A national American initiative aimed for empowering Muslim youth and families hosted a town hall on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, in a bid to make Muslim kids feel more comfortable talking about their challenges, NBC41 reported.

“We, in 2019 should be at the point where our youth should be able to come forward, discuss these issues,” said Zerqa Abid, Founder and Executive Director of My Project USA.

“We need to do our very best to protect and empower these youth. People mostly in our community try to keep these issues under the rug.” 

Saturday’s event was held with the aim to bring attention to issues impacting Muslim youth in the community.

Some topics discussed were family violence, drug abuse, and mental health awareness.

Abid added that it was vital to bring the community together around these important issues.

“We feel that our Muslim community needs to come together, our elected officials need to come together and we need to do our very best to protect and empower these youth,” said Abid.

Headquartered in Hilltop area of Columbus, My project USA is a national initiative to protect and empower our youth and families.

At My Project US, all members, either young and old, boys and girls, parents and children work together to protect, nurture, and empower youth, communities, and country.

​Muslims in Ohio

The Pew Research Center estimated in 2017 that 3.45 million Muslims were living in the United States, up from 2.35 million in 2007. In the country, and in Ohio, Muslims make up about 1% of the population, according to a 2014 Pew study.

The number of Muslims in Columbus, Ohio, has been growing significantly recently, with many seeing this having a great and positive impact on the economy.

Columbus City Councilman Emmanuel Remy attributes the increase in immigrant and Muslim population to the fact that Columbus is a great city for refugees, immigrants and new Americans.

The nonpartisan American Immigration Council said 42% of adult immigrants living in Ohio had a college degree or higher in 2015.