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Shaheena Karimi Scholarship Fund

A young woman who went to college with me passed away this year. She was a wonderful, vivacious personality. A mutual friend, in conjunction with her family, has established a scholarship in her memory at Barnard. Please read the letter below and consider donating here. —- A little over nine months ago, each of us lost someone very dear to our hearts. Shaheena Karimi was a warm, genuine and passionate woman. Never without a smile, Shaheena inspired all of us through her unwavering determination to live a full life. To Shaheena, this absolutely included giving generously of her time to…

Grass Roots Development May Hold Promise in the Muslim World

I would actually hope that it holds promise for everyone: There is, Khan averred, a “dominant player fallacy” or the tendency to place “too much reliance in national governments and other institutions which may have relatively superficial connections to life at the grass-roots level.” Thus, “urban-based outsiders often look at these situations from the perspective of the city center looking out to a distant countryside, searching for quick and convenient levers of influence.” The secret, then, is to work “from the bottom up” and not from the top down, as is so often the case. As he told the dinner…

Queens, NY Action: Hindi/Bangla Translation Help Needed

Dear friends and colleagues, Hope you are enjoying your summer. I need your help recruiting volunteers for an historic event that Chhaya is putting together in York College on Saturday August 7th. It is a foreclosure prevention rescue fair where lenders and housing counselors will assist distressed homeowners with loan modification applications. As you know our target population is immigrants, particularly from South Asia, who have been significantly impacted in this crisis (our research shows that in some zip codes in Queens, as many as 50% default was among SA homeowners!) We expect as many as 500 homeowners to attend…