PACC April 2 0 Monthly newsletter 21
Ramadan
Ramadan food vouchers With funds from an Islamic Relief grant and the generosity of Jerusalem Supermarket, we were able to distribute 36 $150 vouchers and 94 $100 vouchers to 130 families that consisted of 144 women, 121 men, and 226 children.
Ramadan Fundraising We launched a Ramadan campaign to raise funds to sustain and expand all the important work and projects our center is a part of. The campaign was held both online through a LaunchGood donation link and in-person by hosting fundraising iftars which community members were invited to. At the event, people learned about all the work PACC is doing and plans to do in the future and enjoyed iftar and other activities together. So far, we have held three out of the four iftars and raised $174,865 dollars from over 200 supporters.
1
Young Adults Iftar We hosted an iftar co-sponsored by Islamic Relief for people between the ages of 18-35 specifically to foster a sense of community building, networking, and bonding! We had 50 people attend and connect with one another. Kamil’s Restaurant graciously donated the food for the Iftar, and we raised over $3,000 for families in Gaza.
Thank
you!
Special thank you to all our monthly donors, and especially those who donated more generously during the month of Ramadan. to support please visit www.launchgood.com/paccfamily
2
Community Engagement Arab American Heritage Month April is Arab American Heritage Month. The month pays tribute to the local, national, and global contributions and achievements of Arab Americans. PACC issued an educational press release to honor the month, and organized a campaign to highlight, recognize, and celebrate the contributions of Arab Americans in New Jersey, especially in Passaic County. We identified people to showcase and asked our community to nominate local influential community members, organizations, or businesses to be profiled during the month of April. Over the course of this month, we featured 8 local and national Arab Americans.
Launched our Voter Registration and Get Out the Vote Internship As part of our commitment to civic engagement and making sure our local Arab/Palestinian community gets out the vote for all elections, not only presendiential elections, we launched a new internship for voter registration and voting awareness for all the upcoming local elections this year. The first local issue we raised awareness about was the Clifton School Bond Referendum, for which we translated and distributed information about to our community, and made over 150 calls to remind people to go vote. With our help, Clifton had a historic turnout of voters for a bond referendum to date.
3
Spotlighted by the NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice The NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice chose PACC as their member organization to highlight in the month of April! They interviewed our Community Engagement Coordinator, Abire Sabbagh, about the main focus areas of PACC and why it is important for a Palestinian organization to be part of their organization. The interview also touched on the significance of Arab American Heritage month, Ramadan, and grounded Palestine as part of the greater fight for social justice.
Programs Successful Students Program Our tutoring program is still going strong, and has expanded this month! We have 2 more new students, and continue to reach out to local schools to spread awareness about our program and help more students.
Dabka
All our students performed routines that they had prepared for our virtual dabka recital which was held via zoom and live streamed on Facebook for parents and community members Our students amazed everyone with their performances and everything they learned in our program and were rewarded with goodie bags and a pizza party!
arabic Our Arabic students perfected the song “Mawtani” and performed it during the graduation ceremony, which parents were able to watch via zoom! They all received certificates of completion and goodie bags to honor all their hard work!
we launched our summer programs registration Register now for a summer filled with activities at PACC with Computer classes, PACC Summer Fun, Dabka, Arabic, HOPE, Conversation Classes and more. Go to www.paccusa.org to register now.
4
Events palestine monday By request from several community members, our focus for this series this month was Al-Hawiya (Identity Card). Dr. Abdelhamid Siyam shared a presentation about the “hawiya” and what it means to the Palestinian identity, and the historical timeline of events that affected the identity. We ended the conversation with a lively discussion about how we can ensure that Palesitnian identity isn’t forgotten, neither by our youth and new generations, or by society at large. 11 people attended via zoom, and 571 viewed on Facebook.
arabic Sunday Series Since the month of April honors political prisoners in Palestine, we hosted Qadora Fares, the head of the Palestinian prisoners' association. People were able to attend in person or virtually, and we had a total of 40 attendees and 1,400 views on Facebook. The conversation was lively and Mr. Fares himself thanked PACC for hosting such events where people can hear from those on the ground in Palestine and stay involved in the struggle for freedom.
5
Workshop Wednesday Given the timeliness of increased COVID-19 vaccine administration, and given multiple community concerns about what is in the vaccine and whether or not it is safe to take, hosted by Dr. Khalid Bader and Dr. Samir Tammous from the Arab American Medical Association to answer people’s concerns in both Arabic and English. 11 people attended via zoom, and 331 viewed it on Facebook.
Civic Engagement and Get Out Vote We hosted Superintendent of Clifton Public Schools, Dr. Danny Robertozzi, who led us in a presentation and discussion about the upcoming local vote that will ask the community to vote on a $168 million bond proposal to fund Clifton Public Schools. We had 12 people attend via zoom and 680 views on Facebook. We ended with a necessary conversation about the state of Clifton schools, what happens if the vote is a yes or a no, and how this will affect local city taxes.
6
www.PACCUSA.org
@PACCUSA
Palestinian American Community Center @PACC_USA
@PACCUSA