Samra Ali, Texas Muslim Women's Foundation
The 2018-2019 START cohort kicked-off in-person in mid-November, convening 24 faith leaders from around the country in Providence, RI. Ariele Mortkowitz shares her reflections on her experience in the cohort so far, as well as some early successes!
"START has been instrumental in the organization of my project plan. It has completely shifted my perspective of project presentation and development by introducing the concept of the "customer."
"Our project is a Refugee Advocacy Program under Texas Muslim Women's Foundation. We are piloting a culturally-sensitive and logistically-specific program for refugee women. To quote my first interviewee: 'My husband has work and my children are going to school. They do not have time to teach me or wait for me to learn. No one has asked me what I want from this new society and how it will become my home.'"
"My hope for this is to thrive not just for the refugee population but be able to expand to incoming immigrant populations as well as internally displaced populations... I see the program as evolving to support each segment of the population to help them find comfort and connection in their new place of abode, whether by trauma or choice."