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Do Local Good is a podcast created by United Way of the Alberta Capital Region and the team of volunteers on the GenNEXT Cabinet. We feature stories and people from the Edmonton region to inform, inspire, and invite others to join us in building resilient and thriving communities. Listen in to learn about some of the local good already happening, and how you can be a part of the force for good!
00:00:10:16 - 00:00:32:20
Speaker 1
Welcome back to Do Local Good, the podcast where we explore the people and the ideas shaping the future of the Alberta Capital Region. I'm your host for today, and my name is Vasu. Let me ask our listeners a question. When you think of social services, what pictures come to your mind? Is it a fluorescent-lit room, a clipboard, or a plastic chair?
00:00:32:22 - 00:01:08:03
Speaker 1
Today's guest is flipping that image upside down. We are talking with Islamic Family. They're proving that true support isn't just about handing out resources. It's about beauty. It's about dignity and what they call radical hospitality. From removing your shoes when you enter their center, to including spiritual care with clinical therapy, they are building a model of community support that is less clinical, but more like being in a living room.
00:01:08:05 - 00:01:27:20
Speaker 1
We are sitting down today with Omar, Ibrahim, and Ali, and we'll talk about The Green Room, the power of culturally rooted care, and why beauty matters in social work. So let's get down to it. Omar, if you're okay with that, can you go around the table and do quick intros?
00:01:27:22 - 00:01:32:21
Speaker 2
Yeah. My name is Omar. I get to serve the team at Islamic Family.
00:01:32:23 - 00:01:43:01
Speaker 3
Very humble man. Very quick. My name is Ibrahim. I have the honour of serving as a Youth Wellness Manager at Islamic Family alongside Ali.
00:01:43:03 - 00:01:48:14
Speaker 4
Hello. My name is Ali, and I serve as a Program Lead for The Green Room, which is a youth initiative of Islamic Family.
00:01:48:18 - 00:02:15:17
Speaker 1
We are going to talk about that for sure. So before we get into the programs, while the whole team was touring this space, I want to talk about the feeling of walking into the family center. Most agencies feel clinical, but yours—taking off the shoes, there are prayer rugs over there.
00:02:15:19 - 00:02:18:20
Speaker 1
Like, intentional? And why is that so critical for you?
00:02:18:22 - 00:02:40:01
Speaker 2
Yeah, it was incredibly intentional. And it's really important because of the efficacy of our work. One quote that I really like comes from the Stanford Design Lab, and what they say is: “Space is the body language of an organization.” Right. Space tells you what an organization cares about, tells you whether they want you to come in and get out as quickly as possible.
00:02:40:03 - 00:02:59:05
Speaker 2
Tells you whether they want it to be transactional or relational. Now, one thing we also know from our own tradition is that beauty isn't an afterthought. It's integral to every element of what we do. Beauty isn't something where you can just put a thin veneer. Beauty is something foundational. And it also helps us to do better work. Right.
00:02:59:05 - 00:03:19:04
Speaker 2
So when people take off their shoes and they're offered tea, we're reducing the amount of stress for everybody in the room. What's often unfortunately necessary in our sector is we have to spend a lot of money and effort on de-escalation. Yeah. You know, space can do that work for us, and it can do it more effectively for us.
00:03:19:04 - 00:03:41:05
Speaker 2
Right? So if you walk into a space and you feel like, oh, I feel comfortable here, I feel like I'm going to sit down, have a cup of tea. I can chat with the person next to me. You feel better and the work happens better. And so it's important to think about how do we make things deeply beautiful. And one of the ways we make things beautiful is recognizing the environment we're in and trying to do the best with it.
00:03:41:07 - 00:04:02:02
Speaker 2
So throughout the space, you'll see it's rooted in Islamic geometric design, but also Indigenous design that's local to Treaty 6. So you'll see a star blanket in the center and octagonal forms throughout as a reference to the Cree star blanket. And so those things help ground the space in a meaningful way so that we can do better service.
00:04:02:04 - 00:04:20:10
Speaker 1
That's a really good point. I feel like there's no way for listeners to experience that other than to visit the space. But while walking in myself, I could feel that comfort of being in that space and not feel like, okay, being nervous or scared about opening up or anything. So I really like that.
00:04:20:11 - 00:04:21:00
Speaker 2
Well, thank you.
00:04:21:02 - 00:04:46:21
Speaker 1
Yeah. So we'll move on to the next question. So as an organization, you often talk about Islamically integrated care. For a listener who might not be Muslim, can you explain what that looks like in practice? Like how does bringing faith and spirituality into the therapy room, rather than leaving it at the door, help you break down the stigma around mental health?
00:04:46:23 - 00:04:47:20
Speaker 1
Like, yeah.
00:04:47:22 - 00:05:25:08
Speaker 3
So when we think about spirituality and religion in general, it actually forms a major aspect of who we are. And for anyone who holds a faith identity, whenever someone walks into a space, including clinical spaces, and they’re asked to leave their religious identity, spiritual identity, cultural identity at the door, they’re actually leaving just right outside, maybe with their shoes, or maybe not, an aspect about themselves that actually provides them with support, with strength, something that actually can provide them with a sense of capacity to find hope in the struggles that they’re facing.
00:05:25:09 - 00:05:48:14
Speaker 3
Interestingly enough, there was a study that was done where a group wanted to see the importance of religion when it comes down to marital counseling. They conducted two different groups, one where they did it completely secular, and another group that was religiously integrated care. When the two completed, they asked them, “How well was this helpful for you?”
00:05:48:16 - 00:06:12:22
Speaker 3
And interestingly enough, they both benefited the same. So you'd say, well, Ibrahim, why even bring this up? Because when they spoke with the panelists or the sample group thereafter that went to the secular group, they said, “You know, tell us why you enjoyed this secular approach so much.” They said, “Well, it coincided so much with our faith.”
00:06:13:00 - 00:06:36:15
Speaker 3
And we were able to also bring in aspects of our faith into the conversation at home. And that tells you right there that we can't get away from it. When people have faith, when they have that identity, if we could help people to bring it into their therapy, into the support that they are seeking, they're bringing their fullness of their self and they're able to be who they are in a very vulnerable time in their life.
00:06:36:21 - 00:06:37:10
Speaker 3
00:06:37:12 - 00:07:01:02
Speaker 1
Yeah. I feel also like faith plays an important role in explaining who you are, your upbringing, your circumstances as well. And if you remove that, you cannot get to know that person and how they really are. If you don't know the problems that they faced growing up. So that could be very particular to their culture as well.
00:07:01:03 - 00:07:03:08
Speaker 1
So it's really important knowing that
00:07:03:09 - 00:07:26:14
Speaker 2
for many people, faith, or the poor practice of faith, has caused injury. And we have to acknowledge that. And that's an integral part of a good practice, is acknowledging the different spaces and places people are with faith. But it's really important that we actually think comprehensively. So when we think about the social, the psychological, the physical, those are three pillars.
00:07:26:14 - 00:07:43:06
Speaker 2
But the fourth is spiritual, right? Recognizing the wholeness of the human being includes that. And that's something we see done really well in Indigenous communities, and something I think we should all be trying to emulate across the board in doing work.
00:07:43:08 - 00:07:56:02
Speaker 1
Well, so as a GenNEXT cabinet member, we’re obsessed with empowerment. So how did you revamp the Empower U program to fit your context in work?
00:07:56:04 - 00:08:20:14
Speaker 2
Yeah. So Empower U is a really wonderful program. It's building financial literacy in people who need it. You know one of our reasons for seeking that out is we run Edmonton's Food Bank’s largest partner depot. And that isn't a good thing, right? That's actually a terrible thing. It's just worth acknowledging that. But one of the things we see is people are dependent on a food bank.
00:08:20:16 - 00:08:41:11
Speaker 2
They'll come month after month after month. And you know, our work is actually about disrupting that cycle. And in order to disrupt that cycle, we need financial literacy. And so the Empower U curriculum is one of the strongest there is. When we approached the United Way team about how can we adopt this, they were incredibly wonderful.
00:08:41:13 - 00:09:07:13
Speaker 2
And you know, we looked at the Prosper curriculum, the Seed Winnipeg curriculum. And we combined those, we added in different layers to make it work for us. So we deliver the programming in multiple languages. We welcome couples to take it together because that's actually really important. And we incentivize it in a different way. So, United Way supports us with the covering of the teaching costs, and we support the incentives.
00:09:07:13 - 00:09:29:16
Speaker 2
And so it helps us create ways that break people out of poverty, that bring people into financial literacy. And it's interesting just thinking about the different stories people come with. You know, one of the stories that really impacted me is hearing from an Afghan brother. And you know, he told me growing up that he realistically didn't expect to live past 48.
00:09:29:20 - 00:09:46:20
Speaker 2
No one around him really did that. And so he fully expected that, yeah, if I have money, I should just spend it as quickly as possible. And that's the economically rational thing to do in that circumstance. So when he comes to Canada and he makes money, he's just spending—he's buying the fancy car as soon as he has it.
00:09:46:20 - 00:10:09:11
Speaker 2
And then the next month he is deeply in the red. And so, you know, that's a problem. And the Empower U curriculum gives us the ability to move from a transactional way of supporting people, which is food hampers, to a relational way of helping people, which is investing in their financial literacy so that we can help them break out of the cycle of poverty.
00:10:09:13 - 00:10:17:02
Speaker 1
And is the program geared towards a specific set of people or anyone can take it?
00:10:17:04 - 00:10:40:01
Speaker 2
Anyone can take it now. We do offer the programming in Arabic and Somali and now English. So it does tend to favor people who want their training in another language. And I think that's actually really, really important because in those first few months when people are in a country is an opportunity where you can help set new habits. If you wait till people have English competency to train them, they may have already formed bad money habits.
00:10:40:03 - 00:10:55:15
Speaker 2
What we see, which is not uncommon, is people will land in Canada and within a few months they have 20, 30K in credit card debt because they just didn't understand how credit cards worked. Right. They thought, “Oh, I was told I just had to pay the minimum payment.”
00:10:55:19 - 00:11:20:15
Speaker 2
Yeah. And they didn't know better. And so it's really, really important to use those opportunities when people are forming new habits to provide the curriculum in different ways. One of the things we're looking into doing in this coming year is expanding the the spaces and places where we do the curriculum, but it's it's very open. And I think one of the things that will remain integral to the programing is offering it in people's first language.
00:11:20:17 - 00:11:47:11
Speaker 1
That's about it. This is my favorite part. So The Green Room. So IFSSA has The Green Room which is an incredible hub for youth creativity and advocacy. So what are you seeing in the young professionals today? Like how are they redefining community service compared to previous generations? And also before you answer that, why the name Green Room?
00:11:47:13 - 00:11:50:00
Speaker 3
Well, I'll let Ali take this on.
00:11:50:05 - 00:11:54:15
Speaker 4
I think you have a better foundation for The Green Room. I always tell Ibrahim
00:11:54:17 - 00:12:20:09
Speaker 3
when we hear the term “the green room,” many creatives will think about backstage at a studio or about to perform something outside. And the green room is a safe space to sort of prepare yourself to get ready to enter that stage. And so The Green Room itself is inspired by that idea of a safe space to prepare yourself before you enter the world, before your next stage in life.
00:12:20:11 - 00:12:54:10
Speaker 3
And green as well has a beautiful connotation within the Islamic tradition, which informs, you know, our programming and our identity. That also gives this idea of life and of just a blessed, blessed company. And so, yeah, so that was where the idea came for The Green Room. But since starting as an actual room in Centre High, we’ve evolved much more into actually green rooms in a way and creating this type of space wherever we go.
00:12:54:12 - 00:12:56:11
Speaker 3
And I do want to add to that,
00:12:56:11 - 00:13:16:19
Speaker 4
My favorite colour is green, but that's not related to The Green Room at all. Well, that was the first answer to the question that you mentioned. And you asked me what are the trends that I'm seeing of young people taking up space in community. So initially, like The Green Room started like what Brother Ibrahim was seeing at Centre High.
00:13:16:19 - 00:13:38:12
Speaker 4
So we were mainly in campuses. We were where the youth were. We kind of see the same kind of trend happening with youth, that there's a big gap between services and support to where youth are. So we do try to be on campuses, at the Centre High, at different high schools in Edmonton.
00:13:38:14 - 00:14:03:21
Speaker 4
I think with how social media is moving forward, with how integrated it is as a daily part of life, people are having a hard challenge kind of finding friends, finding community that aligns with their values. So The Green Room, we're strategically trying to place ourselves to kind of fit that gap.
00:14:03:22 - 00:14:08:05
Speaker 4
Yeah. That's what I would answer in terms of like youth with with the gap.
00:14:08:05 - 00:14:31:00
Speaker 3
Yeah. It's about finding space for connection. You know, one of the problems that we're finding actually across much of the Western world is isolation, right? There's even a Ministry of Loneliness, I think in the UK. And people are increasingly finding that social media is actually disconnecting us rather than connecting us in many ways.
00:14:31:02 - 00:14:58:02
Speaker 3
And so helping to facilitate ways for individuals of like-mindedness just to be able to come together, to feel that sense of belonging. When we can have a single space on one campus or in a single city where individuals feel they belong, where individuals feel like “I'm represented,” it completely changes their feeling of their place in the entire city, within the entire school, within the entire institution.
00:14:58:04 - 00:15:07:03
Speaker 3
And one single space can create that. And in The Green Room and with Islamic Family, we seek to create that space wherever we are.
00:15:07:05 - 00:15:34:09
Speaker 2
Yeah. In a hyperconnected world, you know, what's really lacking is meaningful connection. And so there's so many ways where we might feel constantly connected because of our phones, but it might feel like noise. And what I really admire and appreciate about The Green Room is this opportunity to really think intentionally about how do we create those spaces where people feel connected to each other, to the nature that's around them, to something bigger?
00:15:34:09 - 00:15:35:23
Speaker 2
And that's hard work.
00:15:36:01 - 00:15:45:23
Speaker 3
Yeah. Ali actually started off as an attendee of The Green Room. And that's how he first got introduced to it.
00:15:46:01 - 00:16:05:20
Speaker 4
It was at the U of A. I remember after Thursday classes, I had a huge spare. So I was done at like 12:00. I was like, hey, I want to chill, kind of meet people. And so I see this big banner like “Welcome,” like a little slogan. It was “When you’re here, you’re home.”
00:16:05:22 - 00:16:25:04
Speaker 4
Yeah. And I was like, that's a very welcoming slogan. So I went inside and I saw this really nice brother, and he had a big smile on his face, and he's like, “Hey, welcome. Come on in.” And then we started a conversation. And there were other people, like-minded people as well. And we were able to connect outside of just, you know, “What are you doing in class?”
00:16:25:04 - 00:16:45:19
Speaker 4
You know, it's more about like, more about faith traditions, more about being an Edmontonian Muslim. What does that mean? Or just being a young person. Exploring identity, exploring faith. What does that mean in the university context? So that was a very meaningful space for me. I think it was an impactful experience.
00:16:45:21 - 00:16:59:23
Speaker 4
And if it wasn't for that, you know, I would look back at it... I would have really struggled kind of answering some of those questions that we have when we were at university. Right. Like, who should I hang out with? You know, what faith should I follow? What ideology should I believe in?
00:16:59:23 - 00:17:15:03
Speaker 4
Right. You need someone to to support you and help you in answering those questions. So for me, it was such an impactful program and years after I had the opportunity to apply for the program, to apply for a job within The Green Room. And I took that opportunity
00:17:15:08 - 00:17:47:18
Speaker 1
and here I am just building on top of that. So we were talking about isolation, meaningful connection. As a youth myself, going out in the community or in a group of people, as a newcomer, it can feel overwhelming and intimidating as well. And sometimes so hard is that... if you can share the story of someone, a newcomer, maybe like, how does your radical hospitality kind of help them not feel that isolation or maybe that intimidation at first?
00:17:47:20 - 00:18:17:01
Speaker 2
I really love that question. And I think it's important not to oversimplify because everyone will need unique and different things. So you know, if it's an Afghani who just landed here a few weeks ago and they had basic survival needs, what they'll need for connection is very different than maybe someone who grew up in Toronto and moved to Edmonton to go to the U of A and is feeling really socially isolated and disconnected.
00:18:17:03 - 00:18:40:23
Speaker 2
But I think there's some common things that are really important there, which is keeping the door open, being welcoming to people, giving them space to express themselves. You know, being really cognizant of the different things they might need, from that social, spiritual, physical, all those different parameters. And then it was, you know, in the work looking at how do we do it with...
00:18:40:23 - 00:18:55:15
Speaker 2
Excellence. Right. How do we think about measuring our impact well? Right. So we're not just measuring activity, but we're measuring achievement. Like, have we successfully connected the person to service, to what they need? And no, I don't know. I'll turn over to the team.
00:18:55:17 - 00:19:24:08
Speaker 3
I'd also add to that that there's a point, if I may, of when a person transitions from seeing themself as a newcomer to now “This is my space.” And when it comes down to youth, they want to be able to find a space where there's like-minded individuals where they don't feel judgment.
00:19:24:10 - 00:19:50:02
Speaker 3
You know, much of our life is about experimentation and learning who we are, to be quite honest. And that is emphasized even more in our younger stages of life. And for people who have different cultural identities, different faith identities. So, you know, we could recognize that Islam is a non-dominant faith tradition. It's not the norm here in Edmonton.
00:19:50:04 - 00:20:16:08
Speaker 3
And for a person coming here to be able to find a space where they can not only feel like they can be themselves—to say, like, Insha’Allah and Alhamdulillah like these terms of phrase that are very common within Muslim circles—but also where they feel like they're not being judged. So, one way that I like to kind of talk about the space that we create is that it's like a third space. You know, it's not a mosque, it's not a school.
00:20:16:08 - 00:20:35:02
Speaker 3
It's, you know, not your house, per se. It's a space where it's that in-between. It's that space where like, hey, you're in your own faith or cultural journey. You have your own needs, you need help with this. You need whatever the case may be, but a space where we can just come together as people without judgment.
00:20:35:04 - 00:21:05:06
Speaker 3
And sometimes, you know, people hear the term Islamic Family and they assume that we're propagating the faith. You know, we're providing a space where you could be in whatever stage of that faith or lack thereof, but a space where you could be yourself. And sometimes when we don't have spaces or we don't create that sense of welcome, when we don't let people know that you could be you in this space, people will be withdrawn, people will hold back, and they'll never feel like they can truly connect.
00:21:05:10 - 00:21:11:14
Speaker 1
That's... I really like how you frame like it's a third space.
00:21:11:16 - 00:21:31:10
Speaker 1
Again, we were talking about creativity. So I think you'll like this question. So it's open for everyone. So if you had to summarize the role Islamic Family plays in the Edmonton ecosystem or your own personal life in just five words, how would you do that? So we go around the table
00:21:31:10 - 00:21:36:07
Speaker 3
and do we get that five, five words?
00:21:36:09 - 00:21:38:10
Speaker 4
To describe something funny.
00:21:38:10 - 00:21:41:16
Speaker 1
Yeah. Okay. And the role it's played in your life.
00:21:41:17 - 00:21:45:20
Speaker 4
Okay.
00:21:45:21 - 00:21:47:02
Speaker 4
Let me think about it.
00:21:47:04 - 00:21:57:10
Speaker 3
Let me think about it. Yeah. I've already got it. Okay. So let's see, count out loud with everyone. Okay. So that it's why I'm here. Oh. Got in for four words.
00:21:57:10 - 00:21:57:21
Speaker 4
All right.
00:21:57:22 - 00:21:58:20
Speaker 2
It’s okay. Economical.
00:21:59:02 - 00:22:02:15
Speaker 1
Oh.
00:22:02:17 - 00:22:21:00
Speaker 2
No. You know, I think it's beauty and excellence. I just do two words and I'll explain it. I think doing that work with beauty is important. Going back to your previous question, what's important about our work is that it's relational. We're not trying to provide a transactional service. We're trying to build relationships with people.
00:22:21:00 - 00:22:43:05
Speaker 2
And by building relationships, we create the environment where they can flourish. You know, if we think about someone coming to our food bank, one of the things that they'll often say is, “I appreciate the service I got because someone greeted me with a smile.” You know, they were warm and kind to me. Yeah. And those things matter. You know, my dad was a small-town physician, even when he moved into the city.
00:22:43:05 - 00:23:03:03
Speaker 2
And one of the things he prided himself on was taking 30, 40 minutes with each one of his patients. And he's like, yeah, when I spent my time doing that small talk with people, oftentimes I didn't have to do a prescription right. I think there's something really powerful, right, in this time where we see like the medical system is trying to get people in and out in five minutes.
00:23:03:05 - 00:23:19:01
Speaker 2
We might be missing the bigger picture, which is that relational work is where the real work happens, where we set people up to feel whole, to tackle the onslaught that the world has for them. And it's the most important work we do,
00:23:19:03 - 00:23:27:21
Speaker 4
carrying on to work on my side. I think mine would be supporting the whole person. That goes back to the Islamic Family kind of slogans. Yeah. Awesome.
00:23:27:23 - 00:24:00:21
Speaker 1
Thank you so much, guys. And thank you. That conversation with Omar, Ibrahim and Ali really changes the status quo of how we care about our neighbors. And a huge thank you to everyone and the team at Islamic Family for the work they do every day. If you love what we talked about—Islamic Family or The Green Room or the Youth Empowerment program—they're always looking for volunteers and allies to create those safe spaces around Edmonton.
00:24:00:23 - 00:24:23:19
Speaker 1
If you're ready to get involved, side note in the description down below. So for us are not alone enough. If we inspire you, you got to experience this place yourself as we said. So again, I'm your host, Vasu, and reminding you that when we lead with dignity, we don't just serve our community. We strengthen it. So do local good everyone.
00:24:23:19 - 00:24:25:15
Speaker 1
And thank you for listening.
00:24:25:17 - 00:24:28:04
Speaker 2
Thank you.