May Newsletter

May

Palestinian American Community Center

May Newsletter

2022

May 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

If you like anything we are doing, please donate at paccusa.org/donate Every dollar helps keep us going!

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Prog raEvents ms

May 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

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After a short break for the month of Ramadan, we are excited to bring back our programs for the spring session, especially our new Cooking Club! We have over 200 participants throughout all programs including Arabic, Dabka, Tatreez, Soccer, Basketball, Arabic Storytime, Citizenship Class, Computer Class, Citizenship Class, and Homework Help.

We also launched registration for our much anticipated PACC Summer Fun program! This year, we have expanded it to accommodate ages 5-16 years old. If you are interested in learning more and registering, please visit our website.

May 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

Women’s Brunch

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Events

This month we hosted two women’s brunches focused on mental health and renewing our community garden. We had 30 women attend who enjoyed an opportunity to connect with tradition in learning about Palestinian fresh ingredients to grow in the garden and how to look after their mental and spiritual wellbeing.

Workshop Wednesday

For our workshop this month, we hosted Bahiah Abdrabboh for a conversation about parents’ rights and individualized education programs (IEPs). A total of 11 people attended and contributed to a productive discussion on ways to better advocate for improved children’s education.

Vagrant Trilogy Play Group Our community members took a trip to New York City this month to watch Mona Mansour’s The Vagrant Trilogy. The play delved into the collective Palestinian struggle for home and identity by illustrating the lives of displaced Palestinian refugees. We had 15 people join us for a night of reflection and connection.

May 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

Palestine Way Street Festival On May 15, PACC held a street festival between Gould Ave and Grove Street in conjunction with and in honor of the City of Paterson’s renaming and unveiling ceremony of the Palestine Way sign. We thank the Paterson City Councilmembers, specifically the first Palestinian American City Councilman, Alaa Abdelaziz, and Mayor Andre Sayegh for recognizing the contributions of Palestinians to the growth and development of the city of Paterson by renaming the area of Main Street between Gould Ave and Buffalo Ave to Palestine Way.

We had over 20 vendors, 10 informational booths, a fun-filled kids zone, 7 singers, performances by Al-Baydar Dabka Group and our Advanced Girls Dabka group.

With over 5,000 attendees, it was truly a success and a memorable moment for our community! It was a day filled with hope after a week filled with sadness and a symbolic way of commemorating the 74th anniversary of the Nakba.

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May 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

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This street festival represented more than just the renaming of the area to ‘Palestine Way’, but also paid honor and respect to the Palestinian diaspora, who have remained present, loud, and resilient in the face of decades of displacement, refugeehood, and erasure. We thank all of you for attending, we thank our generous sponsors for making it possible, we thank the individuals and businesses who donated their parking lots, and we thank the planning committee who made it possible. If you haven’t yet, we invite you to check out our program booklet and the pictures from the event.

Advocating for Palestine in the US We collaborated with the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights to host a discussion about how we can better advocate for Palestine within the United States, given the intricacy of US-Israeli relations.

The event was held in person with 30 attendees who all left with a rejuvenated drive for Palestinian advocacy.

Game Night

High School Students We hosted a Game Night for High School students ages 13-18. We had 8 community members join us for a fun night of interactive games and socializing.

May 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

Graduation Shout-Outs

M a r ke ting

This month we highlighted graduating community members of the Class of 2022 on our social media platforms and all of their achievements! Please check out our Facebook and Instagram to congratulate the graduates of our community! We are so proud of them all and wish them the best in their future endeavors.

Nakba Campaign

The month of May marks the 74th anniversary of the Nakba. To commemorate this day, we sent an email newsletter to our community members as well as informational graphics on social media explaining the history of the Nakba and how it is still ongoing today.

Click here to see our graphics!

World Kuffiyeh Day

May 11 marks World Kuffiyeh Day, a day to commemorate resistance and show solidarity with the Palestinian cause and people. Our staff members participated in the day by posting a picture wearing kuffiyehs on our social media with the hashtag #WorldKuffiyehDay.

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Community Engagement

May 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

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Voter Registration/Get out the Vote Team This month our interns focused on making local community

members aware of the Paterson Mayoral Election. Leading up to Election Day, we were present at early voting locations and called residents to assist in finding polling locations along with verifying active voter registration status. We also created informational graphics to post across social media platforms to educate voters on the candidates and responsibilities of the mayor.

Kalahari Eid Trip

To celebrate Eid, PACC collaborated with Kalahari Resorts and offered community members discounted rates for an overnight trip. We had 382 guests join us for two days of waterpark fun and other amusement activities.

Ghazaly Trip to PACC

We welcomed 21 students from Al-Ghazaly Jr/Sr High School who enjoyed a day of connecting to Palestinian identity through a tatreez workshop and learning about PACC’s core values. We want to give a special thank you to Yousr from @Tatreezing for leading the workshop and tatreez lesson.

May 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

Shireen Abu Akleh Vigil In response to the heartbreaking murder of beloved journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, we hosted a candlelight vigil to not only honor her, but to provide a space for our community to grieve and process her death together. We were honored to be joined by some of Shireen’s local family members and two of her colleagues from Al Jazeera who joined us from Washington D.C.

League of Women Voters’ Award On May 23, The League of Women Voters of New Jersey presented PACC with the prestigious, nonpartisan “Making Democracy Work” award. The “Making Democracy Work” award, one of their highest honors, is given to individuals and organizations who demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to improving our democracy. PACC was chosen in recognition of our exemplary fight to make sure Arab American voices are heard, counted, and represented during New Jersey’s census and redistricting process.

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May

Palestinian American Community Center

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