The Al-Naas Civic and Cultural Foundation of Denver, Colorado
Serving recent arrivals from North African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian communities in our region.
ABOUT US
The al-Naas Civic and Cultural Foundation is a charitable organization based in the Denver, Parker, and Boulder regions of Colorado. We provide a community center, job training, American culture and adaptation classes, and other useful services to refugees and recently arrived immigrants, especially from the North Africa, Middle East, and Central and South Asian regions. Al-Naas is Arabic for the people – but is a word recognized in Urdu, Pashtun, Farsi, and other languages around the world. We serve the people from our regions in whatever ways we can, helping them acclimatize to American life while maintaining their own unique cultural identities.
Our Mission
To create a safe space wherein refugees and recent arrivals to America can form a community, express themselves, and learn how to adapt to their new surroundings;
Offer opportunities for refugees and recent arrivals to learn from other people from similar regions about how they adapted to American and Coloradan life;
To provide classes and trainings to our supporters that will ease their transition into American life, including on American civics, the English language, and local jobs.
To sponsor, host and/or participate in events and activities that promote the intercultural understanding between the Colorado and the cultures of our supporters.
UPCOMING PROJECTS
Community Center
The al-Naas Foundation is committed to creating a community center wherein any person from the Denver region – but especially people from the Muslim world – can feel free to come, mingle, and learn. Our goal is to provide people from all walks of life a place where they can feel free to come as they are, and to learn from other people who went through similar experiences how they can integrate into their new home – all while still maintaining their own distinct cultural identities.
Our community center is the base of our operations, and the place where all of our other programming happens. It is at our community center that will provide English lessons, a digital library, an American integration program, job training and placement services, and more. It will serve anyone needing help or just wanting to join the community, regardless of background or creed.
Halal Food Bank
Many of our community’s recent arrivals rely on food banks in order to provide for their families – especially those coming from war-torn regions like Afghanistan or Syria. Unfortunately, the food provided at these food banks is not always sensitive to the dieting restrictions associated with certain cultures and religions. Our food bank will be 100% halal, so as to give aid in a way consistent with the needs of those we serve.
Our community center is the base of our operations, and the place where all of our other programming happens. It is at our community center that will provide English lessons, a digital library, an American integration program, job training and placement services, and more. It will serve anyone needing help or just wanting to join the community, regardless of background or creed.
Cultural Integration Classes
While the Denver area has welcomed a significant number of recent arrivals from Muslim-world countries in a generous outpouring of humanitarian spirit, and has done a good job of providing for the material needs of those persons, the integration of those recent arrivals is often accomplished by people without any particular experience with the population they are serving. Our cultural integration courses will provide recent arrivals with the most important information about living in the United States – including about how to comply with US laws and immigration policies, and cultural standards regarding family life – in a way that is sensitive to the origins of its audience, and delivered by a member of their own community.
Our experiences teaches us that cultural integration is best delivered by somebody that has already lived it and can provide specific context to make the theory feel more real for the audience. A class on better integrating into the American lifestyle is better taught to an Afghan by an Afghan-American! Our approach helps turn recent arrivals into contributing members of our community faster and much more effectively.
Job Training and Placement Assistance
One of the most difficult part of a recent arrival’s transition to the United States is often finding work – which needs to be done sooner rather than later, as the amount of aid funding given to asylees and other immigrants is never enough. At our community center, we train recent arrivals in skills that are marketable in the United States, and help them find their first job in America – all the better for them, and all the better for our community.
English Language Training
Our English-language classes, like our cultural integration classes, are taught by locals that understand the context of where our audience comes from. Learning English is experienced very differently for Arabic speakers than it is for, say, Spanish speakers. Our culture- and language-context specific training creates a more natural experience for the members of our community, helping them learn English faster and use English more effectively.