Dear friends,
April was a particularly busy time with Arab American Heritage Month celebrations, including 80 groups participating in tours, presentations, and workshops held at our Arab American National Museum (AANM). Our signature event, the 52ndACCESS Annual Dinner was held on April 18, a wonderful evening of empowerment and impact. Lubana al Qantar‘s extraordinarily heartfelt songs, the inspiring poetry of Khaled Mattawa, our latest inspirational ACCESS video, and honoring such an incredible Arab American of the Year as Michel Moushabeck – the only thing that topped all of this was that the net proceeds from the event are supporting the ACCESS Recovery Center. On April 24, the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) collaborated to host a virtual roundtable that focused on ways research and data can improve health and well-being for MENA communities. On April 30, ACCESS held a Lansing legislative day in partnership with the Commission on Middle Eastern American Affairs (CMEAA) for a day of advocacy. Please allow me to share some additional updates from the month with you.
On April 4, AANM hosted an installment of the virtual series Words for Palestine, featuring poets Deema K. Shehabi, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha and mejdulene bernard shomali. Funds were raised for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund and Palestine Legal. April 12-14, AANM partnered with the Arab American Studies Association during their conference on two events: EVE: A Work-In-Progress Reading and Feedback Session by George Abraham and Fargo Tbakhi; and Decolonizing Tongues, Weaving Futures: Indigenous/Arab Solidarity, Creativity and Linguistic Self-Determination, a panel with Elder Lucy Harrison, poet Noor Hindi and Doris Bittar, whose temporary exhibition is Colonial Colonnade. On April 20, AANM screened the film, Jacir, the story of a young Syrian refugee who faces adversity, followed by a talkback with the film’s director, Waheed AlQawasmi.
On April 6, in collaboration with Friends of MSF and Sadr Foundation, ACCESS hosted a community event to assemble more than 1,200 care packages for global and local refugee families in need.
On April 17, Community Health & Research Center provided another mental health first aid training that was open to the community to earn a 3-year certification. On April 26 and 27 a two-day National Prescription Drug Take Back Day event was held to protect our community against drug misuse and overdose by disposing of unused and expired medications.
On April 25, AANM and NNAAC hosted Empowered. Engaged: Arab Americans in Office, a moderated panel of Arab Americans in governmental and public office positions. Panelists included Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Fadwa Hammoud and Rima Mohammad with moderator Machhadie (Micho) Assi. The subsequent roundtable conversation included speakers Abbas Alawieh, America Yahya, Mohammed Alziyadi, Isra Daraiseh and Yasmeen Kadouh. NNAAC held two webinars during April: CountMENAIn: A National Movement, on the status of MENA data collection across the country and next steps now that SPD 15 has been revised to include a MENA category; and From Numbers to Narratives, a presentation from Center for Arab Narratives (CAN) on Arab American community data and how to interpret it to better engage and serve our community. On April 30, in collaboration with the Michigan Secretary of State office, ACCESS hosted a Voter Education Webinar offered in Arabic and English, providing community members the opportunity to ask questions on election law.
Finally, our own Chief Operating Officer, Lina Hourani-Harajli, was selected as an Arab American Heritage Month Game Changers recipient!
Thank you for your continued support of our work. I am so grateful to be able to share these regular updates with you. To learn more about what’s going on at ACCESS, please visit our website: https://www.accesscommunity.org, and follow us online:
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Love,
Maha
Maha Freij
President & CEO
ACCESS
2651 Saulino Ct., Dearborn, MI 48120
EM: mfreij
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