Community News (V13-I19)

MDC Humanitarian Award for Salman Khan

NEW YORK,NY–MDC Partners, a business transformation organization, announced the creation of the MDC Humanitarian Award to recognize individuals and organizations whose disruptive thinking and innovation have led to lasting and sustainable impact. The inaugural award was presented at the 2011 WIRED Conference in New York on May 3. The focus of this year’s conference is “Disruptive by Design,” and it brought together leaders in business and technology to discuss how using disruption and innovation will pave the way to growth.

The first award was presented to Salman Khan in recognition of his creation of the Khan Academy and his innovative approach to education. The Khan Academy was the result of Salman’s desire to help tutor his cousin in New Orleans while he was living in Boston in 2004. Over time his lesson plans evolved into videos, which he began posting to YouTube for her to complete at her own pace, and they quickly built a strong following of viewers.

“We have created the MDC Humanitarian Award because we feel it is important to recognize that true talent innovates and creates not merely for profit and prestige, but to create a legacy of transforming the lives of those in need,” said Miles Nadal, CEO of MDC Partners. “We are proud to honor Salman Khan because he reinvented broken systems to deliver educational tools across the world. Perhaps most significantly, these tools are encouraging under-served individuals to fuel their love of learning and help themselves.”
Although Khan is the only teacher at the Khan Academy, he has posted over 2100 videos and 100 self-paced exercises that have received more the 24 million views. His lessons continue to expand, covering everything from physics to finance and history. Khan’s goal is to bring a world-class education to anyone in the world completely free, and he is currently being aided by Google to help translate his lessons into all the most commonly spoken languages.

Overall, MDC Partners has pledged $100,000 to the recipients of the MDC Humanitarian Award during the first 5 years of its existence. To honor Khan’s work, MDC will contribute $20,000 to the Khan Academy.

“I am extremely honored to be the first recipient of this award, and am excited that a company like MDC is recognizing innovation beyond the business world,” said Mr. Khan. “The Khan Academy has been very successful thus far, and with the support of companies like MDC its influence and reach will only continue to grow.”

Mohammed Alamani wins award

WILKES-BARRE,PA–Every spring, the Center for Global Education and Diversity hosts a ceremony honoring members of the Wilkes community who are being recognized for fostering multicultural awareness at Pennsylvania’s Wilkes University. This year Mohammed Alamani has been named as the recipient of  Wilkes Helping Hands Student Award. The award is given to a student who has contributed the most to improve the diversity climate at Wilkes.

Woodland mosque raises money for Japan victims

WOODLAND,CA–Imam of the Woodland Mosque, Qari Aamir Hussain, recently lead a fundraising campaign for victims of Tsunami disaster in Japan, the Daily Democrat reported.

Imam Hussain appealed the Muslim Community of Woodland for funds and said that Prophet of Islam Muhammad (s) “has taught them to be kind to each other, to respect elders, and care for our children, and he also taught us that it was better to give than to receive and that each human life is worthy of respect and dignity.”

In this campaign to raise funds appeals were made for three Friday’s during the weekly prayer services and community raised $850 for the victims of Japan tsunami.

Director of the mosque, Khalid Saeed, invited representatives of Woodland Red Cross to Woodland mosque receive a check for the funds. At the Friday, April 22, prayer services two representatives of the Red Cross, Katrina Kilgore and Maria Elena, visited the mosque, where Saeed and Imam Hussain presented them a check and thanked them for their visit to the mosque.

Kilgore thanked the Muslim Community of Woodland for their generosity in raising these funds for the sake of humanity and accepted the check in the main prayer hall in front of the weekly congregation.

Tasmiha Khan speaks at Yale’s United for Sight Conference

NEW HAVEN,CT–Tasmiha Khan, a Wesleyan University student and founder of Brighter Dawns, spoke at United for Sight Global Health and Innovation 2011 Conference April 16-17 at Yale University. She spoke on “Water and Clinic Social Enterprise Pitches – Ideas in Development.”

Tasmiha Khan, a native of Chicago, founded Brighter Dawns in the fall of 2010. In the Summer of 2010, she worked with World Peace & Cultural Foundation (WPCF) in Bangladesh to offer free diabetic screenings, and seminars on hygiene and food preparation. Touched by the people she worked with, she felt the need to address many of the issues she encountered there and brought her mission back to Wesleyan University, where she is a student.

Now Tasmiha, with many of her fellow students, is working to establish Brighter Dawns as a non-profit, collaborating with WPCF to improve living conditions in the slum in Khalishpur, Khulna, Bangladesh.

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