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Meet the Newest Members of Our PACC Team!
Anis Elshazly is the Director of Operations at the Palestinian American Community Center, where she oversees daily operations and community initiatives. With her experience working in the corporate sector, she is committed to using her skills to give back to her community. She enjoys traveling and is a dedicated loving mother to her 8-year-old son, and best friend Ayoub.
Manar Hussein is the new program manager at the PACC, using her experience as an educator, researcher, and doctoral candidate at Montclair State University to manage programming, like the annual Dabke and Arabic classes. With a background in public speaking, teaching, and curriculum development, Manar is deeply committed to promoting equitable and accessible education, and culturally relevant programming. As an Egyptian-American, Manar is excited to bring her passion and expertise to uplift the Palestinian and broader Arab community.
Isra Ayeshalmoutey is the new Events and Community Engagement Coordinator at PACC where she’s thrilled to channel her passion for service into meaningful community connections. As a wedding photographer, she loves serving her clients and is particularly dedicated to supporting the Palestinian community. Her creative approach enhances her mission at PACC to be a resource for the community and foster connections, all while enjoying her favorite comfort food—soup—year-round.
PROGRAMS
This season’s programming kicked off with tremendous community enthusiasm, bringing together 138 participants for our annual programs and 60 for our fall community classes. Weekends are abuzz with the sounds of Dabke routines practiced by our youth, while adults engage in lively Arabic and English conversation classes. Students from cooking class made deliciously crunchy musakhan rolls that compliment the fall weather. During the week, young scholars sharpen their Arabic language skills in one of our after-school programs. In response to community needs, we are expanding our after-school services beyond homework help. Students are now welcome to join us regularly for support with study skills, test preparation, project work, and overall academic practice, ensuring a well-rounded approach to their educational success. We are looking forward to continuing to grow this transformative season together.
Holding Onto Palestinian Existenc (HOPE)
PACC welcomed the return of our “Holding Onto Palestinian Existence” Course this Fall! Students have been engaging in learning all about their Palestinian identity and history. Led by Palestine Education Director Basma Bsharat and our Palestine Education Team Intern Lamia Abdallah, this course has been an experience allowing our six students to think deeply and critically about the Palestinian struggle.
Kids Movie Night
EVENTS WORKSHOPS
For our kids movie night on the last day of the month, we screened 2 films, Flying Paper and Trolls. 52 community members attended.
Community Healing
For our annual Community Healing and Resource Fair, we had a wonderful night full of autumn vibes, empowerment, and connecting with Palestine. From bonfires, to raffles, we had it all! We had about 200 attendees that night. Check out highlights here
Monday Brunch
For our Monday Brunch this month, we enjoyed a session of yoga led by our amazing instructor, Dominga Urrejola, followed by a presentation on Breast Cancer Awareness by Rawan Hammoudeh, MSN. 9 women participated, embracing the relaxing yoga and gaining valuable insights on breast cancer. It was a meaningful and empowering event!
Al-Kamandjâti Event
In conjunction with William Paterson University, PACC welcomed a special performance by the Dal’ouna Orchestra Ensemble, led by Ramzi Aburedwan and Ouday Al Khatib! Aburedwan is a Palestinian composer who founded the Dal’Ouna Ensemble and Al Kamandjati, a nonprofit organization that provides music classes to Palestinian children with a focus on youth living in refugee camps, the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon. It was a healing night of Palestinian music and community. An estimated 80 people attended. Watch the recap here!
PACC Student Activism Convening
PACC hosted its annual Student Activism Convening this month! For this year’s session, we offered students two workshops to help build their advocacy and their team dynamics while centering the Palestinian struggle. The first workshop was led by PACC’s very own Abire Sabbagh on “strategizing within the university”, and the second was led by members of the New York Chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement. They discussed “movement culture” and went in depth about the principles needed to maintain and sustain successful advocacy for Palestine. 24 students were in attendance.
Book Club
This month’s book club pick was “Mother of Strangers” by Palestinian author Suad Amiry! The discussion centered around the themes and setting of the novel, which was written from the point of view of a Palestinian child during the Nakba. We had 9 community members in attendance.
Roots of Resilience
Lana Mustafa, Palestinian-American farmer, beekeeper, and Executive Director of Montclair Community Farms, joined us to discuss a new initiative she has been working on with Palestinians in the West Bank. Roots of Resilience works to share the stories of and support farmers in the West Bank who have struggled under occupation, even moreso since the start of Israel’s genocide on Gaza. 32 community members attended.
ADVOCACY & OUTREACH
How to Prioritize Arab American Concerns GOT
Our Civic Engagement and Advocacy Manager Haliema Twam spoke as a panelist for the National Network of Arab Americans to discuss how by using the data coming from the Secretary of State, we can better organize our communities. We discussed how to combat misinformation, the importance of having strong data to work with, and helping guide our community in this difficult time to act together as we vote from the bottom of the ballot to as far as we want to go. Understanding that our goals for liberation go beyond the national election and recognize the power we each have in our perspective states. This year is a historic moment for our community and it’s one we can not miss until we have de-institutionalized ourselves in ways that do not tie our money or rights to the U.S government.
Our grassroots organizing team this month has done voter registration at the Muslim Extravaganza, ICPC, Clifton High School, PCCC, MontClair State, Rutger New Brunswick, PACC Events, Playdates for Palestine, Vote 16, and even smaller concerts. We knocked doors in Ward 6 and made calls to get out the vote. We called into our community to invite them to the candidate forums, and are building up a strong base of supporters to work with us on civic engagement issues.
ACE
This month for ACE our students have volunteered for our rally, community healing event, student activism event, candidate forums, where one of interns did an amazing job networking with the candidates to pursue additional internship opportunities. Our cohort heard from Mariam Bsharat and Tarek Alnatur on how to build resumes, cover letters, linked in profiles, interview skills, networking, and the quality of a stand out leader. They are also learning about Palestinian history by enrolling into HOPE.
Connect with Palestine
PACC sponsored an event organized by several organizations that had tatreez, amazing speakers, and a dabka performance. It was a day full of Palestinian pride, education and good weather!
Nellie Pou Meeting
We met with State Senator and Congressional District 9 nominee Nellie Pou with a coalition of Arab and Muslim community organizers and constituents from across the board to try to do the difficult work of trying to educate our local legislators on Palestinian and Muslims identities and our history. We discussed her AIPAC endorsement, IHRA, and the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.
John Mckeon Meeting
We met with District 27 John Mckeon, representative for Clifton. We introduced him to the important role PACC plays to the Clifton community and discussed the responsibilities he had to protect the community equally and fairly. We discussed important legislative initiatives and he agreed to include us in any conversations regarding Palestine and Israel prior to making any decisions. Lastly, we left a lasting impression as we discussed the very serious implications of the war on Gaza and how it is causing irreversible global damage amidst an unresolved climate crisis.
Phonebank/Volunteer
Training for the electionsing
In the month of October we have trained over 20 new volunteers to help us make calls into Passaic County to get the Arab American Vote. As discouraged as we are due to the gaslighting of too many of our current sitting legislators, we stress the importance of making the minor effort to support all the work we have been doing for the last year. Palestine is a voting issue for the first time in the U.S elections and all eyes are on
how we show up. Volunteers are showing up because we know we need to talk to each other as the big family that we are and show we are organized and engaging in every tool to strengthen our causes. Please join us on Election day in both showing up to the polls and motivating others to by volunteering at PACC where we will also have the media there to report on our efforts.
United For Palestine Rally
The PACC community gathered at our home, Palestine Way, for a powerful march commemorating one year since the genocidal assault on Gaza. We honored the martyrs of Lebanon and Palestine, standing in solidarity with their memory and resistance. Over 1,000 community members joined to hear directly from leaders and those personally impacted by the ongoing attacks. Together, we renewed our unwavering commitment to action and mobilization for the liberation of Palestine and Lebanon. Check out videos from the event here and listen to an inspirational speech by PACC’s Abire Sabbagh here.
Montclair Community Advisory Board Meetinging
Our Palestine Education Director Basma Bsharat represented PACC at a community advisory board meeting at Montclair University. Led by the Montclair administration, PACC joined a number of organizations from the community to hear about ways we can be involved and further support our students.
NJ Muslim Coalition Meeting
Our board president Diab Mustafa represented PACC at the New Jersey Muslim Coalition Meeting where Muslim leadership from the community came together to discuss challenges and efforts we’ve been taking as a collective for the community, and different ways we can collaborate on our efforts in the future.
Clifton Board Of Education Forum
We had educator Mona Mustafa Moderate our Clifton BOE Forum where all five candidates answered questions directly from the community. Over 20 community members showed up to vet the candidates and ask questions, surrounding budget, school safety, teacher shortages, and how the board will work together to accomplish their goals. When casting your votes be sure to remember you get to pick three out of the five candidates on the ballot.
Paterson Board of Education
Moderating for a second time Mona Mustafa facilitated the first ever Paterson BOE candidate forum. All 5 candidates were invited but due to different circumstances Commissioner Corey Teague and Nakima Redmon were the only candidates who were able to attend. With over 15 audience members both Corey and Nakima held a more open discussion with Patersonian parents and educators about support for students with different needs, having more representation in the faculty, the future of AI in schools, amongst other important issues. If you are a paterson resident you have the opportunity to vote for three out of the five candidates.
Clifton City Council
Business Owner Tarek Alnatur moderated our Clifton City Council forum where only one seat is up for grabs in this election. Over 15 Clifton residents joined us at PACC to ask questions regarding allocation of city taxes, installing more lights on dark Clifton streets, the protection of our beloved community members, and affordable housing just to name a few topics of discussion. Afterward the city council members stuck around to learn more about us and have one on one conversations with attendees.
MARKETING
The Ongoing Nakba
We shared informational slides on social media on what the Nakba is and how it’s ongoing today. Learn more by swiping through our post.
How to Vote on Election Day!
If you are unfamiliar with the voting process at your polling place, we have made a video tutorial on how to vote! Watch it here
We Launched Falastin!
We launched our newest issue of Falastin Magazine! Grad your physical copy from PACC or read the digital print here.
Palestinian History Quiz
To test people’s knowledge on Palestinian History, we quizzed them at our Community Healing event. Check it out on instagram!
Indigenous People’s Day
In solidarity with Indigenous Communities, we shared a beautiful graphic that showcased the beauty of both the Indigenous and Palestinian Community. See it here.
Olive Harvest Season
October marks the start of olive harvest season in Palestine, a social and economic practice that has been observed for decades. Check out our post here.
One Year of Genocide Interview with NBC 4 New York
October 8 marked 1 year since the Genocide in Gaza began. It is crucial to recognize that this did not begin in October, nor did it happen in isolation. Please watch our reel here.
Community Spotlight
We were interviewed by NBC 4 New York about the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Please watch part of the interview here
We interviewed one of the students from Gaza that have joined our community this past year. Ahmad talked about his experience having to leave Gaza, the loss of his mother and sister, as well as the difficulty of being in the diaspora now while the rest of his family remains in Gaza. Please see Ahmad’s powerful interview here
