My Nonprofit Reviews

Testimonial for The Salaam Network of Louisville

During these troubled times internationally and with a divisive presidential campaign underway for months, The Salaam (Peace) Network has presented numerous Zoom programs to an audience from around the world. The Interfaith perspective has encouraged participation from a wide audience. Our focus on scholarly books has ensured deep study and rich, civil discussions. With generous donors to the Give for Good program, we can continue offering high quality, timely presentations and offer some free books to active participants.

I offer the testimonial from our Executive Director, Dr. Riffat Hassan below as further evidence of our continuing accomplishments:

Since its beginning in 2016, TSN has presented more than 150 programs (in-person and virtual), free of cost, at a variety of venues. Due to the scholarly merit and integrity of its programs, it has become a leading education network in Louisville. It has had the honor of getting the Better Business Bureau Accreditation (2021), the GUIDESTAR SILVER TRANSPARENCY AWARD (2021), and the TOP-RATED Award from GREATNONPROFITS.org for four consecutive years (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).
During the time of the coronavirus pandemic when in-person programs could not be held, TSN undertook new educational initiatives conducted via zoom meetings. Amongst them was the setting up of a monthly Interfaith Group for the Study of Important Books related to Islam, interaction amongst Abrahamic religions, and other subjects of contemporary significance. The monthly meetings of the Interfaith Group which began in September 2020 continue to date.
To give you a comprehensive view of TSN’s work and its significance during the past year, I would like to share with you a recent account written by Rev. Dr. Joseph Brennan, Ph. D., M. Div., M.S.W., TSN’s Scholar-in-Residence who states: “Since its creation, The Salaam Network has been an outstanding proponent of community education and understanding not only in Kentucky, but also in the much wider areas of its national and global outreach. This past year has not been an exception. TSN’s Board of Trustees as well as its members have made outstanding contributions toward fostering a knowledge-based and open-minded reflection on the meaning of the Palestinian-Zionist conflict that has hampered the possibility of world peace for over a century.

As in past years, Dr. Dennis Neyman, TSN Director and Community Outreach Coordinator, presented a special session to the Internationa Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly in which he offered peaceful alternatives to resolving international conflicts. His presentation was well-received by fifty participants who were interested in discovering such alternatives. Dr. Neyman also serves as the Kentucky representative of the US Peace Memorial Foundation promotes alternatives to war.

Over the course of the year, TSN membership has engaged in a review of the classic work entitled “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine,” by Dr. Rashid Khalidi, the most eminent historian of the Middle East. As part of these hour and half long sessions, TSN members have provided outlines of different chapters, while discussion on the larger political, cultural, theological and moral aspects of Palestinian history has been ongoing.

TSN also has a very valuable research component. Its lead researchers have dedicated more than three hundred hours of intensive investigation of a broad expanse of the Palestinian-Zionist conflict. This research has produced some ten publications, thirty reviews of relevant videos, countless review of information found in professional journals, including newspapers published in Israel and throughout Europe. This ample source of information was the basis for forty-five articles covering such areas as theology, sociology, philosophy, history, and politics of differing aspects of the conflict, which are available for sharing with interested individuals or groups. In all the articles, both sides of the issue were explored to provide participants with a broad and meaningful understanding of why this conflict has been such a long-term issue of controversy.

TSN’s Scholar-in-Residence has also released a 90-minutes blog to the local community. The presentation covered the issue from Biblical times to the current discourse in the Israeli Knesset. It spoke in detail about international policies and treaties that have governed the politics of Palestine-Israel to this day. The complexity of possible solutions, including the two-state solution, was presented to provide listeners with a more complete understanding of the matter.

This is an outline of the role that TSN has played during this year in a world-community struggling to find accurate information, where such information has been suppressed, or - at the best - very limited. TSN continues to live up to its reputation as a quality education platform which provides the opportunity for equitable and honest interaction amongst those who participate in its in-depth programs. I recommend it highly to anyone with an open mind who is willing to examine all sides of controversial social issues which affect the harmony and peace of the community.”
The services rendered by TSN to the Beloved Community have been made possible through the continuing in-kind support of dedicated professional contributors and volunteer helpers. However, funding is needed to cover TSN’s running expenses and the cost of maintaining and developing its excellent website (https://www.salaamnetwork.org). TSN has no source of income other than the donations it receives from you. We lack the means to hire a fundraising expert and depend entirely on your generosity to meet our basic needs.
I thank you in advance for your support. Since TSN is a registered 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization, your donations are tax-exempt and receipts will be sent to you promptly.
Thanking you for your time and attention,

Riffat Hassan,
Executive Director

Dennis Neyman, Director and Community Outreach Coordinator

GREAT NON-PROFITS RECOMENDATION

During 2023 continues to advance its missions: THE SALAAM NETWORK (TSN) aims at creating harmony and wholeness in a highly diverse and divided city. Founded in mid-2016 by Dr. Riffat Hassan, internationally-renowned pioneer of interfaith dialogue and Islamic feminist theology, it comprised educators, artists, and peace-and-justice activists committed to countering Islamophobia and other manifestations of bigotry, hatred and mistrust in Louisville, the city of Muhammad Ali, America’s best-known Muslim and a universal peacemaker.

With scarce resources, in three-and-a-half-years, TSN’s all-volunteer, multi-disciplinary team of educators, made around one hundred presentations documented on salaamnetwork.org along with many compelling testimonials from attendees.

TSN has done much bridge-building amongst the three Abrahamic faith-traditions, including a re-examination of common biases against women and LGBTQ individuals. It has instituted an 8-part Seminar on the Normative Islamic Rights of Muslim Women which has been attended by persons of many faiths.

Recent achievements include TSN's educational programs that informed the All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation to vote unanimously to include Islam as a Source of Inspiration. Islam joined the other two great Abrahamic religions- Judaism and Christianity as Sources of Inspiration at All Peoples and has stimulated an international conversation among UU ministers and congregants about the inclusion of Islam in the 4th UU Source.

Two members of All Peoples were selected to present programs about Islam to the International UU convention in 2022 and 2023. Participants in those programs joined the campaign to have Islam considered as a UU Source of Inspiration.

Educational efforts of TSN are confronting the Islamophobia and intolerance toward religions outside the US and Western cultures mainstream of ideas.

TSN’s motto “Striving to Making the Beloved City of Louisville Whole” is embodied in a video on “Celebrating Cultural Diversity” in an all-inclusive community where no one is seen as “the Other.”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=5h0pG53kY98

Despite its newness and limited means, TSN has set a priceless example of transformative community service which this recognition would help to expand exponentially through multi-media projection and other media..

The Salaam Network (TSN) seeks to raise humanitarian principles to the forefront of dialogue among Louisville’s diverse religious communities. Through education and dialogue, we’ve invited Buddhist, Abrahamic faith traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Indigenous as well as secular activists seeking justice, humanists, and other peace and justice proponents, to create greater understanding and appreciation of the many paths to the Beloved Community.

As the Community Outreach Coordinator of TSN, I’ve seen first-hand the interest throughout the community for more education about Islam in particular, and a greater understanding of the commonalities among diverse belief systems. We have been welcomed in the Buddhist Center for Engaging Compassion, at a number of Protestant and Catholic churches, the Jewish Temple, River Road Mosque, the Guiding Light Islamic Center, and the Turkish Mosque. Also, we’ve conducted presentations at Bellarmine University, the University of Louisville, several public libraries, and other community-based forums.

When leaders of TSN met with the Superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools in 2017, there was great enthusiasm and encouragement for us to participate in the beginning-of-the-school-year teacher in-service development classes to share knowledge-based programs in response to the rise in Islamophobia in particular. The Chief of Police also welcomed the potential for future collaboration in dispelling misunderstandings and creating training guides to assist officers in peaceful interactions with diverse members of the Muslim community.

Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church (TJUC) of which I am an active member, has supported TSN in various ways. It has sponsored our programs on important contemporary issues relating to Women in the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Native American traditions, and the LGBTQ community. We have recently concluded a Series of 8 weekly classes offered as part of Open Campus Fall courses. The theme of our course was “Islamic Contributions to World Civilization.” The classes were all well-attended and well-received. TJUC has also provided space for other educational meetings of TSN educators with students. For instance, in March 2019, it welcomed Professor Matthew Pierce who brought his “Islam and Gender” class from Centre College, Danville, for an in-depth conversation with Dr. Riffat Hassan, a founder of Islamic feminist theology and also founder of TSN.

In May 2019, TJUC gave its enthusiastic support to Dr. Hassan’s project to hold one 3-hour meeting each month for teaching a group of young Muslim women (who came from a local mosque) about Qur’anic teachings relating to their fundamental human rights. TJUC has thus provided a safe space where young Muslim women could study the Qur’an from a non-patriarchal perspective and discuss their issues openly without fear of reprisal. A number of TSN Core Members, including myself, have been participating in this study group, which will continue to meet for several more months, and have found this to be a deeply enlightening and enriching experience. The partnership of TSN with TJUC is of great import in advancing awareness of social justice and human rights, particularly with reference to marginalized and vulnerable groups.

TSN has also joined a national conversation among Unitarian Universalists (including a few Muslim Unitarian Universalist ministers) to consider adding Islam as a Source of Inspiration for our worship and discourse. This is a highly significant educational initiative, which demonstrates TSN’s commitment to inclusiveness and bridge-building among religious communities which have shared moral and spiritual values.

When Americans think of Louisville, they see “The City of Compassion” as heralded by our mayor, Greg Fisher. When people think about a prominent Muslim, they think of Muhammad Ali, a noteworthy humanitarian from Louisville. Following in the footsteps of two of our own spiritual role models – Thomas Merton and Muhammad Ali – TSN aspires to live up to its motto: “Striving to make the Beloved Community of Louisville Whole.” The support of the Atlantic Renewal Awards, will enable us to build on, and expand, the work we have undertaken to make our Beloved City and Community a place where the identity, integrity and security of every person is honored and safeguarded, and which is truly an abode of peace.

Dr. Dennis Neyman
November 26, 2019