Linda Sarsour (center), executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, at a solidarity march in Bay Ridge with the Muslim community on Jan. 17. (Photo by Marco Poggio for Voices of NY)
For 15 years, the Arab American Association of New York (AAANY) in Bay Ridge has supported the city’s Middle Eastern residents through English and GED classes, immigration and employment help, social services referrals and other means of advocating for the diverse community.
According to the organization, Arab community leaders planned to start a “nonprofit social services agency” in early 2001. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, they “redoubled their efforts and opened AAANY as a nonprofit in December 2001, providing invaluable social services and empowering and defending New York’s Arab community.”
AAANY will celebrate its anniversary at the nonprofit’s annual dinner, which takes place this year on Nov. 3 at Widdi Catering Hall in Sunset Park, reports Paula Katinas for Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
The organization’s Facebook post for the gala states: “It’s been a rough year for the communities we serve, but we know that we have so much to celebrate.”
Katinas mentions that the nonprofit was one of 14 city organizations to recently receive a grant from the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, run by Chirlane McCray, to provide mental health services for their communities. At the time AAANY executive director Linda Sarsour told Brooklyn Daily Eagle “this program could not have come at a better time.”
Find out why in the full article.
