Major New Grant Awards Will Help Build the Capacity of Iranian-Americans

For Immediate Release
Contact: Nobar Elmi
Phone: 202-386-6325
Email: [email protected]

Washington, DC – The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) announced today that it has received three major grant awards totaling $446,000 from the Parsa Community Foundation, the leading philanthropic organization in the United States serving the Iranian-American community.  Through these grants, the Iranian-American community will benefit from significantly enhanced programs and activities as well as new initiatives.

One grant will help the community become more active and engaged on a civic level and will promote the development of young leaders.  Through an enhanced series of democracy education workshops and seminars, voter registration drives, increased student fellowship offerings, and the development of student networks at college campuses nationwide, Iranian Americans can take an increasingly active role in creating their own future.

Another grant will promote peaceful relations and improved understanding between the Iranian-American and Jewish-American communities through improved communications and direct collaboration between individuals and organizations in both communities.  The Nathan E. Cummings Foundation, a prominent Jewish-American philanthropy, is a strategic partner in this effort along with the Parsa Community Foundation and together the two groups are providing major support to this groundbreaking project.

A third grant will underwrite a comprehensive media and education campaign about the Persepolis artifacts, priceless Persian antiquities currently caught in a legal battle.  The case is ongoing and its outcome could set potentially shattering precedents for the art world, museums and cultural institutions worldwide, as well as have a deep, negative impact on the cultural identity of Americans of Iranian descent.

“We are extremely grateful that the Parsa Community Foundation has made such a significant contribution toward building the civic participation and engagement of the Iranian-American community through these grants.  We are excited that the community will benefit and be advanced as a result of the Foundation’s leadership”, said NIAC President Trita Parsi.