Annual General Meeting and Election, 31 Years of Service
PCC’s Annual General Assembly took place on Sunday May 19, 2019, at 10 AM at the Mount Carmel High School, in San Diego, California. The annual report was presented and followed by the election of the new board members. The report of last year activities was presented by Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi, the president of PCC. The financial report by Hamid Rafizadeh, and the reports of ISSD and the Peyk magazine were presented by Ali Sadr. A summary of last year’s activities is listed below.
10:45- Q & A
10:55- Introducing the Candidates
11:15- Election
11:45- Election Results
12:00- Adjournment
Board of Directors and Committee Members for the past year was as follows:
Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi (President), Nikoo Atefi (Vice-President), Hamid Rafizadeh (Treasurer), Farideh Fazel (Secretary). Amir Farshad Babakhani, Parnian Badii, Ida Khodami, Hossain Hajimowlana, Venus Safaei, Shahla Salah, Golsa Soraya, and the alternate members: Gity Neamtollahi and Hamid Beikzadeh. Ali Sadr (ISSD Principal).
Executive Board:
Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi (President), Nikoo Atefi (Vice-President), Hamid Rafizadeh (Treasurer), Farideh Fazel (Secretary), Ali Sadr (ISSD Principal)
Advisory Board:
Shahri Estakhry, Saeed Jalali, Rosita Bagheri, and Shaghayegh Hanson.
Note: Last year, according to the board’s approval, the number of board members increased from nine to eleven.
The Board had twelve meetings in the past year. Committees held meetings as needed. At its first meeting, the Board elected its Executive Committee and established the committees:
PCC Committees:
Arts and Culture: Hossain Hajimowlana (head)
Building: Hamid Rafizadeh (head)
ChaharShanbeh Soori/Sizdebedar: Hamid Rafizadeh (head)
Charity (PCC Foundation): Giti Nematollahi (head)
Education: Ali Sadr (head)
Finance: Hamid Rafizadeh (head)
Fundraising: Parnian Badii & Hossain Hajimowlana (heads)
Grant: Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi (head)
I-Ted: Ida Khodami (head)
I-Power Group: Venus Safaei (head)
Membership: Farideh Rsouli Fazel (head)
Nowruz: Nikoo Atefi (head),
Peyk: Ali Sadr (head)
PR: Shalha Salah (head)
Youth: Fariba Babakhani (head).
Summary of Cultural Activities
During 2018-2019, PCC was not only active in organizing traditional celebrations and programs for the Iranian-American community, but also collaborated with other organizations to reach out to the community at large. PCC also continued cross-cultural activities.
PCC sponsored or co-sponsored the following programs:
PCC and ISSD Events:
1- King Raam Solo Concert at IAC
2- World Cup Screening at IAC
3- One day Art Tour at Getty and LACMA Museums
4- Tasinfkhani with Kourosh Taghavi
5- 2nd Annual Hafez Day in collaboration with SD Central Library
6- Namjoo Concert to Celebrate Mehregan in collaboration with SDMA
7- Tabla Concert at IAC in collaboration with Indian Group
8- Filmoween at IAC
9- Estate Planning Seminar in collaboration with IABA
10- Ode to Hope concert with Kourosh Taghavi at IAC
11- Third Writing Workshop with Hossain Mortezaeian Abkenar at IAC
12- Collaboration with Asian Winter Film Festival- PAC Art
13- Yalda Celebration at Sufi Restaurant with DJ Amin
14- Universal Children’s Day in collaboration with Child Foundation and Dollar a Month at ISSD
15- PCC Annual Charity Bazaar in December
16- Special Documentary Night at IAC
17- Screening “Bomb: A Love Story” in collaboration with Sheed Film
18- Screening “Shivatier” with Q&A with Hila Sedighi at IAC
19- Setar Workshop with Kourosh Taghavi
20- Nowruz Preparation at the Iranian School of San Diego
21- Nowruz Celebration at the Iranian School of San Diego
22- Chahârshanbeh Soori with AIAP and HOI at NTC Park
23- Nowruz Celebration at Marriott Hotel with Sasy
24- Dornab concert at the Center for Art Escondido in collaboration with the World Music
25- SizdehBedar with AIAP and HOI at NTC Park
26- Presentation of Haft-Seen along with literary, cultural, and historical exhibits in seven public libraries throughout San Diego
27- Talk and Tanbour with Ali Akbar Moradi, cooperation with UCSD
28- Parisa & Hamnavazan Concert at the Q hall, Qualcomm
29- Screening “Columbus” in collaboration with Sheed Film
30- Limits of Whiteness, lecture and book signing with Neda Maghboleh at IAC
31- Persian music (Sibarg) and jazz concert at the Dizzy’s
32- Family Game Night at IAC 4 times a year
33- Film and Discussion Series on every third Friday of the month at IAC (10 Events)
34- Jong-e Farhanghi on every second Friday of the month at IAC (10 Events)
35- Art Exhibition at the Center
36- Collaboration with Docunight to show a documentary movie first Wednesday each month
37- Multi Cultural Festival in Linda Vista
38- Multi Cultural Festival in Del Sur
39- Multi Cultural Festival in Mira Costa College
40- Multi Cultural Festival in Balboa Park
ISSD:This year both branches of ISSD were held at Mt. Carmel High School. The academic year 2018-19 was ISSD’s 31st year of operation. This year, 289 students attended both branches of ISSD. The school’s Nowruz program was held on March 10, 2019, and was attended by 600 parents, students and family members. A variety of dance presentations, plays, music recitals, and songs were presented. Students received awards for their academic achievements. ISSD’s end of year event will be held on June 2, 2019.
ISSD’s first branch offers 21 classes on Sunday mornings, which are separated into six levels. ISSD also offers two Persian classes for adults and three classes for Kindergarten and Preschool. Extracurricular classes such as Dance, Theater, Setar, and Tombak have been offered as well. The second branch is held on Thursday evenings and has a total of 5 classes.
ISSD’s Persian language program is accredited by all local school districts as well as WASC which means that high school students can fulfill their second language requirements by taking Persian language courses at ISSD. The PTA of both branches worked very hard and cooperated successfully with the teachers and administrators on issues such as curriculum and extracurricular activities. The PTA was also instrumental in helping to raise funds for the school. Students at ISSD raised approximately $2,600 for Dollar a Month Organization “Project 200” for street children of Iran.
In addition, ISSD is working with a network of Persian Schools in the U.S. Many active Persian schools are using our textbooks and our curriculum. ISSD has a website (issd.pccsd.org) and is also active on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Persian Dance Academy:
With 70 students, the Persian Cultural Dance Academy met on Sundays at ISSD Branch I. The dance students performed in the following programs:
1- PCC Nowruz Event
2- ISSD’s Nowruz Event
3- SDSU Persian New Year by Persian Student association
4- IALSN Nowruz Celebration
Building: The Iranian American Center (IAC) has been hosting a variety of cultural activities for the Iranian community (such as IASF and DMF, SDSU, UCSD). The Center has a library with more than four thousand books.
Public Relations and Community Outreach:
During the 2018-2019 operating year, PCC used its bi-monthly publication, Peyk, to reach thousands of readers. Peyk is a bilingual publication published in Persian and English. Its circulation includes San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties, the Bay Area, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Dallas, and many other cities. Peyk is also available on PCC’s website (www.pccsd.org/peyk).
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 Persian Cultural Center continued advertising and inviting members of the community to join PCC. As a result, membership increased by 10 percent. PCC issued membership cards to its members, who receive special discounts to our events. PCC also managed to continue obtaining discounts from various Iranian businesses for its members.
Public Outreach: Thousands of people all over the world view the Persian Cultural Center’s Website, www.pccsd.org, its social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram, and receive PCC’s mass emails. PCC issues a weekly electronic newsletter that is sent to thousands of people. The PCC website provides quick access to our bi-monthly, bi-lingual magazine, our ongoing programs and activities, as well as other cultural information and events. People can refer to our website to read about PCC’s many activities and to renew their membership and 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 other communities who attended our featured programs.
The PCC Foundation-a charitable organization:
The foundation continues to raise funds for Project S (Iranian lady who is the victim of domestic violence and going through chemotherapy; she also has two children ages 4 and 11).
Youth:This committee has been behind the planning of many different PCC events, both for members of the center and for charity. They are responsible for organizing Family Fun Night every other month, and work on the logistics and promotion every month. Also, for PCC, they’ve helped plan for the Nowruz celebration and worked behind the scenes on putting together the gifts and display tables. At the Persian Cultural Center office, they help organize and spend hours working together to clean out the library and organize the files. The committee’s board has also spent time helping different charity organizations raise money. The student board has organized fundraisers for Dollar a Month Fund and within PCC, collecting 41 pounds of food for the San Diego Food Bank.
Special Thank You: We would like to take this opportunity to thank the following 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: Nikoo Atefi, Parnian Badii, Hamid Beikzadeh, Gity Nematollahi, and Hamid Rafizadeh. Except for Ms. Nematolahi and Mr. Rafizadeh who have served their two terms and are subject to “term limits,” the others can run for re-election.
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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 BOD. The ballot was secret. Mr. Mahmoud Maheronaghsh, Mrs. Shahri Estakhry, Mrs. Sara Taghavi, Mr. Milad Jahani, and Ms. Soudabeh Rahmankhah counted the ballots cast. After counting the ballots, including the absentees and electronic votes, the results was announced.
Election Results:
The following were elected as voting members of the board of directors:
• Ali Sadr
• Parnian Badii
• Nikoo Atefi
• The following members were announced as alternate member of the board of directors:
• Hamid Beikzadeh
These new members will serve along with the current board members : Fariba Babakhani- Ghazi, Amir Farshad Babakhani, Venus Safaei, Shahla Salah, Ida Khodami, Farideh Fazel, Hossein Hajimolana, and Golsa Soraya. The general assembly was adjourned at 12 PM.
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The first meeting of the board of directors was held on June 11, 2019. At that meeting, a proposal to increase the number of board of directors from nine to eleven was put to vote and was passed. Therfore, two runners up from alternate members were moved to full membership. Subsequently, the Board elected the Executive Board. The Executive Committee of PCC serves for one year:
President: Fariba Babakhani – Ghazi
Vice president: Nikoo Atefi
Treasurer: Shahla Salah
Secretary: Farideh Rasouli – Fazel
Advisory Board: Shahri Estakhry, Saeed Jalali, Shay Hansen and Rosita Bagheri
Other members of the BOD will be leading various committees such as Art and Culture, Education, Charity, Building, Nowruz, Grant, PR, and Membership. Four new committees, I-Ted, I-Power, Chahrshanbeh Soori and PCC Youth Group were also added to the list
Committees and assigned Committee Heads
Art & Culture Committee: Hossain Hajimowlana
Chaharshanbeh Soori: Hamid Beikzadeh
Charity Committee: Shahla Salah
Education Committee, ISSD: Ali Sadr
Finance & Grant Committee: Fariba Babakhani-Ghazi
Fundraising & Nowruz Committee: Nikoo Atefi
Governance Committee: Ali Sadr
IAC/ Building Committee: Hamid Beikzadeh
Membership Committee: Parnian Badii
PCC Youth: Fariba Babakhani- Ghazi
Peyk Committee: Ali Sadr
PR Committee: Farideh Fazel
If you wish to participate in any of the Committees, please contact PCC and ask for the head of the Committee.
