With the goal of empowering Muslim youth in their religious identity, Hagar created Hijabi Talks, a platform for Muslim girls to feel proud of themselves. Supporting hundreds of young Muslim girls in the GTA, Hagar uses her platform to spread positivity and continuously provide a space where hijab-wearing girls feel empowered. HijabiTalks was featured on Aljazeera Mubasher, amongst other media platforms, to celebrate the success of her efforts!
Ossama recognizes the challenges faced by newcomer students across the Canadian education system when they first arrive in Canada. He and his team created SNNAP, the Student Newcomer Navigation and Accommodation Program with the hopes of easing the integration process for students in this vital transition period of their lives. SNNAP is designed to facilitate resources and mentors for newcomer students and has successfully helped 20 students so far.
Jude recognizes the unique challenges faced by children residing in women’s shelters in her community. In collaboration with Nisa Homes, Jude created educational and engaging programming for these children as a way to invest in their sense of joy and hope. She leads a team that hosts monthly sessions at the Nisa Homes centre located in the GTA. Jude has impacted the lives of some of the young children that reside at the centre with their mothers.
Safa recognizes the shared struggle in preparing healthy meals amongst the other responsibilities and stresses of being a post-secondary student. She and her team designed a sustainable and healthy cookbook with easy-to-make recipes to help students make healthier food choices. Her cookbook has reached 48 readers. She also started an Instagram account where she posts how-to videos for different meals.
While Omar was on vacation abroad he executed an impact project for local orphans because of the neglect he noticed they often faced. Omar created a sense of community for the children by running a series of activities and fun games. Despite all the COVID-19 limitations, Omar mobilized a team of local youth to run a 1-day camp at an orphanage and bring joy to a group of 10 orphans.
Rida recognizes the way fast fashion has increased the amount of waste that enters landfills. With a passion for sustainability, her team collects unused clothing and fabric scraps to repurpose them into clothing materials that are donated to refugee camps and centres. So far she has repurposed 450 pounds of clothing that benefited 50 people through The Glow Project Toronto.
Emaan's goal was to mobilize people to care about homelessness by educating youth about the lived experience of homelessness through social media awareness and virtual webinars to. During the virtual webinars, attendees made donations toward her project. She used this money to create and distribute care packages to homeless individuals in the GTA. All in all, she was able to impact 184 individuals through her project.
TED (Tutoring, Educating, Donating) is a tutoring program for students in grades 1-5. In exchange for 1 hour of tutoring students were expected to make a donation of at least 2 clothing items. After tutoring 13 students, the team was able to collect 4 suitcases of donated clothing that were provided to those in need. Thus Youssef and his team were able to have a double impact - first impacting the students and second impacting people in need.
Sakina and her team worked on an educational program to establish engagement and trust between Muslim and Indigenous communities. They invited 24 youth to learn about Indigenous history and culture through panel discussions and activities. The youth then implemented micro-projects such as supporting an Indigenous women’s shelter and were able to positively impact 500 people.
Omar believes the experience of attending public school is only enhanced by the presence of good friends. He sees a gap in opportunities for Muslims in particular to make connections with other like-minded individuals. With his team, he organized sporting activities, educational sessions and volunteer opportunities in an effort to create a community of companionship. Twenty-five youth participated in this program and collectively completed 200 hours of volunteer work.
With professional success and development in mind, Seed Lead Yara identified the reduced sense of belonging in workplaces for visible minorities. Yara and her team created QahwaChats, a platform for Muslim professionals across industries to help guide youth in their career endeavours through programming and online networking. Through this program, Yara has been able to impact 35 youth.
Mohanad noticed that many of the Muslims at his school were not practicing so he set out to create an environment where all Muslim students feel safe and empowered to practice their religion. As president of the Muslim Student Association at Stephen Lewis Secondary School, he and his team have been the voice of Muslim students, acting as consultants to school administration on prayer times, decorating the school for Ramadan, hosting iftars and planning an Eid initiative.