Diaspora Organizing

The Diaspora Organizers Program is a ten-month long initiative that trains diaspora advocates to hone their community organizing skills, lobby Congress, and build power. During the course of this program, diaspora organizers will work in community with one another, fortifying their networks and building solidarity across country lines.  

This initiative builds deep partnerships with members of diaspora communities across the United States. We are seeking to transform U.S. foreign policy by empowering diaspora communities to organize and influence legislators on a range of peace- and justice-related issues.

Representing diverse backgrounds—from Egypt to Venezuela, Bhutan to the Democratic Republic of Congo—these organizers spend a retreat engaged in deep discussions, advocacy training, and meeting with Hill staff. Then they serve a year building power in their communities to advance policy that prioritizes justice.  

Past cohorts have:

  • Strengthened their ability to organize at the grassroots level
  • Gained skills to lobby Congress
  • Written blog posts and articles around their issue  

Interested in being a part of an upcoming cohort? Reach out to Isis Kazadi to learn more and take part in an upcoming information session July 7th at 8:00 p.m. ET. 

Diaspora Organizers at Work

  • Crowd of people on a sound stage
  • Young people sitting at a table, with a sign reading "This is what a lobbyist looks like" in the background
    Olivia Delaplaine/FCNL
  • Diaspora Gathering 2024 in front of Capitol with signs saying "War is Not the Answer'
  • Organizers talking at the Diaspora Organizing Gathering in 2024
  • Two advocates walk the halls of Congress
    DAG Photo/FCNL
  • Crowd of people on a sound stage
  • Young people sitting at a table, with a sign reading "This is what a lobbyist looks like" in the background
    Olivia Delaplaine/FCNL
  • Diaspora Gathering 2024 in front of Capitol with signs saying "War is Not the Answer'
  • Organizers talking at the Diaspora Organizing Gathering in 2024
  • Two advocates walk the halls of Congress
    DAG Photo/FCNL

An Iftar Meal with Action for Gaza

By Hadiya Afzal | June 21, 2024

As the sun set on Sunday, April 7, the Triad Muslims Center in High Point, North Carolina was packed. FCNL Diaspora Organizers Ghaisha Yahaya-Mohamed and her daughter, Zainab Adamou-Mohamed, worked with the Triad Muslim Center’s Aalia Shahzadi to host over 60 members of the local community. They gathered not just to share an iftar meal during the month of Ramadan, but to take action for Palestinians in Gaza undergoing a forced famine.

Diaspora Organizer Gathering

-  |  Friends Place on Capitol Hill

Join us in Washington, D.C. for our fourth annual Diaspora Organizer Gathering at Friends Place on Capitol Hill! At this event you will learn vital advocacy skills, build relationships within your own community and beyond, and meet with policymakers. Programming and lodging are provided by Friends Place.

Yasin Arfat

Diaspora Organizer, FCNL

Yasin Arfat is a diaspora organizer from the Rohingya community with FCNL. He is based in Chicago.