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.