The mission of The Somali Action Alliance is to bring together Somali individuals & organizations who share a common interest in building an understanding of Public policy and expanding civic engagement among members of this immigrant community.

Tuesday November 17th, 2009 is a special day -- make a donation to the Somali Action Alliance Education Fund through GiveMN.org, and your contribution will help us raise even more. The organization with the largest number of donors will get an additional $5,000, so any amount helps!

http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Somali-Action-Alliance-Educationfund

We are at a critical time in the evolution of the Somali community in Minnesota. The Somali Action Alliance was founded in 2002. Since that time we have set up the first-ever meeting between our community and US Senate candidates (Wellstone and Coleman, in 2002) and in which 800 Somali were registered to vote. We also have worked for bilingual education and youth leadership development, increasing safety around the light rail system in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, health care issues, and much more.

Now, much of the work of the Alliance is being transferred to the Education Fund. This includes its ongoing organizing around quality education for Somali students, its leadership development and civic engagement efforts, and the emphasis on financial justice.

A Somali proverb teaches us: “If people come together, they can even mend a piece of the sky.” We want to ensure that Somali take responsibility for themselves and the actions of their community rather than becoming caught in the cycle of dependency and need.

All of the Alliance is about people and change. It is what brought us together and what keeps us together. We are a unique organization in our community – we seek comprehensive systems change because we believe that we must control our own destiny and we must act together to do it. Another Somali proverb teaches “together, the teeth can cut. (Ilko wada jir bey wax ku gooyaan)”.

To support our work, please consider making a donation tomorrow (starting at 8am).

On August 27th, the Somali Action Alliance released the first-ever State Capitol Tour Guide in the Somali language. We had a presentation of the new book at 2:15 pm. Please return soon to see some pictures from the event. We hope that this new resource will encourage members of the community to get involved and engaged in our state's history — learning from the past and moving forward together.