MY Project USA in the News

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Food pantries are finding new ways to keep our community safe while providing their much-needed services.

Volunteers loaded up people’s cars with groceries and food this morning at My Family Pantry on Sullivant Avenue.

They did a “drive-through pantry” so clients don’t have to leave their cars.

My Family Pantry said it is seeing a major increase in need right now.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Teen after teen was honored for taking on hunger and food insecurity in the community at the final Columbus City Council meeting of the year.

"We have passed about 2.5 million meals and snacks in just three years without paying anybody a single penny for it, like all the labor, it is volunteer labor," said MY Project USA Founder Zerqa Abid.

MY Project USA's My Family Food Pantry volunteers have passed out snacks and meals in West Columbus for about three years now.

Focused on breaking barriers and starting a dialogue on taboo topics, a town hall meeting for Muslim youth is the first of its kind in central Ohio.

The event, held Saturday in an auditorium at the Ohio State University, featured a panel discussion on the issues facing Muslim youth today.

“We all need to be on the same page,” organizer and My USA founder Zerqa Abid said.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A group of local leaders and activists is trying to make Muslim kids feel more comfortable talking about their challenges.

On Saturday My Project USA hosted what they called a Muslim Youth Town Hall. Organizers say it was the first of of its kind in Columbus.

“We, in 2019 should be at the point where our youth should be able to come forward, discuss these issues,” said Zerqa Abid, Founder and Executive Director of My Project USA. “We need to do our very best to protect and empower these youth. People mostly in our community try to keep these issues under the rug.” 

Founder of MY Project USA to serve immigrant Hilltop residents honored for service to the community

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Zerqa Abid, founder of MY Project USA, was named Dispatch Media Group’s Everyday Hero for 2019 today in a ceremony held at COSI. The award comes with a $10,000 donation to the organization of Abid’s choosing, funded by the Columbus Foundation. Abid’s nonprofit employs Hilltop youth, many of them Somali immigrants, to help them improve their own lives through soccer and community service.

Four finalists for the award received in-kind gifts of advertising services worth $7,500 each from the Columbus Dispatch and its magazines, including Columbus Monthly. All of the finalists received family COSI memberships.

In 2017, seven people were killed in Wedgewood Village, a 684-unit low-income housing complex on the West Side, leading The Columbus Dispatch to call it “Columbus’ deadliest location.” In the wake of that violent season, commander Scott Hyland, who oversaw the Columbus Division of Police’s West Side patrol for five years before starting a new assignment this summer, began walking the streets of the low-rise complex himself. He hoped to develop relationships in a troubled and fearful community that is home to many Somali refugees and immigrants. But Hyland couldn’t seem to make headway until he met Zerqa Abid, the founder of an initiative to engage the complex’s young people in soccer, reading and other programs. 

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — The Wedgewood Village apartments have undergone a huge transformation from a community known for its violence to a community that places safety and unity first.

My Project USA held an Eid party to bring the community together.

“We’re not doing this for ourselves, we’re doing this to help out this community, to help out the kids,” said 15-year-old Abdulk Adir, who works with My Project USA.

Kids who live in the Wedgewood Village apartments stepped up to make a difference in place they live.

“It makes me happy to be able to help out my community,” said Abdi Bakari.

It was a place that has been known for it’s violence.

“Three years ago, you wouldn’t want to move there,” said Adir.

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Columbus residents on the westside are winding down after a community party that looks to transform a neighborhood once riddled with crime.

A local non-profit is helping residents at Wedgewood Village Apartments keep violence and crime away.

At the community party Friday, the music and food was used to bring the communtity together, and to give younger residents somethign to do.

“I’m actually feeling pretty happy and excited cause seeing the kids all having fun and stuff,” said Quali Ahmed, one of the teen residents of Wedgewood.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Muslim and community leaders in Central Ohio gathered at the Ohio Statehouse on Sunday to pay their respects to the victims of the New Zealand shooting.

"We wanted to make sure that we gather, and we can create a space where we can work together," said event organizer Zerqa Abid.

The self-proclaimed “fighter mom” is transforming Wedgewood Village into a “role model community”

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Zerqa Abid could hardly contain her excitement during a late-July interview at My Deah’s thrift shop, where she also runs her nonprofit, MY Project USA. She’d received word that Columbus City Council was funding a comprehensive soccer program for youth in Wedgewood Village, a low-income complex in the Hilltop area where seven homicides occurred in 2017. The support will allow Abid to hire coaches and assemble an advisory board of prominent officials in the city.

COLUMBUS, United States - Wedgewood Village housing complex in Columbus, Ohio, has been dubbed a “hotbed” for crime. But thanks to the efforts of a local advocacy group, it will soon be home to a football league for its mainly immigrant youth.

The group My Project USA has devoted recent years to offering services to its residents, many of them Somali immigrants. Last month, it secured a grant from the Columbus City Council to create a football (soccer, in the local argot) league for the neighbourhood's youth by opening sports fields, hiring coaches and putting together an advisory board.

This is one of several steps Zerqa Abid, founder and executive director of My Project USA, is taking to aid Columbus Muslim, refugee and immigrant communities, many of which are targeted by human traffickers, gangs and drug dealers.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther's Office said Thursday that the Violent Crime Review Group would expand to the Hilltop neighborhood, including the Wedgewood area, starting this week.

The program started up in the Linden neighborhood in May.

"Every day, every night you hear gunshots," said Mike Davis who lives in the Hilltop.

The review includes the Wedgewood area too.

"I am surprised as to why it was not there in the beginning, but I think this will definitely help," said Zerqa Abid, a Greater Hilltop Area Commissioner and leader of MY Project USA. "One of the complaints we hear a lot from our community is that by the time that the agencies come and the service providers come, sometimes it is too late. "

COLUMBUS, Ohio

In an area often considered a “hot bed” for crime, community activists are hoping the sport of soccer will serve as a catalyst for change in the Wedgewood community.

The group “My Project USA” has spent two years in the Wedgewood Village Apartment Complex working to offer services to thousands living in the community.

After opening food pantries and working to build connections with the Columbus Police Department, the organization is focusing on soccer to keep neighbor kids off the streets.

“Our goal is that we turn this community into the role model community for the city of Columbus,” community activist Zerqa Abid said.

After receiving $68,000 from Columbus City Council the project is one step closer to becoming a reality.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) -- Zerqa Abid and a team of volunteers have been working to make the Wedgewood Apartments, what some called the deadliest in Columbus, safer.

"You have to admit there is an issue and you have to work on it," said Abid.

There were seven homicides at the complex in 2017: multiple double-murders and a home invasion. It is a complex Abid believes around 2,000 children live with their families. So far in 2018, there has not been a murder.

“We recognize law enforcement alone is not going to be successful in changing the tide on a lot of the problems,” Hyland said. “So we’ve also started to reach out to non-law-enforcement partners, whether it’s within city government or quasi-judicial groups like the [Greater] Hilltop Area Commission, or nonprofits such as Friends of the Hilltop and My Project USA. ... I’m most impressed with Zerqa [Abid of My Project USA] and some of the youth leaders who live in Wedgewood. Zerqa has really managed to rally people.”

Abid, seated in the West Side office of My Deah’s thrift shop on Sullivant Avenue, which also serves as My Project USA’s headquarters, possesses a warm smile and a soft-spoken manner that mask a bulldog tenacity. (Hyland said Abid “might have rubbed some people the wrong way with her persistence” in pushing Wedgewood-related issues in political circles, though he admires this quality, believing the neighborhood needs strong, dedicated advocates.)

Wedgewood Village first entered onto Abid’s radar in the summer of 2015 when My Project USA, a nonprofit charitable organization launched in March of that year, passed out free meals for families living at low-income Hilltop residences River Pointe Apartments and Wedgewood Village.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Dozens of residents and friends of the Wedgewood Village Apartments marched along Sullivant Avenue in the Hilltop Sunday afternoon to promote solidarity.

Organizers said the march is in response to a change.org petition asking the city to close the community down after high amounts of crime and suspected drug activity.

"Bear with us, we will make changes, and if you want to be part of this change, then please, no negativity," said Wedgewood Village resident Samira Mohamad.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) -- A unity march is planned Sunday, March 18th to show support for residents of Wedgewood Village Apartments in Columbus’ Hilltop neighborhood.

Hilltop Unity March: Stop the Hate and Violence was organized after a petition was created on Change.org calling on the City of Columbus to shut down the apartment complex after years of incidents involving violent crime.

Wedgewood Village Apartments is home to many Muslim refugees and immigrants from Somalia and other African countries.

March organizer Zerqa Abid said comments on the petition gave her concerns for the safety of residents.

"My major concern was that it could easily trigger hate crimes against this community,” said Abid.

"Abid started My Project USA in 2014 to deal with the issues of human trafficking, drugs and domestic violence — especially in how they affect Muslim families. Through her project, she has gained a greater understanding of what is going on at Wedgewood Village."

"They are saying that we will make sure that our children are safe and they are in a healthy and safe environment," said organizer Zerqa Abid with MY Project USA. "I think that is a huge thing. I have not seen more strong, beautiful moms than these people who are coming out today."

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"This isn't a one-time thing. The group plans to do clean-ups often and help neighbors. They want to keep the area clean and drug-free, and help the largely Somali community navigate life in Columbus."

"In a program new to Columbus, City Council, the Simon Kenton Council of the Boy Scouts of America and MY Project USA are launching Boy Scout programming on the West Side. Though open to all children, the program will be specifically focused on the refugee and immigrant community in the Wedgewood neighborhood.

Many children in the community are falling victim to older children who “groom” them to become part of gangs, said Zerqa Abid, founder and executive director of MY Project USA, a nonprofit focused on protecting and empowering youth.

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“We want to create a support program that really helps children and parents and empowers them against gang influences,” Abid said. Along with other programs MY Project USA is doing, Abid said she’s hoping the Boy Scouts will “uplift the whole community and change minds from being a refugee to being a loyal, productive American citizen.”

"He's not talking about real issues," such as Ohio's opiate crisis, said Zerqa Abid, the president of a Columbus area non-profit that aims to protect young Muslim immigrants from religious radicalization, drug abuse, gangs, bullying, human trafficking and other social ills. "He's just using Islamophobic language, thinking it will help him win the election."

“Refugees from any country, and particularly Muslim countries, because this is a Muslim ban, are basically being used as a scapegoat to create fear-mongering,” said Zerqa Abid, president and founder of MY Project USA, a Muslim service organization committed to protecting immigrant and refugee communities."

  "MY Project USA has learned about minor Muslim sex trafficking survivors (children forced to serve as prostitutes) in different states that could use the help of Muslim community in rebuilding their shattered lives. We have taken lead in addressing this very issue through a holistic approach. We are working on both prevention and intervention sides."

"When Zerqa Abid founded My Project USA about a year ago, her goal was to protect and empower impoverished Muslim-American children in the Hilltop against the drug dealers, gangs and human traffickers who might prey on their vulnerability."

“Refugees from any country, and particularly Muslim countries, because this is a Muslim ban, are basically being used as a scapegoat to create fear-mongering,” said Zerqa Abid, president and founder of MY Project USA, a Muslim service organization committed to protecting immigrant and refugee communities."

COLUMBUS (WSYX/WTTE) — The results of the presidential election showed a great divide in this country. Many ethnic groups are concerned about what could happen to them.

"Columbus has been really great and diverse and everything, but there are definitely concerns growing," said Zerqa Abid.

"Zerqa Abid and Dorothy Hassan say they try to prevent radicalization of the Muslim immigrant population in Columbus through grassroots outreach and civic engagement of Muslim youths and their families. The two run My Project USA, a non-profit that offers a food pantry, thrift shop, soup kitchen, youth outreach and training and other services."

"My Project USA’s storefront is less than two miles from Artan’s townhouse. Abid said her strategy to prevent self-radicalization is to engage Muslim youth in the Columbus community, through service projects and training. In January, My Project USA hosted a training for 150 young Muslims on how to recognize radical messages from ISIS, why they don’t represent the Islamic faith and how to counter those messages, Abid said."

"The community started saying it shouldn't be a Muslim. It shouldn't be a Muslim because that's something that we all know that as soon as something like this happens, our community pays a bigger price," Abid said."

"We have not seen so far any single case in which we would be concerned that there is something happening," said Zerqa Abid, president of MY Project USA, a Columbus-based youth organization that has about 200 members -- mostly Somali refugees."

"Zerqa Abid hopes that Trump will continue efforts to warn kids in the United States about extremist recruiting -- something she does in central Ohio with her Muslim youth-service group, MY Project USA. She also hopes that Trump will continue efforts to warn kids in the United States about extremist recruiting -- something she does in central Ohio with her Muslim youth-service group, MY Project USA"

“For us it's a job that we make sure that all communities and different ethnic groups are involved and they are understanding this is America,” said Zerqa Abid, an advocate for Muslim voters. “Democracy is giving you this gift that you can have.”

Volunteer Zerqa Abid knows the next challenge will be transportation for early voting days. That's one obstacle she can overcome. "On October 29 and 30," she explains to a single mother, "we will bring transportation buses, and we will distribute fliers."

"It was just before noon Saturday when Zerqa Abid posted an “Urgent Need” on the MY Project USA Facebook page. Three single mothers had come into the secondhand store that Abid operates on the Hilltop. They were struggling to feed their children and needed staples such as flour and sugar, rice and canned goods, beans and pasta. Within an hour, Abid said, she had collected enough to feed the three families. About two days later, she had gathered enough for 60 families"

"The money raised through this business is going to be used for furthering the legacy of Deah all over the country and Yusor and Razan, the work that they did,” said Zerqa Abid, the founder and president of MY Project USA.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- A new store opened its doors in Raleigh Tuesday. My Deah's Goodwill Store serves as a tribute to the memory and work of Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha. The trio were shot to death in February at a Chapel Hill condominium complex.

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"This is a huge part of keeping their legacy alive," said Namee Barakat. "It's a huge part of what they were about, you know, Deah was about service helping others and giving and this that's what this project is all about."

The idea is simple. The public donates goods, the store sells items to refugees and those in need, and the money raised goes to support My Project USA.

"The hope that my dad had with the store was to sustainably try to help refugees," said Farris Barakat.

And in return it will sustain the legacy of Deah Barakat. Farris said Tuesday it's been a long and hard road for his family and it doesn't get any easier. He said they are anxiously anticipating the trial of the man accused of killing his brother and the two women.