This month, I'm heading back to school and learning how schools are addressing ongoing concerns about harassment & protests and the impact on students of MENA descent. #CountMENA #InclusionMatters #SchoolSafety #DEI #ReligiousDiversity #AcademicFreedom https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/count-mena-back-school-2024-nivine-k-zakhari-gtcee

#LearningItAll in 2023 included #ElderLaw #VeteransLaw #TaxLaw #DEI #GovernmentAnalytics #CountMENA #HateCrime #ReligiousInclusion #TechnicalSkilling #AppliedSkills #PromptEngineering #MSCopilot and #MSDesigner (but that's not all!)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/learning-all-2023-nivine-k-zakhari-kaw6e

#NAAHM #CountMENA #InclusionMatters #DEI https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/1642149815009300482

"A new checkbox for "Middle Eastern or North African" and a "Hispanic or Latino" box that appears under a reformatted question asking for a person's race or ethnicity are among the early recommendations announced Thursday in a Federal Register notice...
The reforms would also mark a major achievement for advocates for Arab Americans and other MENA groups who have long campaigned for their own checkbox. While the U.S. government currently categorizes people with origins in Lebanon, Iran, Egypt and other countries in the MENA region as white, many people of MENA descent do not identify as white people. In addition to a new box on forms, the proposal would change the government's definition of "White" to no longer include people with MENA origins." #CountMENA #InclusionMatters #Census2030 #DEI https://www.wwno.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-01-26/new-latino-and-middle-eastern-or-north-african-checkboxes-proposed-for-u-s-forms

"Among the countries of origin that would get a check for the MENA category would be Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Morocco and Israel, the notice said.
“This is a really big deal,” said Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, a Washington-based civil rights group. “We have been working to get a checkbox to get better data about our community for decades.”"
#CountMENA #Census2030 #InclusionMatters #DEI https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/biden-administration-proposes-new-race-and-ethnicity-categories-for-federal-surveys

"Meeta Anand, senior program director of census and data equity at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, is looking toward a review of the federal government's standards for data about race and ethnicity that the Biden administration revived after it stalled under Trump... likely to produce more accurate data about Latinos and people with roots in the Middle East or North Africa." #CountMENA #Census2030 #InclusionMatters #DEI https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/1123316781/a-divided-congress-may-sideline-protecting-the-census-after-trump-s-interference

"In response to the Pew Report and other studies, the British Foreign Office said that “today, Christians constitute by far the most widely persecuted religion”. In 2018, the then British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt announced he would make the protection of Christians in the Middle East a priority for British foreign policy." #ReligiousFreedom #InclusionMatters #CountMENA #DEI https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/if-you-no-longer-pray-spare-a-thought-today-for-persecuted-christians-20221222-p5c8dh.html

#LearningItAll in 2022 included #GovernmentAnalytics #CountMENA #ElderLaw #HamRadio #K9ZAK #HurricaneIan #FloridaStrong #DEI #ReligiousFreedom #BigData #KQLFTW #MSBizApps #PowerPlatform #InfluenceInAction #PostNews and #Mastodon (but that's not all!) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/learning-all-2022-nivine-k-zakhari