June 12, 2014

On Friday, more than 20 members of the Islamic Center of Claremont came together for an I Am Change workshop. Part of MPAC’s renewed focus on community engagement In the Los Angeles area, the workshop empowered participants to advocate for themselves and the issues they care about with elected officials, coworkers, neighbors and friends.

Created to empower American Muslims to stand up and advocate for the issues we all care about, the workshop was organized by Bassam Radwan, Chairman of the Board of the Islamic Center of Claremont, Regia Gadoura, Principal of the Islamic Center's Iqra Academy, and Abeer Gaber, MPAC’s I Am Change LA Fellow.

Edina Lekovic, MPAC’s Director of Policy and Programming, gave the introduction and talked about how being an active citizen is an Islamic responsibility rooted in Quranic teachings. Gaber details how federal and local government are structured and provided practical tips on how to engage them directly on policy issues.

Lekovic then taught the participants how to frame issues effectively in order to get others to care about issues, the way they care about them.