At CCO, I’m usually the quiet one with a coffee mug, scrambling around my cubicle, managing grant proposals, reports, and thinking how our money is driving our mission. However, I see you. I know your stories. Your pain and your hope matter to me.
As an Arab-American Muslim, I know that being heard as a community is an opportunity that does not come by very often in other parts of the world. My story is unheard because the microphone is given to extremist groups who think they can represent me. I am a Dignity Voter because I refuse to be reduced to someone else’s stereotypes of my community. I am not some simplistic national security interest. I refuse to walk into an incriminating frame that implies that my life is based on hate and violence.
As an Arab-American in Kansas City, I care about protecting our families from predatory lenders, respecting our workers with a living wage, expanding access to healthcare, and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to live a life of dignity. This is why I joined Communities Creating Opportunity. And this is why tomorrow matters.
There is an amazing buzz in the office right now. Volunteers are at every desk, phone banks and neighborhood canvasses are running throughout the day, printers are going nonstop, pastors are calling for people to use their vote to help move human dignity at the center of public life… it’s exciting. We are reaching out to everyone we can so that the neighborhoods and communities we love have a voice in their future tomorrow.
Click here to help us finish strong: http://www.cco.org/act?id=0003
Our work does not end on Election Day: I’m excited to let you know that we will be launching our membership program next week. You’ll hear more from me about that soon!
But in the meantime, please vote tomorrow. And please, even if you only have an hour to spare, help us bring more people out to the polls on Election Day. It’s a lot of fun, and it is making such a difference.
Thank you for everything you do,
Noor Higley
Development Organizer
Communities Creating Opportunity
Want to help fuel our organizing work? Click here to donate online.
Helping Kansas City Families 
Excellent article–I hope it moves others to positive action tomorrow.