Building Power Through Capacity Building: A model for national advocacy by NNAAC

Hosted on August 13th, 2024

In this webinar, colleagues from the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), including their member organization Culturingua, discuss NNAAC’s advocacy and organizing capacity-building program. NNAAC shares what building this program has looked like, lessons learned, and how they’ve seen capacity-building efforts pay off through tangible policy wins.

A public demonstration; people are leaning against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan offices, with picket signs. The one in the forefront is a young man wearing a wide brimmed hat holding a yellow sign with dark text that reads "Your greed makes me sick".

Building Power Through Capacity Building: A model for national advocacy by NNAAC

from Rx Foundation’s Power is a Social Determinant of Health series

Session description: What does it look like for a marginalized community to build power?

The National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) was established in 2004 as a response to the Arab American community’s disenfranchisement and lack of power nationwide. Created as a vehicle for resource-sharing and strengthening growing institutions, the network has since grown to include 36 member organizations across 13 states. At the heart of NNAAC’s work has always been building the capacity of these member organizations to better serve their local communities. As NNAAC expanded its policy work over the years, it became apparent that the capacity building work also needed to extend to the policy and advocacy realm.

In 2022, with the support of the Rx Foundation, NNAAC launched its Advocacy Capacity Building Program. Since then, NNAAC has worked with five member organizations across the country to build their capacities for policy and advocacy work. In this session, NNAAC will discuss what building this program has looked like, lessons learned, and how we have seen capacity building pay off through tangible policy wins.

Watch the Recording

Notable Quotes

Session Resources

You’re Invited:
Register for ACCESS’ 10th Arab Health Summit
October 21-23rd, 2024

Arab Americans have recently become a federally recognized minority. In the past, the lack of recognition made it extremely challenging to collect data and conduct nationwide research on our community. To address this challenge, ACCESS established a one-of-a-kind scientific forum that has since served as a major platform for academic and public health leaders, health & mental health professionals as well as policymakers to share best practices as well as strategic solutions to improve health on a global scale and build research capacity. The unique and valuable experiences gained from this summit have led to many partnerships between our community and health systems, academic centers and national and international organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control, National Institutes of Health, United States Health and Human Services as well as the World Health Organization. Through the Health Summit, we aim to create a platform for discussion around issues such as health rights, public health research capacity building, and community engagement as it relates to health and mental health issues among immigrant populations.

The Arab Health Summit is the only convening of its kind that also preserves the research presented in the form of post-conference proceedings journals. Like any other ethnic minority, health in Arab Communities is culturally bound which makes it important to explore the association between culture and health. Research presented at past ACCESS Arab Health Summits has helped build a scientific link between health outcomes and cultural/social factors which continues to inform health programming and care strategies. This convening allows us to be able to access innovative research and evidence-based models which can help reduce the burden of chronic disease in immigrant and minority communities.

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Session Highlights

NNAAC was born out of Arab American nonprofits and organizations across the country reaching out to ACCESS – “Let’s create a space where Arab Americans can learn from each other.”

The Arab American community is extremely underfunded = (1) For years, orgs weren’t able to quantify the need (systemic lack of data on Middle Eastern and North African [MENA] populations), and (2) thus ability to advocate for funding.

“Even when we saw policy improvements, we didn’t see an improvement in our communities.” Demographic data was being grouped in with the white racial category, so difficult to see the trends (both positive and harmful).

“We needed a voice in healthcare” = as NNAAC started its Advocacy work, they realized the need to build an ecosystem of institutions that are sustainable and enduring.

NNAAC’s capacity-building program: regranted a portion of Rx Foundation funding to member organizations each year to hire an Advocacy Specialist. “How can a direct service nonprofit build out an advocacy program from what they are hearing and seeing on the ground?” Since inception, NNAAC has funded 5 Advocacy Specialists at member organizations in IL, NY, CA, TX, and MI. NNAAC provides technical assistance and peer-to-peer support through the program.

“It was a transformational experience to think about advocacy in the context of our direct service work, and realize it’s a phenomenal lever for change for our communities.” –Nadia Mavrakis, CEO of Culturingua, a NNAAC member org that participated in their capacity-building program

Culturingua was able to hire a FT Advocacy Specialist. “It wasn’t just an add-on to my job description, but a whole separate pillar to our work: Policy, Advocacy, and Civic Engagement.” The person in this role focuses on base-building and coalition-building, growing state- and federal- level advocacy.

When people are in the thick of it, they may not think to ask for help. NNAAC’s advice: take a proactive approach! Setting up a structure (i.e. quarterly, bi-monthly, or monthly meeting with peers and TA provider) can be helpful to both the TA/capacity-building provider and the organizations. “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

Capacity-building looks different for each organization – it’s meeting the organization’s needs, so they are able to engage in direct service, policy, and advocacy work simultaneously. That may look like an org needing support to diversify their funding streams (i.e. how to write a grant), or wanting to connect with peers (i.e. who else is working on addressing substance use?) to share resources and ideas among each other.

“How do you do this work? We wanted to make sure organizations have all the resources they need to do advocacy, because generally when you’re meeting the needs of community directly, the last thing you’re going to do is advocacy or policy because you don’t have the funding for it. In addition to doing the policy and advocacy work, we had to think about youth leadership to make sure this work continues so it doesn’t break apart but endures. If these organizations are under-funded, what else can we do for organizations to help them grow and be more sustainable? That’s the capacity-building part of the program.” –Rima Meroueh, Director of National Network for Arab American Communities

“Power-building is activating our voices to ensure our communities are recognized. If we don’t do that, the concerns or issues that are impacting our community aren’t going to be heard.” –Nadia Mavrakis, CEO of Culturingua, a NNAAC member org that participated in their capacity-building program

An example of NNAAC’s national model for advocacy: For years, NNAAC has advocated for the inclusion of a MENA category on federal forms. Last year, they mobilized their network of allies and partners to submit public comments to the OMB’s call, in support of MENA. 66% of the total public comments submitted were sourced from the NNAAC member network, in addition to sign-ons from partners and allies across the country! It was the culmination and positive impact of the national advocacy model NNAAC had built; and now a MENA category will be included on federal forms like the Census. It’s one step closer to achieving equity for Arab American communities.

Speakers

Erica Andrade, President/CEO of El Centro

Kira Love (she/her)

Kira Love is a Public Policy Associate at the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC). She was first introduced to NNAAC as an intern in 2019 and was drawn to the connection between local nonprofit organizations and national policy change. Kira comes from a professional social work background and her prior experience includes working with asylum seekers and environmental justice organizing in Detroit. She is passionate about using policy to make the world a more equitable place for all and believes that the social work perspective can help fill the gap between policymakers and grassroots community. The programs she currently supports at NNAAC focus on building and equipping nonprofits and students to lead advocacy efforts for policy change.

Nadia Mavrakis (she/her)

As a native Texan and Libyan-American with extensive global experience, Nadia Mavrakis brings the perspective of these worldviews to her role as Chief Executive Officer of Culturingua, a nonprofit that elevates the people and heritage of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA). Culturingua brings education opportunities to San Antonio K-12 students to improve their global competencies and activate their voices; immigrant integration programs to enable new Americans to reach their full potential and lead prosperous lives; and economic development programs to support workforce development and small business success for Bexar County residents. Culturingua is one of the 36 member organizations in the National Network for Arab American Communities. Ms. Mavrakis graduated magna cum laude from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Strategy and Finance with a minor in French. She completed nonprofit fellowships through both Social Venture Partners San Antonio and HOLT Values-Based Nonprofit Leadership Program at the San Antonio Area Foundation. She has taken business leadership courses at INSEAD, Harvard Business School, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, and HEC Paris. She is a frequent speaker and panelists at conferences discussing best and equitable practices on global education as well as immigrant integration and empowerment.

Rima Meroueh (she/her)

Rima Meroueh is an Arab American activist and leader who currently heads the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), an institution of ACCESS. Her passion for racial justice and equity, along with empowering communities from the ground up, has been evident throughout her career. At NNAAC, she has expanded the programming to include capacity building, policy advocacy, civic engagement, and youth empowerment. She has also grown NNAAC’s budget and staff to the largest it’s ever been throughout its 18-year history, with a full national team supporting 32 member organizations in 12 states. Under Rima’s leadership, NNAAC is leading a powerful advocacy campaign to ensure that people from the Middle East and North Africa are a recognized minority group, allowing them access to vital data and resources that ensure their health and wellbeing.

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Building Power Through Capacity Building: A model for national advocacy by NNAAC

Building Power Through Capacity Building: A model for national advocacy by NNAAC

Watch the Recording

Notable Quotes

Session Resources

You’re Invited: Register for ACCESS’ 10th Arab Health SummitOctober 21-23rd, 2024

Session Highlights

NNAAC was born out of Arab American nonprofits and organizations across the country reaching out to ACCESS – “Let’s create a space where Arab Americans can learn from each other.”

The Arab American community is extremely underfunded = (1) For years, orgs weren’t able to quantify the need (systemic lack of data on Middle Eastern and North African [MENA] populations), and (2) thus ability to advocate for funding.

“Even when we saw policy improvements, we didn’t see an improvement in our communities.” Demographic data was being grouped in with the white racial category, so difficult to see the trends (both positive and harmful).

“We needed a voice in healthcare” = as NNAAC started its Advocacy work, they realized the need to build an ecosystem of institutions that are sustainable and enduring.

“It was a transformational experience to think about advocacy in the context of our direct service work, and realize it’s a phenomenal lever for change for our communities.” –Nadia Mavrakis, CEO of Culturingua, a NNAAC member org that participated in their capacity-building program

Speakers

Kira Love (she/her)

Nadia Mavrakis (she/her)

Rima Meroueh (she/her)

Connect With Us on Social Media

You’re Invited:
Register for ACCESS’ 10th Arab Health Summit
October 21-23rd, 2024