Josh Shapiro awards $5 MILLION grant to Al-Aqsa Islamic Society in Philadelphia to expand school, the largest ever awarded to a Muslim group

According to WHYY, Shapiro announced the grant at an iftar dinner on March 25 at the organization, telling a few dozen community members that organizations such as Al-Aqsa "are more important than ever before" as "we’re facing tumult overseas, and we’re facing a lot of rising hate here at home."

Shapiro said, "So I’m really proud that we’ve been able to work together with your leaders here to invest $5 million in making this place an even greater center of activity in the community."

Chairman of the board of Al-Aqsa Islamic Society Asif Hussain said that one goal for the funds is to expand the center’s school. The group is looking to add classrooms and teachers to meet local demand, and increase attendance from 300 to 3,000.

Hussain said, "The idea is to have an academic center of excellence at school. We have a school that’s K-12. It is very, very small and we have more candidates and more students than we have classrooms. So the idea would be to expand the facility and actually develop it into a full-fledged academic program."

Al-Aqsa Academy was established in 1996 and is a private Islamic day and weekend school that blends the standards kindergarten through 12th-grade curriculum with Quran classes, Islamic studies, and Arabic language coursework.

The school’s mission is to "provide students with a safe, nurturing, and uplifting Islamic environment that will help them achieve academic excellence."

Shapiro said during the dinner, "This is a moment where I think communities are fearful of the federal government and that’s deeply concerning to me and I want the Muslim community to know that they’re welcome here in Pennsylvania. I’ve got their back and I’m going to protect them and I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure that their rights are protected here in the commonwealth."