Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta's Executive Director Soumaya Khalifa was invited to participate in an all day White House community outreach event on February 10 in Atlanta.

The White House Community Partnership Summit, organized by the White House Office of Public Engagement, was held at the Martin Luther King Federal Building. It provided an opportunity during which community leaders can meaningfully engage and interact with key decision and policy makers in the Obama Administration (regional and from Washington) on diverse policy areas that affect their community.

The event titled, "An America Built to Last," brought Obama Administration officials and Agency Staff from diverse policy areas together with civic, community, non-profit and business leaders to discuss issues critical to each particular community, region and the nation. Congressman John Lewis and Martin Luther King III joined the event and highlighted the importance of connecting local leaders and businesses with the federal government to discuss the challenges that communities are facing. More than 400 leaders from the Southeast region attended the summit. Similar summits are held in 11 other cities.

The goal of the Partnership Summit is to have community leaders work together alongside Administration officials to create commitments to develop new or expanded projects, public-private partnerships or any other action-oriented pieces they choose.

Ghada Elnajjar is a full time mom who also serves as the Communications Manager for the Islamic Speakers Bureau including writing and editing the ISB Atlanta News, the organization's monthly publication. The ISB is a non-profit, apolitical educational organization that provides certified Muslim speakers to promote awareness about Islam and Muslims and build bridges of understanding between Islam and Americans of other faiths.

Sponsored by: