Excerpt:
City Council members were in Jamaica on Aug. 21 to announce grants to 14 community-based agencies that serve the city’s Muslim community.
Councilman Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) and Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) attended Jumu’ah prayers at the Islamic Circle of North America’s New York chapter in Jamaica to officially announce the awarding of $250,000 for the initiative.
Miller, the lone Muslim on the 51-member Council, said between 400,000 and 800,000 Muslims live in the New York City metropolitan area.
The initiative, done in collaboration with the New York Immigration Coalition, will enable culturally and linguistically competent nonprofit groups to educate Muslim New Yorkers on their fundamental rights, conduct case management and provide referrals for various legal, social and healthcare services.