On March 22, Middle Tennessee Muslims came together to learn about the importance of civic engagement and listen to local officials about opportunities to be more involved in our community. During the first part of the program, attendees heard from Mohamed Shukri Hassan about how building relationships with elected officials can help you be a better advocate for your community and then Usra Ghazi, from America Indivisible, led a case study about an issue affecting the community and ways to address them at the local level. Zulfat Suara addressed the Islamic perspective of getting involved to affect positive changes in our communities.
The second part of the program was a roundtable discussion with Councilmembers Mina Johnson and Fabian Bedne and Director of the Mayor's office of New Americans Vanessa Lazon. They shared their stories on how they became involved in city government and encouraged our communities to reach out to them and other city officials on issues that are important to them. Vanessa Lazon talked about city commissions and other opportunities to serve that are available to those living in Nashville. Additionally, nonprofit boards are a great way to serve the community.