Education

Education to deepen understanding of Muslims, and advocacy of our needs to build inclusive communities.

Diversity Education

What is Islam? Who are Muslims in America? We shed light on these and other questions about our faith and community through diversity education workshops in schools, agencies, and companies in New York City and around the world. Our workshops aim to:

  • inform and equip educators, parents, public officials, and students with the tools and resources to address the needs of the Muslim community,

  • help break stereotypes and discrimination against Muslims,

  • facilitate community building between sects, racial, and ethnic groups, such as through our Sunni – Shia dialogues,

  • increase awareness of Muslims such as through community education workshops on the role of African American Muslims in the history of the United States, and thus foster a better understanding of the unique mosaic that is our society. 

Our workshops include:

  • Understanding Islam and the Muslim American Experience

  • Inclusive Learning: Your Muslim American Students

  • Muslim Contributions to American History, and more.

Civic Education

How do we deal with the specific issues Muslims face today? Our Civic Education trainings equip the Muslim community with the resources and tools to actively take part in civil-society, including: voter education, civic advocacy, self-defense workshops; arts & culture programming.

We also advocate on behalf of our community on issues ranging from ending family separation, ending the Muslim travel ban, making city institutions more inclusive for Muslim Americans, and more.

Our current campaigns include:

  • #MuslimVotesMatter2020: We are proud to be part of a national campaign by Emgage USA to help us get to 1 million Muslim votes this election season! We are helping to get out the vote with voter education materials for our communities to ensure that our votes count!

  • #MuslimsCount2020: We are the only citywide organization representing the Muslim community, and helping Muslims enroll in the 2020 Census. We identify hard-to-reach census tracts and develop relationships with local mosques and schools in these neighborhoods; design and host Census educational workshops; and deliver Census pop-ups at mosques during Friday prayers for congregants to fill out.

  • Reporting Hate Crimes: Working with the NYC Office of the Prevention of Hate Crimes we survey the Muslim community about hate incidents, and educate them about how to report such crimes.

Past campaigns include:

  • Served as one of the founding members of the Muslim Holidays campaign, which successfully added the two Eid holidays to the public school calendar in 2016.

  • Introduced a pilot project, in coalition with other organizations, that was funded at $1million by NYC City Council to introduce Halal/Kosher lunch in public schools in 2019.