Taneeza Islam
Founder, South Dakota Voices for Peace and South Dakota Voices for Justice
First recorded December 10, 2020
Taneeza Islam moved to Sioux Falls with her family in 2012. In 2013 she was awarded a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship and started her private immigration law practice. In 2017 she co-founded and started the work of South Dakota Voices for Peace and South Dakota Voices for Justice.
Taneeza launched South Dakota Voices for Peace's legal services program in November 2019 to provide the state's only free legal service to children in immigration court and domestic violence survivors who are immigrants.
In response to COVID-19, Taneeza led the effort to create the South Dakota Immigrant Fund, which South Dakota Voices for Peace staff administers in partnership with the South Dakota Dream Coalition. To date, she has led the effort to raise $938,000 for the fund, which will reach close to 3,000 immigrant led households across the state.
In response to the murder of George Floyd and the national movement which has sprung into action, Taneeza led the effort to partner with 24 leaders of color and allies to create the South Dakota Justice and Equity Coalition, which is focusing their work on community safety and justice reform in South Dakota.
Taneeza has spoken at TedxUSD ("When Social Justice Work Meets Entrepreneurship") and TEDxBrookings ("Imported Hate: When Islamophobia Meets Rural America"). South Dakota Voices for Peace is a recipient of the JMKaplan Innovation Prize in 2019, and Bush Foundation Community Innovation Award in 2020. This fall, Taneeza received national "Muslims Making Change" recognition for her COVID-19 efforts in South Dakota by Muslim Advocates.