heard from leaders from Palestine Legal and Jewish Voice for Peace about how to stay strong in the face of repression against Palestinian activism.
Advocacy and Community Engagement Team: We were so excited to launch our ACE Team in January, where the group of PACC’s future leaders got an introduction to social justice, Palestine advocacy, and mutual aid and grassroots organizing. This month, our educational focus was a run down of the important dates in Palestine’s history, and why learning this history is important for them to shape the future legacy of Palestine. So far, our youth have represented PACC and the larger Muslim, Arab community in the following projects: a focus group on the impacts of mental health on youth of color, volunteered and collaborated with BLM Paterson for the launch of the community fridge, and are taking leadership roles in the planning of PACC’s 2021 conference.
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programs arabic: With each semester we strive to improve our programs with survey feedback from our students, and parents. We recently implemented a new pick-up policy to ensure the safety of our students while they navigate their way through the snow to their parents vehicles. Mahmoud Tarawneh, a parent to one of our students, has volunteered his time to help control car traffic and pick up to safely dismiss our students.
dabka: As parents continue to look for ways to introduce and engage their children with their Palestinian heritiage and identity, the majority of our dabka program consists of 1st or 2nd generation Arab-American children. For example, one of our recently enrolled students joined because her mom wanted to allow her daughter’s passion for dance to flourish while still staying connected to her cultural roots. So, instead of enrolling her daughter in ballet classes, she signed her up for our dabka class! It is always a proud moment when we are able to provide this opportunity for students to grow in an environment that fulfills their interests while also allowing them to strengthen their ties to their family’s heritage and traditions.
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english conversation: Our students are building up their confidence in speaking English in a variety of situations. Some of the topics of discussion are Health, Food, and Traveling. “I am amazed at how fast the students are picking up. The conversations in class are strictly English. I try to speak as little arabic as possible to keep the conversations focused” - Suha Hammoudeh, PACC English Conversation Instructor.
successful students: For this newsletter we’d like to highlight one of our students! Zayd enrolled in our Successful Students program a month ago. Zayd is in kindergarten and was struggling to catch up to his classmates. With the help of our group tutoring sessions and some one on one time we were able to get him started on catching up.
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community engagement black history month PACC honored Black History Month through a social media and newsletter campaignwhere we appreciated and recognized the rich, long lasting and history of and on-going Afro-Arab, specifically Black-Palestinian, relations and coalitions. We highlighted some of the influential figures and resources that have and continue to guide us, as well as projects we are working on that our community can use to learn more about Black-Palestinian solidarity.
Press Release We released a statement extending our full support for Osamah Alsaidi, his family and loved ones, and all those who have previously fallen victim to police brutality and aggression, including Rodsward Hernandez who had a similar case also in Paterson. Our community engagement coordinator participated in CAIR’s press conference to bring awareness to both Osamah’s and Rodsward’s cases and police brutality against our communities in general.
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Provided Financial Assistance for Families in Need Through our continued partnership with Penny Appeal, we were able to distribute a total of $53,250 of financial support to 36 local families in need.
website: www.PACCUSA.org instagram: @PACCUSA facebook: Palestinian American Community Center tik tok: @PACC_USA twitter: @PACCUSA