Islamic Speakers Bureau (ISB)

The San Francisco Bay Area Islamic Speakers Bureau (ISB), initiated in 1993, provides education about American Muslims and their faith to clarify misconceptions and and promote mutual respect and understanding among diverse audiences and venues, including middle and high schools, universities, faith-based and community organizations, and others. ING continuously recruits volunteers to join the Islamic Speakers Bureau (ISB) which operates in the following eight San Francisco Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz.

ISB speakers deliver a variety of presentations, including “Getting to Know American Muslims and their Faith,” “Muslim Women Beyond the Stereotypes,” “A History of Muslims in America,” and “Muslim Contributions to Civilization.” Trained speakers deliver these interactive presentations using colorful digital presentations and Q & A with the audience.

Over the past 25 years, the ISB has delivered around 21,000 presentations in the San Francisco Bay area to a total audience of over one million students and others.

Affiliates

Starting in 2000, ING has established affiliate Islamic Speakers Bureaus in 25 states that use ING’s content and approach to provide face-to-face education by and about Muslims and Islam in their regions. An ING Affiliate is an independently operated regional non-profit organization or group of speakers which models ING’s outreach educational programs and methodology and utilizes ING’s content in its local area. For a listing of current ING affiliates see here.

Online Content

Our curricula were designed to supplement content standards in social studies and world history and address many of the themes created by the National Council for the Social Studies Curriculum Standards and the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA. Many of these themes are also addressed in state social studies content standards of leading states like California, Texas, and New York. Initiated in 2012, hundreds of educators in 47 states and three Canadian provinces have downloaded these resources which include PowerPoints, lesson plans, and other classroom-friendly content.
Our educator content includes a wide variety of resources, including Lesson Plans on Islam and Other Faiths, PowerPoints and Scripts on Current Topics, Know Your Neighbor Content for Educators and Communities, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Muslims and their Faith.

Cultural Diversity Seminars

Through its cultural diversity seminars, ING, trains professionals in law enforcement, education, healthcare, and business in how to deal sensitively and appropriately with Muslims. These seminars provide valuable information and resources for increasing awareness, enhancing cultural competency skills, and developing relationships with American Muslim communities. Since 1997, ING has conducted educator seminars both locally in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally. Since 1997, ING has conducted about 350 of these to 35,000 leaders in these professions.

Impact

We have created a number of impact reports analyzing our efforts, which you can view here. These are based on surveys of audience attitudes to Muslims and Islam before and after ISB presentations. These surveys reveal that after an ISB presentation:

• The frequency of Islamophobic responses to our survey questions falls by almost 50%.
• The percentage of those believing that Muslims are prone to violence falls by 66%.
• The percentage of those believing that American Muslims are insular and foreign falls by 50%.
• The percentage of those believing that Muslims are intolerant of other religions falls by 33%
• The percentage of those believing that American Muslims are “Islamists” hostile to the United States falls by 40%.
• The percentage of those believing that Muslims view women as inferior falls by over 50%.
• The percentage of those believing that American Muslims are disadvantaged and in menial occupations falls by 40%.

Testimonials