June 2023 Newsletter

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Palestine Week

We held our Book Club!

Our book club discussed Ghassan Kanafani’s Men in the Sun and other short stories. Nine people attended and engaged in a rich conversation about Kanafani’s literature and the important themes and artistic symbolism of his work.

We raised the Palestinian Flag in Clifton and Paterson!

We raised the Palestinian flag at both Clifton and Paterson City Hall again this year! Seventy people attended each event where we honored our community and thanked elected officials for their support. We also presented our Clifton High School Scholarships to three of our CHS seniors and our Commitment to Uplifting Community Stories Award to Hanan Adely. We ended with a performance by our Boys Advanced Dabka group that everyone joined in for!

We discussed The Economic Impact of the Naksa on Palestine!

Since Palestine week fell on the anniversary of the Naksa, we held a virtual conversation with Raja Khalidi, the Director General of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute. He shared the current conditions of and effects on Palestine’s economy with 14 people on zoom. We ended the conversation with a hopeful plan for further connecting the business community of the diaspora with that in Palestine.

We held a Tatreez and Dabka workshop!

To keep preserving Palestinian heritage, we taught our community how to stitch intricate tatreez patterns and the basic movements of dabka! The workshop was open to all ages; 15 people attended the tatreez workshop and 10 people attended the dabka lessons.

We premiered our documentary about the Nakba!

We officially debuted PACC’s short documentary, Stories of the Nakba: 75 years later! 140 attendees watched the documentary together for the first time before it was posted online. The documentary features the stories and lived experiences of local Palestinians who lived through the Nakba. We want to especially thank Salah Daoud for filming the documentary,

Ehad Daoud for editing it, Rania Mustafa and Fadia Alagha for producing and directing the documentary and of course our special guests and interviewees: Aref Assaf, Bashar Assadi, Dawud Assad, and Huweda Elsmana. By uplifting the voices of our elders and community, we hope to inspire the present and future generations to keep learning from and passing down the history of the Nakba. If you are interested in hosting a film screening, please email Abire at ASabbagh@paccusa.org.

We held our Community Garden meeting!

This month we had our second community garden meeting where we laid out the rest of our garden beds and soil, then planted more Palestinian crops.

We are excited to continue growing our garden with the community!

Programs Events

Our Spring 2023 session came to a close this month and we celebrated our students in a variety of ways! Our Dabka students showcased all the moves they have learned throughout the year at our annual Dabka recital. All 8 of our Dabka classes performed their routines in front of their loved ones and they all did an incredible job. We also hosted a celebration for all of our Arabic program students and handed out certificates and gifts to honor their hardwork and dedication to learning the Arabic language.

We Honored our Palestinian Fathers!

We co-sponsored the Palestinian Feminist Collective’s event to honor Palestinian fathers this Father’s Day as part of their Feminist Futures Calendar programming. We encourage you to check out the Feminist Futures calendar and principles here.

Paterson and Ramallah signed a sister city agreement!

In honor of his visit to the City of Paterson and the signing of the sistercity agreement between Ramallah and Paterson, we hosted a private dinner with the Mayor of Ramallah, Issa Kassis. Local community leaders and members had a chance to meet the Mayor, thank him for his work in Ramallah, and discuss ways we can keep working together. Earlier in the day, we unveiled the “Welcome to Little Palestine” sign designed by Fadia Alagha in Gould Ave Park in South Paterson.

We would like to thank all of our program parents and students for their commitment and continued support of PACC throughout the year. We would also like to extend our appreciation and gratitude to our program staff, who work hard everyday to make sure our programs are improving and our students are learning. We could not have done this without you!

Our PACC Summer Fun program will be starting in just a few weeks! Registration is still open for anyone interested in registering. We have limited capacity in our program so make sure to register soon!

We held our monthly Women’s Brunch!

This month, we hosted a women’s brunch that focused on women’s health & self-care. Heya Harzallah led a discussion on skincare and the importance of developing an effective skincare routine. Dr. Naglaa Rizk focused on women’s health and educated our community on taboo topics surrounding women’s health. Nineteen women attended the Women’s Brunch this month.

Community Outreach

Happy Father’s Day!

We wanted to celebrate and truly recognize our hardworking Palestinian fathers who have sacrificed a lot to provide for their families. Although we strive to appreciate them every day, we wanted to create something special that they can look back at. During the Paterson Flag Raising, our volunteer Rozan Ramadan asked our community members if there was anything they wanted to tell their fathers. The responses we got were sweet, heartfelt and very meaningful. The full video is posted on our Instagram.

We commemorate the Naksa!

June 5th commemorates the Palestinian Naksa which means setback in Arabic. The Naksa increased Israeli rule over Palestinian territory resulting in a complete military occupation. To remind everyone of the implications of the Naksa, we posted a powerful video on Instagram of Muna AlKurd stating that Palestinians have not gotten used to this occupation and that we have a right to global Justice, self determination and freedom. Abire Sabbagh, our Palestine Education Director, wrote an op-ed that we are waiting to be published.

We honored 3 Clifton High School Students!

It was an honor for PACC to attend and present at the Senior and Scholarship Award program at Clifton High School. Our Executive Director, Rania Mustafa, presented scholarship awards to our 3 recipients: Yousef Alnatur, Aref Bsharat and Lamees Abdallah. Congratulations and thank you for your many contributions to PACC!

Congratulations to our 2023 Graduates!

We are continuing to congratulate our 2023 college graduates through instagram and facebook posts.

We took over Trenton!

We joined the NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice’s takeover of Trenton to celebrate and advocate for immigrant rights in honor of immigrant heritage month. Our new Palestine Education interns and our USCPR fellow got the opportunity to represent the Arab/ Palestinian community on a state-wide level.

We coordinated for our local Al-Baydar Dabka Group to perform as well.

We tabled at El Zahra Islamic Center Bazaar

We joined El Zahra’s business bazaar and hosted a table where we showcased all the programs and events PACC offers as well as sold our merchandise.

We sponsored a Tatreez Workshop!

We supported the Deir Debwan Charity Organization conference by sponsoring and hosting our Tatreez workshop which provides a historical overview of the significance of Tatreez and teaches people how to stitch various patterns. Congratulations to Deir Debwan Charity Organization for a successful convention! To book a workshop at your next event or organization, check out the workshops PACC offers here!

Social Service

Qurbani Meat Vouchers

Thanks to the generosity of Penny Appeal, we received a $5,000 grant for Qurbani Meat. One-hundred and ten families were provided with $50 meat vouchers for Udhiya/Qurbani meat. Thank you to Al-Hilal for his generous donation and support! Eid Mubarak!