Organization: Arab American Association of New York (AAANY)

Recent Grants: $10,000 Immigrant Rights Fund Immediate Response Grant (2017), 10,000 Immigrant Rights Fund Emergency Grant (2016); $40,000 Invest in Youth Grant (2016)

Website: www.arabamericanny.org

Year Founded: 2001

Communities Served: AAANY is based in the Bay Ridge, where the majority of Brooklyn’s Arab American population resides. It serves New York City’s Arab American and Arab immigrant communities through direct social services as well as advocacy and civic engagement programs.

Our grants support:

AAANY is a leading community organizing group that provides adult education, youth development, social services, and legal services as well as steers advocacy initiatives that focus on policing, immigration, wage reform, anti-Islamophobia, and school reform.

Through our Invest in Youth grant program, we’re supporting AAANY’s leadership fellowship for Arab and Muslim youth, which provides resources and tools to address advocacy issues including immigration, police accountability, and racial justice.

Through our Immigrant Rights Fund, we’re supporting AAANY’s advocacy and organizing in Brooklyn’s Muslim immigrant communities.

Why we’re supporting them:

Following the announcement of President Trump’s first executive order banning entry to refugees and citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations, AAANY mobilized members in opposition. Current Executive Director Linda Sarsour was the main plaintiff in Sarsour v. Trump, a sweeping lawsuit filed the by the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a challenge to the executive order. AAANY continues to create timely resources for the community to confront immigration challenges posed by policy changes under the new Presidential administration and is providing bystander intervention trainings to allies to take on surging hate crimes. They have also organized a network of allies who can accompany Muslim community members that feel unsafe when traveling to work or taking their children to school.