2018 Annual Report Final Copy
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ANNUAL REPORT
2018
COLUMBUS CHAPTER
www.cair-columbus.com
COLUMBUS CHAPTER
A B O U T U S
CAIR-Ohio, founded in 1998 in Columbus, is an affiliate
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a
non-profit, grassroots civil rights organization. CAIR is
headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has 35 chapters
nationwide.
The CAIR-Ohio Affiliate consists of three financially
independent chapters in Ohio - CAIR-Columbus, CAIR-
Cleveland and CAIR-Cincinnati.
V I S I O N & M I S S I O N
Our vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and
mutual understanding.
Our mission is to protect civil liberties, empower
American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote
justice and mutual understanding.
Through legal representation, education, media
relations, and advocacy, we empower the American
Muslim community and encourage their participation
in political and social activism. We counsel, mediate,
and advocate on behalf of Muslims and others who
have experienced discrimination, harassment, or hate
crimes. Our lawyers work to protect and defend the
constitutional rights of American Muslims, thereby
supporting the rights of all Americans.
2018
www.cair-columbus.com
A NOTE FROM OUR
CIVIL RIGHTS.
PROTECTING
BIGOTRY.
FIGHTING
Dear Friends,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TEAM
As we begin the new year and look back at the work done by CAIR-Columbus in 2018, we
recognize that we could not have done this without you. It is your support and help which
enables us to serve the needs of the Ohio Muslim community.
Your investment in our mission has allowed us to expand our team in order to accomplish more
this year than we have ever before. As 2018 was an important election year, we held 4 large
public forums attended by gubernatorial and congressional candidates. We prepared voting
guides, conducted voter registrations at 10 different mosques, and organized 2 phone banks to
encourage Muslims to vote in the midterm elections.
Our legal work continues to produce results. Over 200 Muslims contacted our office this year
seeking help on issues of discrimination. We successfully resolved federal lawsuits for 30
Muslims. In an effort to reinforce safe school environments, we hosted an Anti-Bullying
Conference, and testified on and helped strengthen an anti-bullying bill in our State House. In
2018, we also met with over 75 state and federal legislators by arranging a trip to DC for local
Muslims to meet with their congressional representatives and by organizing the 2nd Annual
Muslim Day at the Ohio State Capitol.
With your help we were able to reunite families, fight religious discrimination at work and in
schools, and educate many on our community's issues. Our work continues and we remain
committed to safeguarding civil rights, challenging bigotry, and promoting tolerance.
Please read through this annual report for an overview of our work over the past year, and
remember to visit our website at www.cair-columbus.com for more information. As our office
has expanded our ability to serve you, we ask you to join us in making a better future for our
families, our community, and our country.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Nimer, Esq.
Executive Director
Romin Iqbal, Esq.
Legal Director
PROMOTING TOLERANCE.
1
2
6
8
HIGHLIGHTS
CIVIL RIGHTS
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
OUTREACH
T A B L E O F
CONTENTS
10
12
14
15
COMMUNICATIONS
RECOGNITION
FINANCIALS
OUR STAFF
CAIR-Columbus has been
a leader in continuously
fighting against injustice
and discrimination to
protect the civil rights &
dignity of all Americans.
2018 HIGHLIGHTS
attorneys counseled over 200 people regarding legal
Our
involving employment discrimination, immigration delay,
issues
by law enforcement and government agencies,
targeting
and hate incidents.
bullying,
held over 150 meetings, events, presentations, safety
We
and Know Your Rights workshops to empower
trainings,
prepare our community to deal with a variety of
and
facing Muslims today.
issues
continued to provide a voice for the local Muslim
We
through 32 interviews in various media
community
organized over 75 meetings with federal and state
We
in order to amplify Muslim concerns and to train
officials
members to effectively communicate with
community
lobby their representatives.
and
conducted 10 voter registration drives at
We
mosques. To further encourage voter
different
we held 2 phone banks and created voting
participation,
for our community.
guides
2018 was an election year, we organized 4 large public
As
attended by leading gubernatorial and congressional
forums
allowing over 600 people to hear from the
candidates
candidates.
CIVIL RIGHTS INTAKES
200+
EVENTS & PRESENTATIONS
150+
MEETINGS WITH OFFICIALS
75+
MEDIA APPEARANCES
outlets both within Ohio and nationwide.
32
VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES
10
PUBLIC FORUMS
4
1
CIVIL RIGHTS
HIGHLIGHTS
CBA 6th Annual MLK Civil Rights
Symposium
2018
Throughout 2018, our Legal Department continued its critical work of educating Muslims
about their rights, advocating against discrimination, and litigating when necessary to
fully protect the civil rights of the American Muslim community.
We responded to over 200 legal
We trained lawyers on filing mandamus
inquiries.
complaints for immigration delay
We successfully sued the federal
cases and compiled a thorough 200
page manual.
government to reunite parents with
their 4 daughters who were oversees
We represented Muslims who were
and not allowed to come to the U.S.
profiled at border crossings.
on their immigrant visas.
We received a grant from Columbus
We filed mandamus lawsuits against
City Council to distribute Know Your
the federal government and
Rights publications and to provide
compelled it to grant citizenship and
educational training for local
permanent residency to 7 Muslims
immigrants.
whose immigration applications were
We provided legal representation to
unreasonably delayed.
local Muslim victims of hate crimes and
hate incidents.
We sued 3 different employers in
federal court and obtained monetary
We provided legal representation to
settlements for 21 Muslims who were
dozens of Muslims who were profiled
terminated for discriminatory reasons
and targeted by the FBI and other
and for praying at work.
federal law enforcement agencies.
We published and distributed
We represented Muslim students who
were victims of bullying in school.
thousands of Know Your Rights
informational materials and
We redesigned our website to include
organized dozens of Know Your
detailed Know Your Rights information
Rights trainings at different mosques
translated into Arabic, Farsi, Urdu,
and institutions.
Somali, Bengali, and Bosnian.
3
2018 INTAKES
TOTAL: 210
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
82
Immigration Discrimination
Other
45
FBI/Law Enforcement
28
Employment
21
School
18
Hate Crimes
10
Public Accomodation
6
4
lawful permanent resident of the United States since 2010, Mr.
A
Djebbari, an Islamic teacher at a local mosque, waited
Mohamed
three years for adjudication of his citizenship application.
nearly
Djebbari had no criminal record and met all the requirements
Mr.
eligibility for receiving his citizenship. Mr. Djebbari repeatedly
of
USCIS and his Congressional representatives to no avail.
contacted
Djebbari then came to CAIR-Columbus for help. CAIR-
Mr.
filed a lawsuit in federal court for Mr. Djebbari to
Columbus
the delay. The lawsuit was successfully resolved and Mr.
challenge
was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.
Djebbari
Mohammad Dada is a legal permanent resident of the United
Mr.
and an employee of a local mosque. Mr. Dada’s 4 teenage
States
were stuck overseas and unable to join their parents in
daughters
because the U.S. Department of State failed to
Columbus
their immigration applications for over 4 years. CAIR-
adjudicate
then sued the U.S. Department of State to allow the
Columbus
daughters to come to America. The lawsuit was successfully
Dada
and the 4 teenagers were finally reunited with their
resolved
Mounir Sanhaji is a local doctor who works for the U.S.
Dr.
of Veteran Affairs. He was a legal permanent resident
Department
the United States and had lived in Central Ohio for over 15
of
Dr. Sanhaji filed for citizenship but his application was not
years.
for over 2 years. Even though Dr. Sanhaji had already
adjudicated
security clearance for working at the U.S. Department of
received
Affairs, USCIS claimed that the delay was due to a
Veteran
background check. CAIR-Columbus filed a lawsuit in
pending
court to compel the U.S. government to grant him his
federal
The lawsuit was successfully resolved and Dr. Sanhaji
citizenship.
DELAY
IMMIGRATION
RESOLVED
CASES
family.
was finally granted citizenship.
5
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
& CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
meetings. Attendees lobbied for fair
wage, and increased gun safety
measures. The event’s attendance was
Day. The event also included trainings
2018 HIGHLIGHTS
process. Roughly 30,000 people were
Gubernatorial Candidate Forum
LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY
CANDIDATE FORUMS
We met with over 75 state and federal
We held an Ohio gubernatorial candidate
legislators to discuss legislation and
debate between the top 4 Democratic
issues of concern to the Muslim
party nominees. The debate had over 200
community.
attendees.
We participated in the “National Muslim
We organized a U.S. Fifteenth
Advocacy Day” on Capitol Hill in
Congressional District debate attended by
Washington, D.C. We took a delegation
over 100 people.
of local Muslims and met with 14
We hosted a candidate forum attended by
congressional offices. We lobbied
leading candidates for the Ohio Governor
lawmakers to overturn the Muslim Ban,
and Attorney General races. This forum
oppose new restrictions to the
allowed over 200 people the opportunity
immigration system, and to support the
to engage with the candidates and ask
Racial Profiling Act which would
questions.
prohibit profiling based on religion.
VOTER ENGAGEMENT
We hosted the 2nd Annual “Muslim Day
We hosted a telephonic townhall to
at the State Capitol” at the Ohio
educate citizens about the electoral
Statehouse where 120+ Muslim
attendees from across the state came
notified.
together to attend nearly 50 legislative
We conducted voter registration drives at
10 different mosques and we held 2 phone
policing practices, higher minimum
banks to encourage our community to
vote.
We developed community voter guides
twice as large as last year’s State Capitol
and candidate questionnaires focusing on
issues of immigration and civil rights for
on how to effectively lobby legislators.
local, state, and federal elections.
7
OUTREACH
OUTREACH& EDUCATION
& EDUCATION
2018 HIGHLIGHTS
Anti-Bullying Conference
We held an Anti-Bullying in School
conference to promote awareness and to
provide tools on identifying and combating
instances of bullying.
We gave proponent testimony on an anti-
bullying bill in the State House and helped
strengthen the bill to better protect Muslim
students.
We continued the 15th year of our monthly
“Feeding Families” initiative, which provides
Creating lanterns for Interfaith Iftar
food for nearly 200 homeless adults and
children.
We trained attorneys across Ohio through
continuing legal education seminars on
We participated in a three-day civil rights
topics related to religious accommodation
educational tour and attended the
inauguration of the National Memorial for
for Muslims.
Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.
We gave presentations throughout the year
on Islam and Muslims at universities,
churches, corporations, libraries, schools,
and other places.
We were a leading partner in organizing
the 2nd Annual “Interfaith March for Peace
and Justice” to ensure that Columbus
remains a welcoming city for all.
We were the chief organizers of the
“Families Belong Together” rally to protest
the Trump Administration’s policy of family
Alabama Civil Rights Trip
separation. The rally was attended by
1,000+ people.
9
MEDIA
& COMMUNICATIONS
Ohio. We helped educate these
2018 HIGHLIGHTS
religion, and hate groups. We also
10TV, NBC4, ABC 6/ Fox 28, The Columbus
conferences, events, and trainings, which
Face the State
Throughout 2018, we continued to work on
promoting a positive image of Muslims in the
media.
We had a total local media viewership
of 1,534,993 which translates to over
$76k in total local market publicity
value.
We presented at a "Reporting on Race
and Hate" workshop for news directors
and reporters from across the state of
journalists who report on issues of race,
We issued press releases for each of our
new lawsuits. These press releases
facilitated a discussion on media
received widespread media coverage
which highlighted the impact of
coverage of religion and American
Muslims.
discrimination against Muslims.
We participated in interfaith press
We appeared twice on WOSU's "All
conferences with our partners on issues of
Sides with Ann Fisher" to discuss
civil rights.
issues including anti-Muslim bias in the
media's coverage of terrorism cases.
We were covered extensively throughout
the year in local media, including:
We made several appearances on
Channel 10's "Face the State," where we
Dispatch, WOSU, and WKBN27.
examined important issues, including,
We used CAIR-Columbus' social media
the Supreme Court's decision upholding
the Muslim Ban and 2018 elections.
platforms to live-stream our press
We held a press conference and invited
local leaders to call on the Supreme
were viewed by tens of thousands of
people.
Court to overturn the Muslim Ban.
11
RECOGNITION
2018
12
2018
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
*
* This total reflects a surplus income, which is mostly due to grants received in 2018 for work which will be completed in 2019 and
beyond.
Each CAIR chapter is responsible for raising its own funds - contributions to our National office are not shared with chapters.
JOIN US - Participate in one of our many events, rallies, panel discussions, or workshops.
25,000
Upcoming event listings can be found on our website at cair-columbus.com/events. Also,
be sure to follow us on social media and join our email list!
GET INVOLVED
18,750 DONATE
Online: cair-columbus.com
By mail: 4242 Tuller Rd., Suite B2
Dublin, OH 43017
12,500
By phone: 614.451.3232
FIGURE 1.
INTERN - We have intern and externships available year-round that provide law students
6,250
with valuable experience dealing with civil rights issues.
According to Wikipedia, an
report is a
annual
report on a
comprehensive
company's activities
the preceding
throughout
VOLUNTEER - Join our group of volunteer attorneys, community activists, or participate
year.
in one of our community service projects.
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14
OUR STAFF
IQBAL, ESQ.
ROMIN
Director
Legal
Tuller Rd., Suite B2
4242
OH 43017
Dublin,
614.451.3232
t:
614.451.3222
f:
info@cair-columbus.com
www.cair-columbus.com
our email list:
Join
"CAIR" to
Text
to get
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facebook.com/
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CAIR-Columbus
COLUMBUS CHAPTER
JENNIFER NIMER, ESQ.
Executive Director
EZZEDDINE
ZAINAB
Director & Litigation Fellow
Deputy
USJID HAMEED
Public Affairs Coordinator
MONUZA ASHRAF
Operations Coordinator
KARIE GALLEGOS
Operations Assistant
@caircolumbus
cair-columbus.com
Pictured, front: Romin Iqbal, Jennifer Nimer
Back: Usjid Hameed, Zainab Ezzeddine, Monuza Ashraf, Karie Gallegos
@CAIR_Columbus
7
13
CAIR-OHIO
CHAPTER
COLUMBUS
Tuller Rd., Suite B2
4242
OH 43017
Dublin,
cair-columbus.com
info@cair-columbus.com
2018