ING Reaches 25,000 Americans of Other Faiths in Bay Area

(San Jose, 1/10/07) Greetings of Peace! We hope that all our friends and supporters had a wonderful holiday and wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year. Looking back at Fall semester, 2006 as we move into the Spring of 2007, it was one of ING’s busiest and most successful in our fourteen year history.

Demand increases for ING programs

In terms of total educational programs and interfaith dialogues, we showed a 17% increase over Fall, 2005, perhaps in part due to ING’s spectacular new school mailer! To view the mailer, visit: School Mailer, and click on Resource Kit (3rd link).

This is a very exciting time in our history with tremendous challenges, but equally extraordinary opportunities. The recent election of a new Congress, a first woman Speaker of the House, and a first Muslim congressman are all exhilarating firsts. The controversy which surrounded the desire of Keith Ellison to use the Qur’an for his oath of office demonstrates the continued critical need for education about Islam and Muslims and greater efforts towards outreach. His decision to use Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Qur’an illustrates exactly that quality which makes this country unique – its ability from its very founding to be inclusive, multi-cultural and multi-religious, values ensconced in the First Amendment, which is the principal upon which ING bases all its presentations and outreach efforts. It is this vision of an America that can accommodate and even embrace all of us which drives the work and mission of ING. We thank all those who support this vision.

ING’s educational and interfaith programs remind us of our commonalities and shared humanity, as well as build bridges based on mutual respect and civic responsibility

Due to your support, ING speakers and the staff who support them were able to deliver 435 educational programs and interfaith dialogues in 190 Bay Area locations in Fall 2006, which included schools, universities and college campuses, community organizations, law enforcement agencies, healthcare facilities, corporations and houses of worship. Our affiliates and partners in 20 states delivered hundreds more using ING’s content and materials.

Helping to improve Islamic literacy, ING & its affiliates also conducted tens of speakers training sessions in the Bay Area and other states, including Raleigh, North Carolina on presenting Islam and answering frequently asked questions about the contemporary Muslim world.

We also participated in media interviews that included a report on Bay Area Muslim leaders featured in a 9/11 special on the NewsHour With Jim Lehrer which aired on September 4th, and an article about ING and its president in the Fremont Argus on November 20th: Muslim Group Deflates Stereotypes

Directly reached over 25,000 Americans of other faiths in Fall 2006 (in the Bay Area alone)

While the bulk of ING’s education continues to be in schools, presentations to adult venues this fall made up over 30% of the total locations visited, and interfaith dialogues made up 25% of the locations. Directly reaching over 25,000 Bay Area Americans of other faiths in Fall 2006, select adult venues included:

Health Care:

* Family Services Dept of California Transplant Donor Network

* Children’s Stanford Hospital, Palo Alto

* Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Oakland

* UCSF School of Nursing

* Annual California Department of Mental Health Conference

Law Enforcement:

* Milpitas Police Department

Corporations:

* Annual Quad Equal Employment Opportunity Training Conference, Concord

Interfaith Dialogues:

* Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley

* Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, San Jose

* Bay Area Cultural Connections Conference on “The Sacred”

* Graduate Theological Union Conference on Women, Berkeley

* Interfaith Conference at the Jain Center, Milpitas

* The Chaplaincy Institute, Berkeley

Universities:

* University of California, Berkeley

* University of San Francisco

* San Jose State

* St. Mary’s College

* Santa Clara University

* Merritt College

* Sonoma State University

* University of the Pacific

ING also participated in an unprecedented number of Ramadan Open Houses at mosques, corporations, and on college campuses in which they were keynote speakers addressing the significance of Ramadan and Islam’s place in the Abrahamic faith traditions. These included the following:

* Islamic Society of the East Bay, (ISEB) Fremont Open House Iftar Dinner

* Islamic Center of Livermore Open House Iftar Dinner

* UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Annual Iftar Dinner

* Apple Computers Cultural Diversity Week Ramadan Presentation

* Santa Clara University Annual Iftar Dinner

* UC Davis MSA Iftar Dinner and Fastathon

* Boalt Law School MSA Iftar Dinner, Berkeley

* UC Merced Iftar Dinner

* Oracle’s Eid Dinner