Education Initiative
ADC is embarking on an ambitious national campaign for K-12 education. The program will provide teaching and learning tools focused on accurate and engaging classroom materials on Arab history and culture. Additionally, ADC’s new education program will comprehensively involve advocacy for the mental health and civil rights of Arab students and faculty. ADC will develop and lead professional training sessions for teachers, administrators and community members who advocate for students and for the dissemination resources in different school districts. Our efforts will empower teachers, parents and students to push back against long-standing biases and assumptions against Arab and Muslim peoples. Your tax deductible donation works for our collective communities.
What are we up against? Even though Wikipedia’s editors along with several human rights organizations designated the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a non-reliable source on Zionism and antisemitism, California Governor Newsom signed SB 1277 into law, which allows the ADL to lead and suppress discussion on the history of Palestinian oppression. Additionally, the California Teachers Collaborative on Holocaust and Genocide Education, established in 2021, comprised of 14 organizations of which more than 7 are zionist pro-Israeli including the ADL, provides middle and high school teacher professional training on genocide studies for school districts, charter schools and county offices in California. Their mandate/goal is to train 8,500 teachers and educate over one million California students by 2029. Tens of millions of dollars will implement lesson plans based on lies and hatred. This program may begin in California but be assured it will spread to the entire country.
ADC’s new Director of Education, Colette Azar Cavanagh, and her engaged team are creating truthful and vetted education materials and training sessions that will be shared with school districts and partnerships throughout the country. ADC will raise half a million dollars to establish a national network of education teams who will recruit educators to test and integrate lesson plans to fully humanize Arab history and capture the breadth of its people. Pertinent teaching and learning tools are being created and will be distributed to key ADC chapter school districts in California, New Jersey, Michigan, Texas, Georgia and Illinois.
Accurate representation in the K-12 curriculum fosters cultural awareness and understanding among students. It creates a truly inclusive educational environment for Arab students, thereby increasing their engagement, academic achievement, mental health, and safety. Not to mention, the more all children learn, the more tomorrow’s adults will know. K-12 education can lead to a better informed electorate, more likely to support and advocate human rights of Arabs in and outside of the US.
To quote Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
