Past Grantees

2007:

National Iranian-American Council, Iranian-American Civil Society Development Program: PARSA has granted $50,000 to the council, which will train community leaders to participate in the political process, conduct voter registration drives and assume social leadership. These activities will be conducted through NIAC’s civic participation workshops, legislation watch program, and meetings between Iranian-American voters and their election officials nationwide. In addition, it will partner with organizations such as BAIVOTER (Bay Area Iranian-American Voter Association) of San Francisco, California, to assist with voter registration drives across the country. NIAC aims to enable, facilitate and promote civic participation by Iranian-Americans through this program.

Promises Films, Global Moms: Iran: PARSA has awarded $25,000 to this organization, where the production team will create a feature-length documentary film taking Academy-Award nominated producer/director Justine Shapiro and her six-year old son Mateo to live for three months with three families in Iran and explore Persian influences on family life. The families represent a range of Iran’s middle class, including a modern, secular family, a traditional, religious family, and a single mom and her child. By capturing the intimate relationships that Justine and these Iranian families forge with one another, Global Moms: Iran aims to broaden the dialogue and perspective on Persian culture and Iran.

Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, Persepolis Fortification Archive Project: PARSA has awarded $25,000 to the institute, which will preserve and publicize thousands of clay tablets, fragments and seals of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, the largest and most detailed collection of the empire’s artifacts. Current litigation and the threat of seizure of these tablets compels the Oriental Institute to accelerate their efforts through the use of cutting edge technology to record the information contained in this extraordinary project and make it available to scholars worldwide before it is lost. What will be learned is indispensable to the study of the history, languages and art of the empire at its zenith.

Iranian Alliances Across Borders, Camp Ayandeh: PARSA has awarded $5,000 to conducting the camp, which will bring together over 50 Iranian-American high school students from around the country for a week of building leadership skills and learning about their Iranian heritage. Camp Ayandeh follows the premise that leadership capacity is comprised of four interrelated developmental themes: 1) collaboration, 2) cultural identity, 3) solidarity, and 4) reflection. Acknowledging that a positive understanding of self and community is a necessary component of effective leadership, the camp will create an inclusive environment where the youth can grow as individuals within a community context.

Children's Hope International Literacy and Development, Youth Ambassadors of Hope: PARSA has awarded $5,000 to the organization, which organization aims to empower Iranian youth between the ages of 12-25 to create and lead projects and organizations which benefit their communities locally and abroad. By providing startup grants to qualifying teams, YAH helps youth become familiarized with the fundamental organizational skills required to lead a group of other individuals in an effective and productive manner. Through its partnership with Youth Ventures (Ashoka), the program fosters the development of leaders with socially beneficial agendas.

Stanford University, Persian Student Association - Business Alliance: PARSA has awarded $4,000 to the association to will create a forum for communication and foster collaborative work through events that will include workshops, seminars, and discussion forums involving various members of the local community and industry. Each event will focus on a specific business or research topic, will feature the firsthand wisdom and advice of one or more guest speakers, and will provide opportunities for professional networking. PSA-BA introduces students to various post-graduate options while fostering the collaboration and communication required to fully realize each student’s potential.

2006:

PARSA is proud to have made its inaugural grant of up to $210,000 to Ashoka: Innovators for the Public as part of the Ashoka PARSA Initiative to support an Ashoka fellow of Iranian origin from anywhere in the world where Ashoka operates.