February 2023 Newsletter

Earthquake Relief Drive

In response to the tragic earthquake that devastated Syria and Turkey, we held an earthquake relief drive in the month of February to collect health supplies along with household items, clothing and any other equipment needed to help. We were able to fill up two 40-foot containers all thanks to our generous community and amazing volunteers! We were also able to collect $34,350 all thanks to your generous donations. We want to sincerely thank anyone who donated to the cause, whether it was through material donations or volunteer work.

Community Engagement

Community Town Hall Event

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Community Town Hall Event! We really appreciate all your wonderful feedback and ideas. For those who missed it, we discussed key updates on our advocacy campaigns such as #RejectIHRA, Count MENA In, and more. We were joined by 19 community members in person and live streamed on Facebook where we received 1,400 views. In the future, we plan to host multiple events like this throughout the year, so stay tuned!

As part of our legislative advocacy, we are meeting with local policymakers to push back against pending legislation which seeks to incorporate the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. So far, we’ve held advocacy meetings with Senator Pou (D-35) and Senator Gill (D-34) to let them know that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is widely disputed and considered problematic for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the majority of the examples listed include direct references to the state of Israel. For instance, “Claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” falls into the category of anti-Semitism according to the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. If the state of New Jersey adopts the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, it will legally suppress the voices and advocacy of local Palestinian populations, in addition to non-Palestinian human rights advocates who rightfully express criticisms of Israel as a result of the occupation abroad. Please sign this petition and check out the article we recently published on NorthJersey.com.

Blood Drive

We hosted a Blood Drive this month for the American Red Cross and were able to collect a total of 17 pints of blood from the surrounding community! Amongst the 17 people who donated, one person was able to do a Power Red donation, which donates twice the amount of red blood cells than the average blood donation. In all, 51 lives were saved so thank you to everyone who showed up and donated. Our next blood drive will take place on March 16 from 9 am to 2 pm for anyone interested in giving back.

MENA

The United States Office of Management and Budget is considering adding a Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) category to government forms. In partnership with NNAAC, PACC is working on a campaign to get as many comments submitted to the OMB. We are asking them to do this because having our own category will give us equitable access to funding and data for better health, housing, school, and employment opportunities. Submit your comment here and please encourage your peers, family, friends, and neighbors to do the same. We have created template comments so it should only take you two minutes! This is our chance to change history.

Annual Planning Meeting

The Board held their annual planning meeting and were able to review the amazing work that PACC has been up to! They also worked on reviewing, revising and approving the annual plan and budget for 2023! We have a very exciting year planned ahead and can’t wait to see you all engaging in the various programs and events. In case you missed it, make sure to check out our annual report for 2022.

Civic Engagement team

We are launching a new team focusing on civic engagement, community organizing and advocacy! Do you or someone you know want to learn more about grassroots community organizing and civic engagement? Interested in gaining hands-on experience with base-building, advocacy and outreach? Join our Spring 2023 Get Out the Vote Team to start making an impact today!

Civic Engagement team

We are looking for interns who are passionate about making a difference and empowering the well-being of our community. This year, our mission is to significantly increase local voter registration, education and turnout in an effort to ensure that our community’s voices are being heard and elevated by public officials. Spring 2023 interns will focus primarily on the June 6th primary elections and work closely with PACC’s Advocacy and Community Outreach Coordinator. This is a great opportunity to strengthen your roots in the community and receive mentorship along the way. The deadline to apply is March 15th, and we’ll meet bi-weekly from March 18th - June 10th.

Events

Women’s Brunch

For this month’s women’s brunch, we had a presentation on over-the-counter medications with Lamaa Beidas and a presentation on oral health and hygiene with My Orthodontist and Liberty Dental. We had a total of 15 women in attendance.

Workshop Wednesday

We hosted a Disability Awareness workshop for parents in our community and had a total of 15 people attend in person, 4 virtually via Zoom and 193 views on Facebook!

Behavioral Analysts, Sadaf Khawar and Yasmine Helwani joined us to speak to our community about the first steps a parent can take if their child is diagnosed with a mental or physical disability. The guest speakers also shared some resources available to parents who have a child with a disability. You can watch the recording here.

Palestine Monday

In the spirit of the month of February being focused on love, we wanted to highlight the ways in which Palestinians are or are not allowed to be with loved ones (families and friends). We had a conversation with Im Issa and Abu Issa, joined by Osama Barham, who shared their personal stories and lived experiences about this topic. We had 28 people on Zoom and 313 views on Facebook. You can watch the recording here.

Sunday Series

For this month’s Sunday series, we hosted Mohamed Beiruti on Zoom where he discussed his personal experience of being a Palestinian political prisoner and the unjust circumstances that he endured leading up to and during his imprisonment. We had 46 people on zoom and 385 views on Facebook. You can watch the recording here.

Book Club

This month we convened for PACC’s book club where our members attended in person and virtually to discuss Zoulfa Katouh’s book, As the Lemon Tree Grows. With 11 attendees in person and 3 on zoom, we had an engaging discussion on the Syrian War and the traumas that the survivors have had to endure.

Community Programs

Winter Programs

Through our programs, we are happy to see that our registrants are able to have fun and build community while still learning something new and exciting each week! Our soccer and basketball programs have been extremely successful and popular this session with over 9 kids registered for each class. Our Women’s Dabka program has also been one of our most popular programs this session with over 13 women registered and consistently attending each week.

Our program coordinator has also been evaluating each program throughout this session to make sure that everything is running smoothly and, most importantly, that the children are learning through our programs. In addition to evaluations, we have sent out a mid-program survey to all program participants to hear about any feedback registrants and their parents may have regarding our programs. Through these evaluations and surveys, we are able to maintain our program standards and continue growing and evolving as a center.

Our Spring 2023 program session will begin after Ramadan on Monday, April 24. If anyone is interested in registering for our spring programs, they can now do so on our website.

Marketing

Radical Love Campaign

For Valentine’s Day, we showcased our radical love for Palestine! We did so through interactive stories on Instagram where we posted beautiful parts of Palestinian culture and our staff shared how they show their love and pride for Palestine every day. Our staff wears their hearts on their sleeves for Palestine through every aspect of everyday life, whether it’s through their artwork, educating themselves and their children, or through their solidarity building grassroots power for Palestine.

Solidarity Series Black History Month

We are committed to an intersectional approach to all our programming, services, and larger strategic plans. That’s why this year we celebrated Black History Month by highlighting historical and present-day examples of Black and Palestinian Solidarity. You can check out the #SolidaritySeries on Instagram to learn more about this legacy of unity. Here’s what our Advocacy and Community Outreach Coordinator had to say about Black History Month during a recent interview with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice:

“I believe that Black History Month is for everybody… in the sense that you can’t talk about American history without talking about Black history. You can’t talk about world history without talking about Black history. Black History Month is for everyone, and we should strive to have more months like this, like Arab American Heritage Month, to learn about various peoples and their contributions to this world.” –

Jason Ajiake