July 2026 Impact Report:
MSS Takes Its Case to City Hall at Mayor Mamdani's Muslim Leaders Roundtable
On July 2, 2026, Dr. Jahangir Kabir, Director of Operations and Communications at MUNA Social Services, walked into City Hall for Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s roundtable with Muslim leaders from across New York City.
He was one of more than 40 leaders representing Muslim communities from all five boroughs, brought together by the Mayor and NYC agency partners for a collaborative discussion on how the city can better serve its Muslim residents. The room carried real weight. Imams, community organizers, nonprofit directors, and civic leaders all in one place, talking directly with the Mayor’s office about what their communities need.
Dr. Kabir did not just attend. He used the opportunity to speak directly to an issue that sits at the core of MSS’s work. During the discussion, he thanked Mayor Mamdani for increasing baseline funding for the Community Food Connection program, an important step toward addressing food insecurity across the city. He then went further, proposing that MSS’s existing network of 26 halal food pantries and 15 MUNA masjids be leveraged as a bridge to bring vital city services directly into local communities.
The reach of that network is significant. Across 5 boroughs, 17 Council Districts, 19 Assembly Districts, 14 Senate Districts, and 10 U.S. Congressional Districts, MSS and MUNA already have trusted, established relationships with the families and neighborhoods that city services are trying to reach. Dr. Kabir’s proposal was simple: use what is already there.
Getting a seat at that table matters. But what you do with it matters more. MSS went to City Hall with a concrete idea and made the case for why it would work.
MSS and Council Member Nurse Visit Boitakkhana After Molotov Cocktail Attack
On July 7, 2026, Dr. Jahangir Kabir, Director of Operations and Communications at MUNA Social Services, joined Council Member Sandy Nurse to visit Boitakkhana, a restaurant in East New York, one day after it became the target of a criminal attack.
On the evening of July 6, 2026, an unknown individual threw a Molotov cocktail inside the restaurant while customers were present. By a stroke of luck, no one was injured. The NYPD’s 75th Precinct is actively investigating the incident.
For a small business in East New York, an attack like this is not just a physical threat. It is an attack on the livelihood of the owner, the safety of the neighborhood, and the fabric of a community that has worked hard to build something. Boitakkhana is not just a restaurant. It is part of the neighborhood.
Dr. Kabir and Council Member Sandy Nurse showed up the very next day. Not with a statement. Not with a press release. In person, at the restaurant, standing with the owner and showing the community that what happened was not going to be ignored.
That kind of presence matters. When something goes wrong in East New York, MSS shows up. It has been doing that since 2020, through COVID, through food crises, through storms, and now through this.
The 75th Precinct continues to investigate.
MSS Brings the Food insecurity Conversation to Assemblywoman Nikki Lucas
On July 7, 2026, Dr. Jahangir Kabir, Director of Operations and Communications at MUNA Social Services, sat down with Assemblywoman Nikki Lucas to discuss food insecurity in East New York.
The conversation was direct and grounded in the realities MSS sees every day. Families stretching too little food too far. Seniors on fixed incomes who cannot make ends meet. Parents who walk through NEFAP pantry doors because there are no other options. Dr. Kabir brought that picture to the table, and Assemblywoman Lucas listened.
She did more than listen. Assemblywoman Lucas acknowledged that MSS is doing important work in East New York in the fight against food insecurity and committed her support to the organization going forward.
That commitment carries real weight. East New York is one of the most food insecure neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The need does not shrink on its own. It takes elected officials who understand the scale of the problem and are willing to back the organizations doing the work on the ground. Assemblywoman Lucas made clear she is one of those officials.
For MSS, meetings like this are as important as the distributions themselves. The food gets to families because of the warehouse operations, the volunteers, and the pantry partners. But the resources and support that keep those operations running come from relationships built in rooms like this one.
MSS looks forward to continuing to work with Assemblywoman Lucas as it expands its food access programs across East New York and beyond.
Aim High Academy Jamaica Tables at MUNA Jamaica West Chapter BBQ
On a packed afternoon in Jamaica, Queens, the MUNA Jamaica West Chapter hosted a BBQ that drew over 400 attendees. Aim High Academy Jamaica was there, set up at a table and ready to talk to every family that walked by.
A lot of them did.
Dr. Jahangir Kabir, Director of Operations and Communications at MSS, was on the ground alongside Abdullah Tareque Muhammad, Special Education Advisor at MSS, and Md. Jahangir, Site Supervisor of Aim High Academy Jamaica. The team used the event to connect directly with families in the neighborhood, share information about the program, and introduce Jamaica residents to what Aim High has to offer right in their backyard.
Aim High Academy Jamaica, located at 166-15 89th Ave, is the newest addition to the Aim High network, offering SHSAT preparation and homework help for students from 2nd through 11th grade. For many families at the BBQ, this was their first time hearing about the program. For others, it was a chance to ask questions and get real answers from the people running it.
That is the value of showing up to events like this. Flyers only go so far. Sitting at a table, talking face to face with parents who are thinking about their kids’ futures, that is how trust gets built and how a new program takes root in a new community.
With the Jamaica location still in its early months, community outreach like this is exactly how MSS plants the flag and lets the neighborhood know Aim High is here to stay.
28,500 Individuals Fed in July. Here Is How NEFAP Did It.
Across pantry sites in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, NEFAP distributed 478,000 pounds of food to 28,500 individuals in a single month. That is not a small number. That is families across four states opening boxes of fresh produce, rice, lentils, canned goods, and halal meat, food that was selected specifically because it is what these communities actually eat.
Summer hit hard this year. With school lunch programs on pause and household budgets stretched thin during the hottest months of the year, pantry lines were long and the need was real. NEFAP did not flinch.
“July is always intense,” said Abul Kashem, Director of Warehouse Operations at MSS. “The volume we moved this month, 478,000 pounds, that does not happen without an entire team locked in from the warehouse to the last mile. Every driver, every volunteer, every pantry partner showed up. I am proud of every single one of them.”
The families who depend on NEFAP felt it too.
“This program has been a lifeline for my family, especially in the summer when everything gets more expensive,” said Nadia R., a mother of four from East New York. “The food is always fresh, always halal, always something we can actually cook. That matters more than people realize.”
Fatima K., a grandmother from Kensington who has been coming to her local pantry for over a year, put it simply.
“I tell everyone in my building about this place. You come, they treat you with respect, and you go home with real food. That is not something you take for granted.”
From masjids in Brooklyn to partner sites across the region, the NEFAP network ran at full capacity in July. Volunteers sorted, packed, and distributed thousands of boxes. Staff coordinated logistics across dozens of sites. And 28,500 people went home with food.
That is the work. Every single month.