This past month saw significant momentum in advancing our core multi-faith and civic engagement efforts! Our staff has worked hard to unite faith communities and advocate for issues relevant to all Texans. 

Minaret Foundation has partnered with Rice University’s SOPA Capstone program!

• This partnership connects Fourth Year students with Minaret Foundation to study the quantitative and qualitative results of what happens in a Juvenile Mental Health Court. 
• We are the first Muslim-led organization to partner with the SOPA Program at Rice University!

What is a Juvenile Mental Health Court? We’re glad you asked! 

Did you know that approximately 2,000 youth are incarcerated every day simply because community mental health services are unavailable to them?

Juvenile Mental Health Courts prevent this by bringing together youth with individualized, community-based mental health services under the supervision of both a judge and other administrators within the court system. Check out this American Bar Association article to read more about the Courts. 

We have also partnered with the Houston Children’s Museum!

• This partnership is intended to bring faith-community diversity to the museum. 
• We will be helping them to create exhibits to help them connect with children in the Muslim faith. 

As part of this program, we will be helping them to gather videos from Muslim children ages 9-14 to help them build a brand new exhibit as part of the Lilly Endowment Project! Kids will use the videos to discuss how they view the world through their faith.

The best part? By submitting a video, you are entered to win FREE TICKETS to the museum! Be sure to stay posted on our social media to know when the submission link is live! 

We met with Jacey Jetton, Texas Representative Serving District 26.

• This time was spent talking about religious freedom!
• Dr. Asim Shah, an advisory board member at Minaret Foundation, joined us during this time. In addition to serving on our advisory board, Dr. Shah is the Professor & Executive Vice Chair of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine.

We met with James Frank, Texas Representative Serving District 69.

• We spent time talking with Representative Frank about religious freedom and child welfare. 
• We appreciate Rep. Frank and his hard work in the Texas Senate! 

Multi-Faith Optional School Holidays

We are advocating for Multi-Faith Optional School Holidays.

Let’s take the pressure off families, especially children, so they don’t have to decide between their faith and their education.

How would Multi-Faith Optional School Holidays work?

Teachers should not schedule graded assessments for the day of and the next day during these holidays. Additionally, the district should not organize field trips, school pictures, club competitions, or dances on these days.

Presenting a note from their parent or guardian should be a valid excuse for the faith holiday. Absences should be excused, and students should not be penalized.

If this is something you need your school district to enact, please take a moment to digitally SIGN our petition. We are gathering 1,000 signatures to present to school boards and administrators!

We continue to work this week on child welfare, food insecurity, and religious freedom. Follow us on your favorite social media platform for the most up-to-date information about all things Minaret: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin!

Would you like to make a difference with us? If you’re happy with our work, we’d love for you to join us on our mission by making a $5 monthly contribution to our organization. Together, we can ensure Muslims continue to have an impact on issues facing ALL Texans.