Mission Statement
CAIR’s vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding. CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
In 2022, CAIR-Philadelphia’s Legal Team continued to be a vital legal resource for our community members who needed legal representation to resolve various instances of discrimination based on religion, race/ethnicity, and/or national origin.
Our teams also invested in education advocacy. We held listening sessions in Philadelphia, North Penn, Upper Darby, Harrisburg, Mechanicsburg, Lebanon, Hershey, and Dover communities. In these sessions we engaged 234 students; hearing their stories and developing plans for engaging their local school districts.
Our work to empower our communities’ involvement in their local school districts to ensure a peaceful learning environment and proper accommodations continued. We had 8 more school districts across the region adopt Eid as a day off for students, thanks to our community members taking an active stance and mobilizing toward greater equity and inclusion.
CAIR-Philadelphia continued to focus its attention on critical conversations that inform key developments in our community, from criminal justice reform to intra-communal racism, from attention on problematic law enforcement practices to contributing to conversations on gun violence and reparations.
CAIR-Philadelphia for the first time started its immigration legal consultation and advocacy work with 9 Immigration Law Clinics organized in Lancaster, Allentown and Norristown.
. Our election season outreach this year completed close to 200,000 phone calls and 120,000 text messages, with countless hours of voter registration and get-out-the-vote canvassing.
Current Goals
Our board and staff developed a strategic plan for CAIR-Philadelphia that seeks to expand our services to all corners of Pennsylvania together with our sister chapter in Pittsburgh and to continue to exhibit professional, agile, and effective work and programs for our communities. We will continue to invest in our youth, amplify our community’s voices, and bring resources to our communities.
Over the next two years, we are dedicated to adding at least two additional staff members to our legal department and aim to add another staff member to focus on areas outside of Southeast Pennsylvania.
In particular, we hope to develop in house immigration law capacity, achieve greater efficiencies in our legal work, and develop capacity to serve Central Pennsylvania .
Community or Constituency Served
Muslims in Pennsylvania and Delaware
Geographic Area Served
Pennsylvania and Delaware
