Please share or apply for this new opportunity through Powerful Voices!

"In BMC, Black Muslim girls* between the ages of 14-18 years old will be able to authentically be themselves and share a space that holds their intersecting identities. To be eligible, young folks must live or go to school in Seattle. BMC will consist of group facilitated discussions, supporting community members through outreach and volunteerism, as well as spiritual retreats, field trips, and mentorship activities."

https://blackmuslimahcollective.paperform.co/

Our programming has been on pause due to the coronavirus, but we are very excited to share an event led by our partners at the Native Health Initiative:

Apply online by clicking here

We are so excited that our sixth cohort of Healers of Tomorrow has started.  
This year our program is being led by our two wonderful volunteers, Lulu Gusti and Amina Sheikh.  
This following post is a reflection from Lulu after the first meeting. 

" Welcome Healers of Tomorrow Cohort of 2020! Our sixth cohort of 20 high school students from around the Greater Seattle area kicked-off this year with a Community Asset Mapping activity led by Dr. Adnan Mustafa. We started by brainstorming about the definitions of health and what it means to be a healer. Our students quickly learned that healers are not limited to just physicians, but anyone that improves the well-being of others, such as: parents, family, teachers etc. The discussion continued on how we can take an asset-based vs need-based approach to improving our communities.  Lastly, we had a great learning opportunity of discussing the path of becoming a primary care physician based on the experiences of Dr. Adnan.
Community Asset Mapping is a great way to start the mentorship program as it allows students to become more attuned of how they can apply the various skills they will learn in the subsequent sessions to empower their own community."

Applications are closed for Spring 2020. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions.

Thank you to our wonderful pre-med mentor Lulu Gusti for hosting the Healers of Tomorrow at UW for a tour. Here is her description of the day:

"On Saturday, March 2nd, Healers of Tomorrow spent the day exploring the beautiful campus of the University of Washington Seattle. Besides exploring the main campus attractions such as the Suzzalo Library and Red Square, we explored various student resources. We went around the student HUB, Ethnic Cultural Center and the Odegaard Undergraduate Library.
In addition, we also got a glimpse of the new Bill & Melinda Gates Computer Science Building. Our day ended on the beautiful waterfront of UW Magnuson Health & Sciences building. From the tour, we learned about undergraduate life and the various paths that can be taken to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
Below is our group picture in front of the famous Drumheller Fountain!"

Thank you to "doctor for a day" for hosting us for the third year in a row! Dr Estell, Dr Joy and the many other volunteers were so inspiring to learn from.  What an awesome opportunity to get hands on experiences in skills ranging from obstetrics, surgery, general medicine and physical therapy. The africatown center is a very special space and we were honored to share it with special people.

While last session we learned about identifying and amplifying community assets, this weekend we learned about a different approach.  The Gates Foundation supports organizations in addressing many different health problems, big and small, upstream and downstream.  The way they provide their support is strictly through giving money.  We discussed what the benefits and drawbacks of such an approach are. Some of the projects we learned about were very inspiring, while we were also left with the question of - what happens to all these initiatives when the funding ends?  This was a great lesson on how complex it can be to address health locally and globally.

Alhamdulillah we are so excited to start our fifth cohort of Healers of Tomorrow! And what an awesome group it is.  A major theme that emerged from our discussion this weekend was how youth value honesty.  Our young leaders aren't afraid to speak their mind and value other people who can do the same.  Our community only stands to benefit from hearing and elevating these voices.

This weekend we got started with my favorite activity of all time -- asset mapping!  No matter what career you pursue it's important to evaluate what type of approach you are taking to your work and relationships.  Do you have an asset or needs based approach?  In order to move forward and make positive changes we must be able to identify the challenges or problems in our communities and lives.  However it is just as important to identify and amplify our personal and community resources.  The image below from our sister program at the Native Health Initiative beautifully demonstrates the difference between these two ways to address community health.

more growing and glowing coming soon :)

in peace and health
dr sophia

Update: applications closed for this year! Visit again in fall of 2019 or email us at [email protected]
​
Our fifth cohort will start soon.  Apply by December 23, 2018.

we finished up our 2018 healers of tomorrow with a healthy cooking class at PCC Community Market.  This is our third year participating in the cooks class and it was fun as always.

Thank you to all our wonderful youth leaders.. yall are going to do big things!

with love
​dr sophia