Beginning outreach work: some points and requests.

[Mohammed Hussain]

salaam everyone,

inshallah the date and venue will be solidified this week, so for those of you with contacts, I'd like to actually begin reaching out to those (if you don't have contacts, it's not vital, but it may be good to still read this.)

So a more in-depth explanation of MIST (how you may explain it to one of your contacts):

So MIST (Muslim Interscholastic Tournament) is a competition for high schoolers. High school students form teams, according to their high school, and compete in various events (see competitions here:http://www.getmistified.com/competitions/). It's a two day tournament. Most events are individual, though some are team events. The points for the events go towards team totals. Each year, there is a theme, and a lot of competitions will center around that theme for example. Even though it is by high school, the teams mainly matter for the purposes of registration and scoring. As a lot of competitions are individual (and students may do multiple competitions, there should be rules on the website somewhere), even if there are very few Muslims at a school, or even just one, they should form a team. an MSA is not necessary, though they may think about forming one as it makes things easier. otherwise, someone will just have to organize and coordinate the team. (They can obviously come and hang out with their friends from their masjid haha, even if they go to a different school, they will just be on a different team). Further, they are encouraged to reach out to other Muslim students who may not regularly attend these kind of events, helping their team grow, and non-Muslims are welcome as well, if they happen to know someone who would be interested in attended. In addition to the competitions, MIST features workshops and speakers on issues relevant to the kids' lives.

 

It will be a Saturday-Sunday event. even if they don't think they can come, they shold still join the various groups and invite all their friends. The date will be sometime late march to early april, inshallah

 

Selling points (if any former MIST goers have more points, feel free to share):

Kids can compete and win medals, trophies, and prizes as individuals and teams

The competitions are fun overall, check them out, we even have stuff like basketball and rap/nasheeds. literally everyone would find something fun to do.

It's a fun weekend overall

bring your MSA/the people at your school closer together

meet other Muslims from all over the region, and form lasting friendships with them.

meet college students who may be valuable resources for you in the future

gain useful skills in engaging workshops.

 

what we need from your contact:

Join the google group (which will be made soon, inshallah, and will be on he google group) and the facebook group. (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/group.php?gid=268411735849&ref=ts)

Form a team at his/her high school. (have them all join those two groups as well).

Tell all high schoolers they know at his/her masjid about MIST, and have them form teams at their high schools (and join the two groups as well)

Specfically tell all the high schoolers are their school, if they attend a different masjid, to tell their youth group/friends at that masjid, who should then tell their high school (at every single stage of this, if there is a community that is not reached, they should be reached. MIST is regional, so the word should go out to every community within like 90 mins of here driving, so if they have like family or friends in south jersey, they should tell them too.).

 

if they have any questions, comments, or concerns, they should email me (a MIST email will be up soon for them). ideally, it would be good if everytime there is a new high school or community involved, they should email someone from MIST (ie possibly you, or me), so as they spread the word, it would be good if that happened.

and please note your work in that google doc I made entitled MIST Outreach. here's the link again. http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Apov43BpBrEcdDNjX29FWTNkZ3VFWTRZeHJycHVKdnc&hl=en

 

if you are making contact with a non-youth (ie Imam or other masjid official), same selling points, maybe emphasize stuff like bringing them together, the workshops, etc. try to also move past that contact and get in touch with one of the kids as well (you may have to work through a few ppl until you can get to them).

btw, website and formal email address coming soon. as well as a formal announcement group. keep an eye out for it, it'll be on the fb group, inshallah.

cool? any questions? you may call me as well: 508-361-1276

thank you all. jazakumullah khairan,

mohammed