On June 24, 2006; members of the community gathered at the behest of the “Moroccan-Americans of the Greater Washington Area” (MAGWA) volunteers. The members formed 3 groups to work in a workshop fashion for the purpose of brainstorming and collecting ideas. The groups interacted in an inclusive, productive environment, and culminated their efforts with a number of recommendations that we, as volunteers, have summarized to the best of our abilities. They generally fall within five categories:
• Networking and organizing tools
• Activities and events
• Funding and resources
• Community’s expectations from the authorities
• Moroccan territorial integrity

A- Networking and organizing tools:

The members recommend the following:
1. The creation of a website for the group. Names suggested include: - Moroccans in North America, MINA.org - Moroccan American Network:, MAN.org - Moroccan American Network Database, MANDB.org - WMUSA or WMORA, WeMoroccans-USA.org or WeMoroccans.org
2. The adoption of a theme - suggestion: Unity, Tolerance, Identity, Synergy.
3. The creation of a Board of Directors and Committees
4. The Establishment of a fee based membership
5. The efficient advertisement of events and activities

B- Activities and events:

The members recommend the following:
1. Organize social, economical, and educational conferences
2. Organize community cook-Outs
3. Organize Moroccan fashion shows
4. Organize Sports events and galas
5. Celebrate national holidays
6. Celebrate religious holidays
7. Organize a yearly Moroccan festival
8. Solicit Zaqat for the benefit of poor countrymen
9. Communicate Moroccan issues to the community at large through various means
10. Help facilitate marriages
11. Help promote interchangeable relationships between Moroccan-Americans and Moroccans inland.
12. Help promote good relations between the Moroccan community and the society at large.
13. Celebrate community members achievements in all fields
14. Provide the community with information about Moroccan groups
15. Work to ensure more involvement of women and youth in civic and organizational work

C- Funding and resources:

The members recommended the following:
1. Institute a fee based membership
2. Organize fundraising events
3. Look for sponsors amongst business owners and other donors
4. Make T-shirts with interesting logos and make them available for purchase during events and through the website
5. Organize silent auctions during events

D- Community’s expectations from authorities?

The members suggested making the following requests to the Moroccan authorities:
1. Take measures to provide a better schedule (longer hours for instance) for community oriented services
2. Take measures to simplify and streamline rules
3. Take measures to provide other services like marriage registration, “Etat Civile”, birth certificates, and other family oriented services.
4. Take measures to provide services like CIN, passports, and other civic documents on a wider scale (I.E in many locations).
5. Take measures to provide better reception and ensure that the front desk employees treat community members with dignity, professionalism, and ease.
6. Take measures to implement a rating system and a “Comments Box”, then follow-up with adequate reviews of the community input
7. Take measures to encourage and provide better assistance to community members willing to make economic and social investments in Morocco.
8. Find ways to make the home-bound vacation easier for community members, including urging the Moroccan airline to provide better air-fares and more take-off locations.

E- The Moroccan territorial integrity issue

The members recommend the following:
1. Provide information about the latest developments concerning the issue
2. Keep the community informed as developments take place
3. Devise a medium by which to identify the representatives stands vis-à-vis Moroccan issues.
4. Inform the community when it is necessary to contact their representatives concerning Moroccan issues
5. Provide the community with information about how to help
6. Provide the community with arguments and talking points
7. Encourage members of the community to register and vote
8. Encourage members of the community to be more involved in civic and political work
9. Create better coordination between divers Moroccan groups on the issue.
10. Invite other Americans to help

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Highlights of Recommendations from the 1^st Moroccan-Americans Convention

During the 1^st Moroccan Americans convention On June 24, 2006; members of the community formulated recommendations related to a number of issues. The high level summary of the recommendations consists of the following main topics:

1. The creation of a community based network entity consisting of a coordinating group of volunteers who can make can use of all available networking and communication tools, within a structured framework, to coordinate efforts for the purpose of strengthening the community ties, helping it reach its great potentials, and allowing it to play a positive role in the society as a whole and to help the mother country as well.
2. The urging of the Moroccan authorities to provide better, quicker, more accessible, and wider range services to the community.
3. The gathering and dissemination of relevant documents and information related to the Moroccan territorial integrity.

MAGWA, in its capacity as a transitional committee, ensured the concerns of the community are acknowledged by the Ambassadorial and Consolatory entities. Steps have been taken by the authorities to answer some of those concerns, but communication of the measures to the community at large has not been exemplary.

On the Moroccan territorial integrity issue, MAGWA has obtained, grouped, and summarized much information related to the matter. A compact disk (CD) has been duplicated and distributed.

On the community network, the volunteers have been working on a proposal that includes the mission, the platform and the structure of the group. The proposal will be discussed for finalization during the afternoon workshops.