The Latest from Cville Tulips
Building Connections:
Cville Tulips Outreach Activities in 2025
Cville Tulips is frequently invited to “table”: to participate in community events to share resources, connect with new families, recruit volunteers, and engage with community partners. “Tabling” also resembles a tradition that Afghan and Syrian families know well. The word dastarkhān in Dari refers to the act of laying out a cloth and sharing food and tea to bring people together.
At Cville Tulips, we believe that strong communities depend on connection and collaboration. We work with local organizations, schools, and family-serving programs—especially those connected to refugee support—to strengthen the network of care in Charlottesville and expand access to services for the Afghan and Syrian communities we serve. Through community tabling, outreach, and ongoing relationship-building, we connect families to opportunities, share information across partner networks, and create clear pathways for families to find the help they need.
Here is a summary of the tablings and outreach activities we had in 2025:
Community Tabling and Outreach – 2025
Jan 27: UVA Spring Activity Fair
March 27-30: Community Tabling at Culbreth Theater
May 24: Multicultural Fair
Aug 7: Back to School Bash
Aug 26: Can I Talk to you Cville
Aug 28: After School Activity Fair at 1st St
Aug 25: UVA Fall Activity Fair
Sep 27: Healthy Birth Healthy Baby Expo
Oct 9: SSAS Family Program Meeting at CHS
Oct 17: Student Leaders Panel for ACPS Student Senate
Dec 4: Art Therapy with ArtLords at Newcomb Hall
Dec 11: Trailblazer International Night
Cville Tulips Featured in WUVA
Cville Tulips Receives Award at
UVA Valedictory Exercises 2025
A Class of 2025 trustee Meghana Annamaneni presents the award to Marjan Omranian and Paige Roeschenthaler (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
On May 16, 2025, during the UVA Valedictory Exercises, the Seven Society presented the James Earle Sargeant Award to Cville Tulips. This is the full text of the award letter:
“This afternoon, The Seven Society is honored to celebrate a student organization that has dedicated itself to enriching the University community, Cville Tulips. Growing from an immediate need in our community, Cville Tulips has been a bastion of resilience, community, and hope for Afghan, Syrian, and other refugee women and their families since 2022. It is The Seven Society's great privilege to celebrate Cville Tulips as the recipient of this year's James Earle Sargeant Award.
A product of the Sound Justice Lab at the University and supported by Madison House volunteers, Cville Tulips hosts gatherings for Afghan women that provide critical English language and health education, care and programming for their children, and community-building opportunities. These gatherings are the organization's bread and butter and reflect precisely what our University community needs more of. Cville Tulips is a home and source of joy for important members of our town and a thoughtful way for students, faculty, and staff to strengthen our University's relationship with the broader Charlottesville community. More than just thoughtful lesson plans and curricula, Cville Tulips emphasizes what it means to create meaningful relations - centering love, friendship, and kindness in each of their community gatherings. Cville Tulips and its volunteers have created a space that welcomes and offers a helping hand to immigrants at a time when we, as a University and a country, need it most.
As The Seven Society reflects upon the diverse ways Cville Tulips has contributed to the enrichment of our community, we find ourselves inspired by the dedication, care, and thoughtful ways in which Cville Tulips has stepped up to support some of the most marginalized members of our community. Through the impactful work that they do, Cville Tulips and its volunteers continue to teach us all what it means to love one's neighbor, benevolently harness the power of education, and support one's community. Cville Tulips serves as a beacon of hope at our University striving to embody the values of what it means to be a citizen- scholar and using one's knowledge and education for the betterment of others. The Seven Society holds in high esteem the impact they have made and eagerly awaits the ways Cville Tulips will continue to grow here on Grounds and beyond.”
Cville Tulips Teens
Host Radio Show
on WXTJ 100.1 FM
A few times per year middle and high school students involved in Cville Tulips take to the airwaves to share some of their favorite songs with the public. The playlists include music by artists from Afghanistan, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Tajikistan, and even a little Taylor Swift.
Watch: Danait Haddish discusses Cville Tulips and Teen Radio Show on NBC 29!
Thank you to the UVA Parents Program
for supporting this project!
Cville Tulips was honored to meet with the 2024 Mandela Fellows
The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders brings accomplished innovators and leaders to the United States for six weeks to study civic engagement and share about their work. We hosted a panel on the theme of “Creative Activism” highlighting the work of Cville Tulips and PVCC’s Higher Education in Prison Program and we learned about a variety of programs from the fellows, including creativity in environmental activism in Ethiopia, international gender justice legal work in Nigeria, and programming for young refugees in Tanzania.
Thursday, July 11, 2024