If we\u2019re not looking at what caused the insecurities and how we can prevent them from growing, then we\u2019re not actually helping or creating long-term change.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s just one issue the 27-year-old plans to tackle as the first Muslim woman elected to public office in North Carolina. In December, Allam began a four-year term on the Durham County (N.C.) Board of Commissioners. The board oversees a $639 million budget that funds public services for a county of more than 321,000 people\u2009\u2014\u200914% of whom live in poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allam, a Democrat, sees elective office as a way to carry on her slain friends\u2019 commitment to neighbors in need. She especially hopes to tackle food insecurity and support local groups that are addressing it. \u201cIf we\u2019re not looking at what caused the insecurities and how we can prevent them from growing,\u201d she says, \u201cthen we\u2019re not actually helping or creating long-term change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than a quarter of the county budget goes to schools, and Allam sees improving staff pay and repairing buildings as urgent needs. Investing in public schools is vital, she says, to make sure Durham\u2019s graduates can compete for good-paying jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allam plans to juggle her position with a full-time job as a director of the State Innovation Exchange, a nonprofit providing logistical support to politically progressive officials across North Carolina. Allam hopes her example will inspire others, especially young Muslim girls, to get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGetting involved in politics doesn\u2019t mean you have to run for president,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s really all about working for your community.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n
By Carole Tanzer Miller<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Nida Allam\u2019s career plans took a turn in 2015, when three Muslim friends were gunned down by a neighbor in a hate crime in Chapel Hill, N.C. Allam \u201915 had planned to be a project manager. But the slayings of Deah Barakat \u201913, his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha \u201914, and Yusor\u2019s sister Razan Abu-Salha were a siren call to service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the things all three of them did was cook a bunch of meals and go serve homeless populations in downtown Raleigh and downtown Durham,\u201d Allam says. \u201cThat\u2019s defin-itely something I want to emulate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n