Annual Meeting and Election Persian Cultural Center of San Diego
June 3, 2021
33 Years of Service
PCC’s Annual General Assembly took place on June 3, 2021, at 7 p.m. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual meeting was conducted online via Zoom. At the assembly, the annual report was presented, followed by the election of the new board members.
Prior to the start of the meeting, Maz Jobrani, the famous comedian, actor, and honorary member of PCC, was the guest of the program and opened the meeting.
After calling the meeting to order, PCC’s 2020-2021 president, Shahla Salah, reported last year’s activities. Hamid Rafizadeh presented the financial report and Ali Sadr presented the reports for the Iranian School of San Diego (ISSD) and Peyk magazine. A summary of last year’s activities is listed further below.
2020-2021 Board of Directors and Committee Assignments
PCC’s board of directors and committee members for the past year were Shahla Salah (President), Amir Farshad Babakhani (Vice-President), Hamid Rafizadeh (Treasurer), Nikoo Atefi (Secretary), Parnian Badii, Hamid Beikzadeh, Hossain Hajimowlana, Ali Sadr (ISSD Principal), Venus Safaei, and Mahmoud Reza Pirouzian. The advisory board consisted of Shahri Estakhry, Saeed Jalali, Rosita Bagheri, Shaghayegh Hanson, and Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi.
The PCC board of directors held monthly meetings over the past year, while committees held meetings as needed. At its first meeting, the board of directors elected its executive committee members and established the following committees:
Arts and Culture: Hossain Hajimowlana (Head), Ali Sadr, Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, Farshad Babakhani, Parnian Badii, Anahita Babaei, Abdy Salimi, Mahmoud Reza Pirouzian, Sohile Bigdeli, and Nikoo Atefi
Membership: Farideh Fazel (Head), Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, Sara Alaghehband, Parnian Badii, and Shahrzad Julazadeh
PR: Mahmoud Reza Pirouzian (Head), Sara Alaghehband, Ali Sadr, Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, Farshad Babakhani, Nikoo Atefi, Farideh Fazel, Hossain Hajimowlana, and Shahrzad Julazadeh
Grant and Finance: Hamid Rafizadeh (Head), Shahla Salah, Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, Shahrzad Julazadeh, and Cheryl Encine
Fundraising and Nowruz: Nikoo Atefi (Head), Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, Farideh Rasouli Fazel, Shahla Salah, Venus Safaei, Parnian Badii, Hamid Rafizadeh, Bahar Bagherpour, and Mohammad Ayari
PCC Charity: Venus Safaei (Head), Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, Shahla Salah, Parnian Badii, Nikoo Atefi, and Shahrzad Julazadeh
Education: Ali Sadr (Head), Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, Parisa Amini, and Shahnaz Ahmadian
ChaharShanbeh Soori & SizdeBedar: Hamid Rafizadeh (Head), and Hamid Beikzadeh
Building: Hamid Rafizadeh (Head), Ali Sadr, Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, Hamid Beikzadeh, Shahla Salah, and Shahrzad Julazadeh
PCC Youth: Farideh Fazel (Head), Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, and Venus Safaei
Peyk: Ali Sadr (Head), Shahri Estakhry, Aria Fani, Saeid Noori Bushehri, Shahrzad Julazadeh, Shaghayegh Hanson, Reza Khabazian, Ali Sahebolzamani, and Rachel Tait
Governance: Ali Sadr (Head), Shaghayegh Hansen, Nikoo Atefi, Shahla Salah, Farideh Fazel, Mahmoud Reza Pirouzian, and Shahrzad Julazadeh
Summary of Persian Cultural Center Events and Activities
During 2020-2021, PCC was active in organizing traditional celebrations and programs for the Iranian American community. PCC also collaborated with other organizations to reach out to the community at large. Due to the limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, all these programs were virtual.
PCC sponsored or co-sponsored the following programs:
1- Mehregan celebration in collaboration with San Diego Museum of Art, a virtual concert by Damsaz Ensemble
2- Collaboration with Pacific Art Movement for the 21st Asian Film Festival
3- Virtual Yalda celebration, a virtual concert by the Velshodegan Band
4- Virtual screening of African Violet and Q&A session in collaboration with Venera Film
5- Virtual screening of documentary Coup 53 in collaboration with Amirani Film (twice)
6- Virtual writing workshops with Hossein Mortezaeian Abknar
7- Dornab Electric Quartet virtual live concert
8- Virtual City of San Diego Nowruz celebration
9- Presentation of Haft-seen along with literary, cultural, and historical exhibits in four public libraries throughout San Diego County
10- Virtual PCC Nowruz celebration with Rastak Band
11- Four virtual Nights of Poetry and Literature (on the third Wednesday of the month)
12- Six virtual Film and Discussion series on every last Thursday of the month
13- Virtual Jong e Farhanghi with guest Hooshiar Afsarzadeh with Racism Awareness Project
14- Virtual Jong e Farhanghi with guest Dr. Aria Fani of the University of Washington
15- Virtual Jong e Farhanghi with guest Dr. Dominico Ingentino of UCLA
16- Virtual Jong e Farhanghi with guest Hossain Mortezaeian Abkenar
18- Virtual Jong e Farhanghi with guest Naser Rahmaninejad
19- Virtual cooking sessions with “Three Chefs in the Kitchen” on every second Saturday of the month (3 events)
20- Collaboration with Docunight to virtually show documentary movies followed by Q&A sessions
21- Panel Discussion “Immigrant Rights & Racial Justice, Past & Present” collaboration with Professional Organization of Iranian Americans, PCC of Atlanta, and Racism Awareness Project
22- Collaboration with Pacific Arts Movement on 10th Spring Showcase
PCC’s virtual Yalda and Nowruz programs were watched by thousands in the U.S. and abroad.
ISSD:
The academic year 2020-2021 was the Iranian School of San Diego’s 33rd year of operation. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all ISSD classes and events were held virtually via Zoom. With 160 students, ISSD had a total of 18 classes on Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings, which were separated into six levels, including two classes for kindergarten and pre-kindergarten and two Persian classes for adults. Extracurricular classes such as Dance and Setar were offered as well. Because of the virtual nature of our classes, we had students from other cities in the U.S. and even from Europe. ISSD is planning to continue with the online classes in the future, as the cooperation of parents and students in coping with virtual classes has been exemplary.
ISSD’s Persian language program is accredited by all local school districts as well as the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which means that high school students can fulfill their second language requirements by taking Persian language courses at ISSD. PCC’s Education Committee has completed 6 textbooks for teaching Persian as a heritage language. In addition, audio versions of the textbooks were also made available to students. Several Persian schools around the country are using our textbooks and our curriculum.
During the past year, ISSD organized two photographic competitions for students, entitled COVID-19 and I and Haft-seen. The winners were announced and their pictures were printed in Peyk magazine. The school’s virtual Nowruz program was held on March 21, 2021. The virtual End of the Year event and graduation for the Class of 2021 took place on May 23, 2021.
ISSD has a website (issd.pccsd.org) and is also active on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Persian Dance Academy:
The Persian Cultural Dance Academy met virtually on Sundays. The 20 dance students performed at the PCC Nowruz event, ISSD’s Nowruz program, and ISSD’s End of the Year program.
Building:
The Iranian American Center (IAC) typically hosts a variety of cultural activities for the Iranian community (such as the Iranian American Scholarship Fund and Dollar a Month Fund, San Diego State University, and University of California San Diego). The IAC has a library with more than five thousand books. During the past year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings and events were held virtually via Zoom.
Peyk Magazine:
Peyk, PCC’s bilingual cultural publication, is one of our most successful outreach instruments—it is registered with the Library of Congress and recently received a grant from the Persian Heritage Foundation. Every two months, Peyk is mailed to thousands of subscribers in San Diego and other parts of the country. Typically, thousands are distributed through business and cultural centers in San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties, the Bay Area, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Dallas, Atlanta, and many other cities.
Peyk is also available online at peykmagazine.com. This site is interactive, and readers can directly communicate and leave comments for the editorial board. The past issues of Peyk are still available at the Peyk archive, pccsd.org/peyk.
Outreach Programs:
PCC has continued its joint programs with local organizations, such as San Diego city libraries, San Diego Museum of Art, UCSD, Dollar a Month Fund, Iranian American Scholarship Fund, Iranian American Bar Association, PAC Art, Amirani Film, Dornab, Persian Cultural Center of Atlanta, Professional Organization of Iranian Americans, and the Racism Awareness Project.
PCC has worked with SDG&E’s “Energy Solutions Partners” campaign. As an “Energy Solutions Partner,” PCC has joined other nonprofits and environmental groups in a collaborative effort to make all of California’s consumers aware of how they can save energy and money through energy efficiency. PCC was chosen as a partner because of our ability to target a specific demographic and translate important emergency news alerts into Farsi, as necessary.
Membership:
The PCC continued advertising and inviting members of the community to join. PCC provided new online membership software via Join-it and issued membership cards. Members receive a special discount for PCC events and to various Iranian American businesses.
Public Relations:
Thousands of people all over the world view the PCC’s website (www.pccsd.org), Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube platforms. PCC issues a weekly electronic newsletter that reaches thousands of community members. The PCC website provides quick access to Peyk, ongoing programs and activities, as well as other cultural information and events. People can refer to the website to read about PCC’s many activities, to renew their membership, and to make tax-deductible contributions online.
In the past year, several PCC events were featured on KPBS radio in San Diego, KIRN Radio Iran in Los Angeles, Chekhabar.com, Kodoom.com, and on the San Diego Arts and Sol website. These programs not only reached out to the Iranian American community, but also other communities who attended our featured programs.
The PCC Foundation-A Charitable Organization:
The foundation continues to raise funds for the following projects: helping members of our community who are facing many challenges with layoffs and furloughs due to COVID-19; supporting a young woman by paying for one month of food and rent; helping others with food; and continuing to support two young students who lost their parents and need help (this is a long-term project).
Youth:
This committee has been behind the planning of many PCC events, both for members of the center and for charity. It is responsible for organizing Family Fun Night, hosting baking events, and working on the logistics and promotion of other events every month. The committee’s board has also spent time helping different charity organizations raise money, and the student board has organized fundraisers for PCC, collecting hundreds of pounds of food for the San Diego Food Bank. In addition, the Youth committee has offered free remote tutoring to any student who needs help while attending classes from home. The committee continues to have the following activities: food and toy drive, fundraising at different restaurants, virtual baking classes, virtual family game night, and free remote tutoring.
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Special Thank You: We would like to take this opportunity to thank the board members who are leaving us. We are grateful for the time, energy, and talents they generously gave to PCC and our community. We look forward to having them back on the PCC Board again. The following members have served their terms and are leaving the board: Hossain Hajimowlana and Venus Safaei. They can run for re-election.
We are continually looking for volunteers to join our committees and subcommittees. Please step forward and GET INVOLVED with various groups to HELP US better serve the community.
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2021 PCC Board of Directors Election: After the Board of Director’s report, candidates to fill the vacancies in the Board introduced themselves and presented their plans for joining the Board. Mr. Mohammad Ayari and Mrs. Sholeh Dadkhah observed the election, which was performed by secret ballot. After counting the ballots, including the absentees and electronic votes, the results were announced.
The following were elected as voting members of the Board of Directors:
Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi and Sara Taghavi
Soheil Bigdeli and Venus Safaei were elected as alternative board members.
These new members will serve along with the current board members: Shahla Salah, Nikoo Atefi, Parnian Badii, Ali Sadr, Hamid Beikzadeh, Hamid Rafizadeh, Farshad Babakhani, and Farideh Fazel.
The general assembly adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
The first meeting of the Board of Directors was held on June 9, 2021. Subsequently, the Board elected members of the Executive Committee, who will serve PCC for one year:
President: Shahla Salah
Vice President: Amir Farshad Babakhani
Treasurer: Hamid Refizadeh
Secretary: Nikoo Atefi
Other members of the Board of Directors will be leading various committees such as Arts and Culture, Education, PCC Charity, Building, Grant and Finance, Nowruz and Fundraising, PR, PCC Youth, ChaharShanbeh Soori & SizdeBedar, and Membership.
If you are interested in joining any of the committees, please contact PCC by phone at (858) 552-9355 or email at pcc@pccsd.org.
