Charlotte County Florida Weekly

Muslim civil rights group uses grants to open office

GIVING



RAHMANOVIC

RAHMANOVIC

CAIR-Florida Inc. is excited to start serving the diverse Southwest Florida immigrant community from our new office in Fort Myers, thanks to the generosity of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation.

CAIR stands for Council on American Islamic Relations — we are a Florida nonprofit civil rights organization with established offices in Tampa, South Florida (Sunrise), Orlando and Panama City — and now in Fort Myers. From these offices, eight attorneys and 15 coordinators and administrators work tirelessly to build bridges between the Florida Muslim and non- Muslim communities.

To achieve that, we provide educational programs to combat school bullying and other forms of discrimination. We also provide community building and legal services to the community at large. Our cultural training provided to law enforcement and first responders has been successful in ensuring mutual respect while keeping the community safe and engaged with governmental entities. If necessary, we advocate for our clients in court.

Our services in Fort Myers focus on assisting the immigrant community — regardless of religious affiliation — in Naples, Port Charlotte and Bonita Springs with legal and educational services to address their needs.

Since we were awarded the Southwest Florida Foundation Community Impact and Immigration Programs grants, we have opened a new office in Fort Myers and have already held or participated in 10 events to help raise awareness of our presence in the Southwest Florida.

Some of these events have been “Know Your Rights” presentations on immigration law as well as a presentation on women’s rights to mostly immigrants, who are often unfamiliar with legal norms in the United States. We have also spoken at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Muslim Student Association dinner, which seeks to inspire the youth to get civically engaged for the benefit of the community at large.

We are extremely grateful for this opportunity to expand our services and consider the awarding of these two important grants to CAIR Florida a validation of the impact and importance of both the immigrant and the Muslim community to Southwest Florida. We look forward to building a stronger relationship with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation and the community in the years to come. ¦

— This summer, Florida Weekly and the Southwest Florida Community Foundation are spotlighting the nonprofits funded through the foundation’s 2019 grant cycle. For more information on the f oundation, call 239- 274- 5900 or see www.floridacommunity.com.

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