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Forooz Emami, Rep. André Carson and Asal Sayas Emily Austin and Rep. Charlie Crist Rep. David Price Leila Mansouri, Ardavan Badii, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Neda Nadjmabadi WL SPONSORED
Matthew Saniie, Samira Jali and Camron Gorguinpour
NOROOZ ON THE HILL Capitol Hill | PHOTOS BY NOAH RINGLER LEGISLATORS FOR NOROOZ The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans in conjunction with Rep. Zoe Lofgren hosted its annual Norooz reception on Capitol Hill. A bipartisan group of fourteen members of Congress, including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, attended the reception, as well as more than 200 Congressional staff and special guest, acclaimed author Azar Nafisi. The organization advocates on behalf of the Iranian American community on Capitol Hill and strives to cultivate a greater understanding of Iranian culture and heritage. Lofgren offered welcome remarks to the audience and Leader Pelosi expressed her appreciation for Iranian culture: “For a long time, for generations, the Iranian American community has been a source of strength in every aspect of our lives,” she said.
Leila Austin, Rep.Sheila Jackson Lee, Azar Nafisi and Morad Ghorban
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Alidad Mafinezam, Todd Horst and Ali Ehsassi
Mehrdad Michael Massumi
Azadeh Sami, Payam Kashi, Negar Golesorkhi, Sayeh Naderi and Shervin Naderi
Rep. Jamie Raskin and Houri Khalilian WL SPONSORED
Farzin Arsanjani, Foroud Arsanjani, Roshanak Ameli-Tehrani, and Neda Arsanjani
IRANIAN GROUPS CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR
Hamid Zahedi, Parastoo Zahedi, Soheila Rostami, Mojdeh Razavi and Hossein Razavi
National Museum of Women in the Arts | PHOTOS BY ERIN SCHAFF & BEN DROZ
Forough Parvizian-Yazdani, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Leyla Ghorbani and Hossein Noshirvani
IRANIAN NEW YEAR Washington’s third annual Iranian-American Norooz reception celebrated the Iranian new year and the arrival of spring. The event was co-hosted by seven leading Iranian-American organizations based in the Washington region. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Mariela Melero, associate director for public engagement at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, were among numerous notable speakers at the event. Speakers, who also included Rep. Jamie Raskin and Parisa Khosravi, highlighted the significant contributions of Iranian immigrants to the U.S., and called for unity and greater dialogue in the year ahead. “Iranian Americans are icons of achievement in the labor force,” Melero said. “More than 80 percent hold positions in management, science, the arts, and other white collar occupations.” VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM
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