Empower’em: Mental Health Initiative
Empower’em: Mental Health Initiative - $1,000
Who (All except 1 person are under the age of 25)
Nayaelah Siddiqui (Chief Executive Director)
Sagal Khandid
Reeham Hammouda
Iman Hersi
Fahma Khalif
Farah Shabib
Naqeeba Brown
Ruqayyah Khan
Fariba Sharmin
What
Empower’em is a group of nine Muslim women that works to create safe spaces and social events for young Muslim women and Canadian Newcomer women. This Empower’em project in particular is focused on providing mental health programming that promotes healthy living and peer support to help racialized and Muslim youth who are often oppressed for their identities. This project also aims to reduce stigma around mental health in Muslim communities and beyond, and to teach young women about self-care.
In their words: “Our project is focused on providing a safe space and social programming that promotes healthy living and peer relationship development to help racialized and newcomer female Muslim youth between the ages of 15-25, who are often targets of hate crimes, harassment, and acts of violence. We hope to create a safe environment that allows for peer interaction and space to build connections with peers who face similar experiences”