PACC February Newsletter

February

Palestinian American Community Center

February Newsletter #SupportTheMission

2022

February 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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February 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

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Winter Programs

Our winter programs continue to excite and engage all ages of our community! We restarted our five-week session programs, including Arabic Storytime, Kinder Kiddie’s Dabka, Women’s Dabka, Science Club, Citizenship Class, Computer Class, and Tatreez. We hosted parent-teacher conferences for our Arabic program, where parents were invited to express their feedback and learn about their child’s progress. Our teachers are working on a reading log for all students, which will help students practice their Arabic literacy skills in and out of the classroom!

Dabka sessions of all levels continue, as our advanced boys and girl’s classes continue to practice for their upcoming performance on March 19 for our bi-annual PACC Day. Our citizenship class students were able to learn about the naturalization process application from an immigration lawyer who joined our class to answer any questions and provide guidance in the process. We are now looking into ways to provide this service for free at our center for community members in the future!

February 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

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Palestine Education Programs Holding Onto Palestinian Existence (HOPE)

Our group of high school students continue to enthusiastically learn about the Palestinian struggle and engage in greater social justice conversations! This month, we focused on present day life in Palestine under occupation in both the West Bank and Gaza while also exploring all the beautiful and vibrant aspects of Palestinian culture and its symbols of resistance.

Freedom is the Future This month our diverse participants dove into a deep historical and contemporary analysis of the 10 myths used to establish and sustain Israel outlined in Illan Pappé’s book. With the help of various other guest speakers, they were also able to learn about allyship, how to actively counter Zionist claims, and stand strong while facing pushback for their Palestine advocacy.

Advocacy and Community Engagement Team Our ACE team had a rejuvenating conversation about solidarity this month! We discussed the larger systems in place that connect the Palestinian struggle with other communities’ struggles and reflected on ways in which we can continue practicing solidarity with anyone who needs it.

February 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

Kitchen Renovation We are making good progress on our kitchen renovation and anticipate opening our doors in March! We cannot wait to start our cooking classes and open our kitchen to our community!

Events Workshop Wednesday For our workshop this month, we hosted Shalini Rajput from the non-profit organization New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund to discuss health insurance options and open enrollment. Our community members benefited from educational resources provided by Shalini, as many continue to face difficulties in healthcare accessibility amid the ongoing pandemic. The discussion was live streamed on Facebook and YouTube with 219 total views.

Palestine Monday

Given that February is Black History Month, we hosted a discussion with Zellie Imani, community activist and educator who leads the Black Lives Matter Paterson chapter. We had a critical and empowering conversation about the legacies of Black communities in this country and Black Palestinian solidarity with 17 people tuning in via Zoom and 457 views on Facebook.

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February 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

Game Night We hosted another one of our game nights which the young adults of our community look forward to!

We had 19 people join us who enjoyed a variety of interactive games, socializing and refreshments.

Book Club We hosted our bi-monthly book club meeting where 4 people attended as we discussed The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah. We had a fruitful discussion about community and what it should look like and how it does look like. We look forward to our next book club discussion that will focus on our next read: The Racial Muslim by Sahar Aziz.

Staff and Volunteer Appreciation Dinner

To recognize the hard work of our staff, board of directors and volunteers in sustaining our center, we hosted an appreciation dinner to honor our dedicated community members. We honored Fida Hassan and Ibrahim Issa with our Volunteer of the Year Awards, Ahmad Ramadan and Dana Hamdeh with our honorary volunteer of the Year Awards, and Reem Qasem and Abire Sabbagh with a staff appreciation award. We had 90 people attend who enjoyed a night of appreciation and socializing.

We thank our entire team for all that they have done and continue to do!

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February 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

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Women’s Brunch For this month’s women’s brunch, we hosted Saniara Mortaga, who spoke about the importance of skincare and nutrition. We had 18 women attend who all enjoyed an opportunity to relax while learning how to be the healthiest versions of themselves!

Blood Drive We hosted another successful blood drive for the American Red Cross to collect donations from our entire surrounding community! We are happy to serve the public in this way given the increased shortage of blood supply as of late.

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Black History Month

To honor Black History Month, we highlighted symbolic moments of Black-Palestinian solidarity by highlighting key events and influential figures across our platforms.

Starting with the solidarity showcased in 2014 between Ferguson and Gaza and ending with the latest peak of solidarity in 2021, we reminded our community about the long history of coalition building between both groups and educated the public about the shared struggles of both communities. We hope this encourages further local and global networks of joint work between all oppressed people until liberation for all!

Feburary 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

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Social Services Mutual Aid Event

To continue supporting our community, we hosted a mutual aid event where people donated clothing, household items, baby items and lightly used furniture for those in need to pick up. With your generosity, over 70 PACC families were able to benefit and leave our center knowing they have a place to trust for ongoing support. A special thank you to the Muslim Center of Greater Princeton for your contributions to our event!

February 2022

Palestinian American Community Center

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Community Engagement Redistricting Work

We continued our efforts in creating a racially equitable map in which our community is accurately represented by participating in testimony hearings and collaborating with community leaders statewide. Building off the extensive success of our Census efforts, PACC participated in a meeting hosted by the Fair Districts organization with both political parties present to discuss the integrity of racial equity in our unity map. We were able to have 10 community members present in testimony hearings to voice the importance of recognizing our Arab American communities throughout New Jersey. We sat in Democratic, Republican and independent meetings to bring awareness of where Arab Americans are in New Jersey. This is just the beginning and PACC will continue to advocate for the representation of our Arab American community that leads to our empowerment.

Vaccination Clinic with Clifton Health Department In partnership with the Passaic County Department of Health and Clifton Health Department, we ended up vaccinating 20 individuals, including some children.

That’s 20 people who may have not been able to make it to our other clinics-possibly due to location and the date/time--so this, to us, was a success!

Palestinian Feminist Collective Retreat Our Community Outreach and Palestine Education Director attended the Palestinian Feminist Collective’s first ever in person gathering on behalf of PACC. The weekend was spent discussing various aspects of Palestinian liberation, building community amongst all the people and organizations in attendance, and brainstorming collective visions for a free Palestine.

February

Palestinian American Community Center

PACC_USA

2022