B.C. Dodge & R. Mordant Mahon talk to Princess Bazley-Bethea from Interaction in this episode of “What a Relief!” — IRUSA’s official podcast.
B.C. and Mordant went live again! This time from the Interaction Forum of 2017 at the Walter E. Reed Convention Center in Washington D.C. They had the pleasure of sitting down with Princess Bazley-Bethea, the Program Manager for a new initiative called the Together Project. It got its start in January of this year.
In fact, she is working with Islamic Relief USA, one of five faith-based organizations who have joined forces to investigate and hopefully solve a problem. They noticed that faith-based organizations seem to be getting hit with more IRS audits, experiencing bank delays, insurance obstacles and general discriminatory practices.
Further investigation through surveys revealed that a surprising two-thirds of U.S. nonprofit organizations face difficulties getting their money to regions that may be determined to post a risk to the country, though they often have the highest humanitarian need.
“We really hope from this initiative to educate and elevate the issue and also say that it’s not just Muslim organizations,” she says, explaining that this is something the sector at large is dealing with. “We really are trying to shape this language in the lens of the human impact of what happens when these delays and denials continue to happen,” she says.
Tune in to this week’s episode to find out what this new initiative is doing to educate policy makers and shift the narrative so that change can happen at the top. Hear a personal story about a winterization project in Afghanistan that literally became a matter of life and death. Find out what YOU can do as a donor, a volunteer and a concerned citizen.
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