Letter from the Chairperson
Dear friends,
We live in challenging times. And great challenges create their own talents. As is natural with other new immigrant groups, Iranian-Americans have not been the most civically active of American citizens in the past thirty years. But all of that is about to change.
The Persian thirst for free thinking and democratic practice is heightening. In the past 150 years, the Iranian people have pushed the envelope to secure democratic rights multiple times. Here in the United States though, a vibrant democracy has been handed to Iranian-Americans on a plate. We have the luxury and the privilege to pick up where other immigrants have left off. Learning from their examples, we can explore, first hand, what democracy is, how we can live it in our daily lives and how to enrich it through our activism.
There are no short cuts to excellence. And yet, reviewing and internalizing others’ experiences allow us to do in the next thirty years what they may have done in the last fifty or a hundred. Eighty six percent of Arab-Americans are registered to vote. Indian-Americans and Armenian-Americans have been elected to the governorship of Louisiana and California. Jewish-Americans played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement and set a remarkable example for volunteerism and public service.
At PARSA Community Foundation, we strive to further the cause of democracy through internal practice and through funding enterprising nonprofits who focus on civil liberties, civic participation and anti-defamation. We are committed to growing volunteerism and public service, not only to benefit our own community but to benefit the community at large.
Best,
Noosheen Hashemi
Founder and Chairman