Forum's First meeting

 

 

Eid Mubark!

 

 

 Below are the meeting minutes (Thanks to Matheen for taking notes), please add if anything missing.

  

Meeting date:

11/13/2010

2:00pm-5:00pm

Location:

Lake Hill library conference room, Bellevue

Attendees:

Abid Masood, Ahmed Qazi, Jeremy Mseitif, Ahmed Brown, Faheem Siddiq, Asadullah Al- Khidr, S. Arsalan Bukhari, Ibrahim Soudy, Matheen Siddiqui, Munira, Saman Khan, Shelley Day, Salwa Abdul Razzak, Umma Ahmed, Farida Hakim, Kiki Rizki

 

Topic Discussed:

Assistance Program for Muslims returning from prison

 

Proposals Received and presented by:  (proposal are attached)

1.       Faheem Siddiq

2.       Umma Ahmed and Ahmed Brown

 

Issues Muslim community members coming out of prison

 

Available Services:

1.       Food assistance (food stamps, food bank), not enough

2.       Money assistance from government (for some time), (Red tape + need to lie some time)

3.       Work source (only help with certificates/resumes)

Needs

1.       Personal

a.       Housing

b.      Social

c.       Food

d.      Religious/Spiritual

e.      1:1 mentoring

2.       Vocational

Ideas:

1.       Housing

a.       Close to Mosque

b.      Build community

c.       Dedicated coordinator

d.      1:1 mentoring

2.       Request financial commitment from mosques/organizations of ‘x’ amount per year

Key problem: Housing

 

Stats:

1.       Housing need about 3000/month

2.       5-6 new brother out of prison every month and expecting more

3.       Right now 5-6 brothers need housing assistance.

Resources from exiting organizations:

1.       Muslim Chaplin’s organization help inside prison (with Religious needs)

2.       M.H.S. potentially help for housing

3.       Organized resource allocation  (request from each mosque)

4.       Seattle University School of Business helps with business plan

Need of a new organization to start the project or run a project under exiting organization?

At this time AlSadaqa is willing to host an effort given complete business plan, totally run by the organizers.

 

On a separate note Shelley Day, mentioned about Children Gift program for this Christmas.

 

What next?

Goals:

Come up with a business plan for an organization (or dedicated sub-group) to address the problems facing Muslims as they are released from prison. 

 

Action Items:

·         Faheem will have a presentation of an initial plan in next meeting

·         Sister Salwa will contact her ex-landlord,  having address (or at least initial feedback)

·         Asadullah will have info on jobs (vocational)

·         Jeremy will look into IMAN center

 

Next Meeting Scheduled:

12/2  6:30PM @CAIR office international district  (will send a exact address).

 

 

Thanks,

Abid Masood

 

 

 

Forum Guidelines 

 

Assalam o Alykum,

 

In preparation for our upcoming meeting;

Following are some guidelines to make the most out of this event.

 

If you intend to share your thoughts about an idea your are passionate about,

it will be extremely helpful if you prepare a 1-page document outlining the

following.

 

1. The problem statement (i.e.; what do you want to solve)

2. Proposed solution (- your idea as to how to best solve it)

3. Concrete steps towards solving it,  such as

    - money (how much money do you think is needed)

    - manpower (how many people are needed to drive this, 

                professional people in any specific skill/trade;

                or can anybody help)

    - time frame (how much time is required; for how long the project is to run).

 

Our hope is that by having these ideas presented to those in the meeting in a

consistent manner, we will be able to

- identify what resources are needed

- identify those in the community who can offer these (professional/volunteer) services

- and to facilitate like-minded people to help out each other towards well

  defined project

 

(Please forward the invite as you feel appropriate)

 

Thank You,

Abid Masood

 

 

Forum Invitation 

 

Assalam o Alykum,

 

As per initial discussions below are the event details.

 

Date:  Saturday November 13th

Time:  2:00pm-5:00pm

Location: Meeting Room at Lake Hills Library,

15590 Lake Hills Blvd., Bellevue, 98007

Seating Capacity: 50 Max

Invitation: Open

 

Agenda: Brainstorming session to consolidate ideas to help community

Focus Area: Community Services Programs

 

Arranged By: AlSadaqa

Contact Person:

Abid Masood

425 466 1229

abid@alsadaqa.org

 

 

Thanks,

Abid Masood