The Arab American Civic Council is leading engagement in state and local redistricting to ensure that the Arab community is seen, heard, and empowered as district boundaries are redrawn. This is our chance to ensure fair political representation for Arab Americans for the next ten years.

What is Redistricting?

Every ten years following each decennial Census, state and local electoral districts have to be redrawn to make sure each district has an equal population. How district lines are drawn determines state and congressional representation.

Why is it important?

These representatives make decisions that are important to the members of the community. District demographics directly influence the priorities of elected officials and their obligation to respond to the needs of the community. When voters with similar interests are drawn into a district together, their combined voices give them a greater opportunity to express their views, to be heard, to elect candidates of their choice, and to hold their leaders accountable.

There’s a significant number of Arab community residents and businesses in West Anaheim around what is unofficially known as Little Arabia, which is on and around Brookhurst Street primarily between Crescent Avenue and Katella Avenue. Little Arabia is home to more than one hundred small businesses, including ethnic grocery stores, restaurants, cafes, hair salons, professional services, as well as religious institutions, and nonprofit organizations that serve the community in various capacities.

Anaheim’s Little Arabia is a welcoming cultural destination, and a safe space for Arabic-speaking immigrants as well as other immigrants and refugees from the SWANA region.

It is important that the Arab community be taken into consideration in the new district maps. It is important that Little Arabia be kept whole in the legislative districts you draw because of the shared social needs of the community and the needs of small business owners.

Make Your Voice Heard