YALLA VOTE ‘08 Our Voice. Our Future.

On Sunday, the Arab Student Association of University of Michigan-Ann Arbor hosted a phone banking session in one of their computer rooms on campus. Kamelya Youssef, president of the association, and other students and members of the group participated in making phone calls.  The weekend before the election and we are making hundreds and thousands of phone calls to Arab American registered voters to encourage them to vote.

Our previous field organizer, Amir Eustice was there helping out, too. So many phone calls were made in just one day! Of course, drinks and more food were there to keep us energized to make more phone calls. It was great and the students had a lot of fun. We were using our voices to encourage other voices to be heard. That is what we are all about.

-Jana

It was a busy Halloween for the Yalla Vote team.  On Friday, we gathered up volunteers to hang up Yalla Vote posters on every Arab American business in Dearborn. If you were driving in the area, you could see these posters on every business window and door. Samer, our office intern and I did this for 6 hours! Warren Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Greenfield Road, and Dix Road were all covered by our wonderful volunteers and our office staff. Moortadha, President of the Yemeni Association at Henry Ford Community College (HFCC) tackled the city of Hamtramck with posters as well.  It was a great day of hard work and enthusiasm for November 4th , 2008.

-Jana

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On Wednesday, the Yalla Vote team was making phone calls to all Arab Americans in Michigan to get out and vote! The phone banking session took place at the Dearborn Heights Caroline Kennedy Library. The library provided us all with laptops to access our call tool. It was really fun and great to see so many phone calls being made. Our volunteers were really happy, not just to make calls, but we had pizza and drinks there, too. What a great social environment to be in, right? We still have so many phone calls to make, people. LET’S GO EVERYONE, YALLA CALL!!!!!!!

-Jana

On Wednesday, Yalla Vote was at an inspiring and motivating event at the Arab American National Museum. The Arab American Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) hosted a movie screening of “Election Day.” The most exciting thing about the movie was that Yalla Vote was in it! Kenwah Dabaja, our previous Midwest Organizing Director was passing out information as a final push to get people to the polls at Grocery Stores and Rashida Tlaib, State Representative Elect, was volunteering for the Yalla Vote Campaign at that time too. The movie followed many people, each with a story of their own in trying to mobilize voters and heading to the polls themselves on election day. The movie was entertaining and really inspiring for those who would like to get involved. The election is in one week and we have to strive to make every vote count and every voice heard. Let’s go everyone, YALLA VOTE!!!!

To learn more about the movie, go to http://www.electiondaythemovie.com/about_the_film.php.

Yalla Vote is spreading the word about the Virtual Phone Bank to student groups on college campuses across Michigan. Last week, we had a voter information table at the picnic of the Muslim Student Association of Wayne State University . This picnic allowed us to speak more about our Virtual Phone Bank and to recruit volunteers. Everyone seemed to be very enthusiastic about our convenient call tool and more people signed up to make phone calls. I also emphasized about how easy it is to do this. I mean this is the EASIEST WAY POSSIBLE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. We have to make a lot of phone calls and we can’t do it alone. Arab Americans need to be heard, sign up now for our VIRTUAL PHONE BANK.

YALLA CALL!!!

-Jana

Last Friday, Yalla Vote was present at an Eid Al-Fitir celebration at the Bint Jbeil Cultural Center in Dearborn, Michigan. The event was hosted by US Chaam Media and Arab American Writers Union. It consisted of speakers ranging from Dr. Jack Shaheen, Rashida Tlaib, Obama Representative, Axil of Evil comedian, Aron Kader, and traditional music singer, Karim Jaber. Dr. Shaheen introduced his documentary “Reel Bad Arabs” and encouraged the attendees to vote. The guest of honor was Syrian actor, Nizar Abu Hajar. He is well-known to play the villain in the popular Syrian show “Bab Al-Hara.” Yalla Vote was there to register more people to vote and recruit volunteers for our new call tool. This new call tool will enable us to call Arab American registered voters in battleground states.  If you are interested in volunteering for this new and exciting phone bank, please sign up here or you can e-mail me at aai-michigan@yallavote.org and let us know!

-Jana

On Tuesday, September 30th, 2008, the Islamic Center of Detroit held a big Eid celebration at their mosque.  Of course, Yalla Vote was  there to register more voters and give them all the information they need to know to vote in this election. Rashida Tlaib,  Arab American and Muslim Outreach person for the Obama Campaign, was also there showing a strong presence and registering more people to vote.  Since the beginning of Ramadan, Yalla Vote has been at a different mosque each week working to register more people to vote and letting Arab Americans know how it is important to let our voices be heard in this election! Election time is nearing and voter registration deadlines are almost here in states around the country. Especially here, in Michigan, THE VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 6th. If you haven’t already registered to vote, do it now before it’s too late!

-Jana

Last Sunday, we had another voter registration table at a church in Farmington Hills, Michigan.  St. Toma Syriac Catholic Church was glad to have us there after their mass. Leaders of the church announced that we were there and if people were not registered to vote, they could register and find out more information at our table. It was great and many of the people were very familiar with AAI and the Yalla Vote campaign considering many of them attended previous festivals where we showed a strong presence in. More people were registered and we were very much welcomed at their church.  Remember the voter registration deadline, Michigan. This is your last week to register to vote!

-Jana

Last week, Yalla Vote was  interviewed by the Boston Globe at the Islamic Center of America in Michigan.  Michael Paulson, a reporter for the Boston Globe, interviewed us regarding the Yalla Vote initiative.  He interviewed our new office intern, Samer Hijazi and I at the mosque about the Yalla Vote campaign’s  mission and our thoughts about how the presidential candidates are reaching out to Arab Americans. During this time, Yalla Vote had a voter registration table at the mosque as we met Mr. Paulson. We were also spreading the word about our new call tool that we will soon be having. This new call tool allows volunteers to call Arab Americans who are registered to vote and remind them on election day to vote. It can be done at your computer and at your convenience!  If you would like to volunteer to make phone calls, e-mail me at aai-Michigan@yallavote.org or call our Michigan office at (313) 945-9221 to get involved.   It  was extremely exciting to get interviewed by them and great for Yalla Vote. Letting our voices be heard is what we are all about!

-Jana

The voter registration deadline is just around the corner and we have been out registering people to vote here in Michigan. For Michigan, the voter registration deadline is OCTOBER 6TH. It is certainly crunch time and every week we have been having a voter registration and information table at each mosque and church in the area. On Friday, September 19, 2008, Yalla Vote was at the Islamic Institute of Knowledge. We were urging people to get registered and also to sign the National Declaration.  Mohamed Al-Jabbery, Yalla Vote volunteer, expressed excitement about Yalla Vote and urged many young people to sign the declaration.  It is only one more week before the voter registration deadline, Michigan. Remember, if you are not registered, you cannot VOTE!  Spread the word and don’t forget to register to vote!

-Jana