1) Refugees Crossing Mediterranean Are Being Saved By… Drones: “Drones for Refugees” enables intelligence on the exact locations of refugee boats in distress, offering, as the founder says, “real-time data gathering and sharing platform. You use this drone system to identify where refugees are and what their needs are. The main purpose is to identify the GPS location of refugee boats, and send help right away.”
2) Muslims and Jews Working Together To Refresh Detroit School: In Detroit, for the past seven years, both the Muslim and Jewish communities have worked together to break down stereotypes and barriers by doing just that – by working together. A good example of this occurred last week when more than 150 volunteers met at Nolan Elementary-Middle School to give the school a much- needed freshening up.
3) Minnesota Woman Works To Eradicate Extremism: Hodan Hassan is the founder of a pilot program called Building Community Resilience which, according to the Star Tribune, hopes to “choke off the flow of supporters to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and smother the group’s influence in Minnesota — long a focus for terror recruitment.”
4) Hate Crimes Against Muslim Americans Highest Since 9-11: The New York Times reports that hate crimes against Muslim Americans have reached the highest levels since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, “an increase apparently fueled by terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad and by divisive language on the campaign trail.”
5) And finally, Halal Hits The Mainstream: From supermarkets to sit down restaurants, halal food sales are having a great year, up 30% from 2010 with a projected sales at $20 billion. Sales are surging not just among the Muslim American community but also among foodie millennials who are responding to the quality of the cuisine.
