Syed Mansoor Alam is the founder and current director of The Enough Foundation, and its sister group, Enough Advocacy, a student-led nonprofit organization based out of Cheshire, Connecticut

Cheshire, Connecticut

Cheshire is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 28,543 at the 2000 census. The center of population of Connecticut is located in Cheshire. In 2009 Cheshire was ranked 72 in Money Magazine's 100 Best Places to Live.Likewise, in 2011 Cheshire was ranked 73 in...

. He is a published author, businessman, a social entrepreneur focused on non-profit marketing, as well as a political activist concerned with issues pertaining to race and youth engagement.As of August 2011, Alam is the youngest organization consultant to the United Nations, specifically to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Personal life

Alam is a graduate of Dodd Middle School, and graduated from Cheshire High School

Cheshire High School

Cheshire High School is located on Route 10 across from Bartlem Park in Cheshire, Connecticut. It is 15 miles north of New Haven and south of Hartford...

 in Cheshire, Connecticut. He matriculated at Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 in the fall of 2011. Alam is a practicing Muslim of Irish-Pakistani descent. He is a noted speaker on social entrepreneurship, religious and racial discrimination, as well as youth activism and Muslim engagement in government.

Humanitarian work

Alam founded the nonprofit organization Enough Advocacy, known simply as "Enough", as a junior in high school. The group's focus is to promote "peace, progress, and unity" through collaborative work in communities and in schools. On January 1, 2011, Alam launched The Enough Foundation as the "charitable sister" to Enough Advocacy. The focus of the foundation is to encourage global community service by utilizing the "creativity and passion" of youth. Alam has headed many charitable initiatives. Notable among these initiatives is the "Project Pakistan", a student-led project that is working to build a school in a remote area north of Islamabad

Islamabad

Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...

 in Pakistan. The group has partnered with Ibtida USA to aid in competition of the project.The fundraising efforts for this project were marked by a benefit concert hosted on May 23, 2010 in Alam's home town, featuring Immortal Technique

Immortal Technique

Felipe Andres Coronel , better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper of Afro-Peruvian descent as well as an urban activist. He was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Harlem, New York. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics...

 and many others. The group plans to finish the project by 2012. Another benefit concert is slated for this summer.
Alam has spoken on race relations at Capitol Hill, the State Department, and the White House. His work earned him a nomination for the 2011 World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....

 in Davos, Switzerland. Alam was awarded the 2010 Be The Change award. Alam has been recognized for his work in race relations and humanitarian aid by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-5th District, among many others. He was featured in the 2011 Inaugural edition of the State Department newsletter. He is also a 2011 recipient of the Prudential Award for service to others. He will also be awarded the Presidential Award for Volunteer Service later this year. The Princeton Prize in Race Relations recently named Alam as a finalist for their annual award, though Alam asked to have his nomination rescinded before the final decisions were made, on account of what he claims was "improper judging etiquette". Alam was also the youngest attendee of the Secretary's Global Forum on Diaspora communities in Spring 2011.

Political work

Alam has lobbied for many Political Activism Committees, focusing on reform in legislation that may be considered discriminatory on the basis of race or religion. In early 2010, Alam spoke before members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 and the National Security Agency

National Security Agency

The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...

 regarding radicalization in Islam, as well as effective, constitutional legislation. Alam has also spoken before State and Federal legislatures, as well as members of the Senate, in an effort to increase federal funding and support of emergency relief programs, particularly in Pakistan and the Middle East. He has additionally volunteered extensively for the Democratic Party. On May 23, 2011 Alam testified at a Capitol hearing on hate crimes and racial profiling, in which he expressed the continued work that needs to be done in minority community relations. He is currently a project manager for CAIR

CAIR

- Fictional :* Cair Andros, a fictional island in Tolkien's fiction* Cair Paravel, a castle from C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia- Acronyms :* Council on American-Islamic Relations, American Muslim civil rights advocacy organization...

, as well as the social media director for Michael John Williams

Michael John Williams

Mike Williams is a noted next-generation expert on global affairs, former advisor for the Department of State, and former Congressional candidate for the 5th District of Connecticut. Williams is also the author of numerous books focusing on foreign affairs...

, a candidate for Connecticut's 5th Congressional district.

As an author

Alam's first book, entitled "Ten Years Older", was released on September 11, 2011 . According to the official book description: "A self-reflective memoir of activist and noted teen humanitarian Mansoor Alam.The stories revolve greatly around the September 11th attacks and the life changing events that would follow. Alam chronicles his childhood through stories and memories of growing up - from being forced to eat grass, to having dinner at the State Department. Please note that all profits will go directly to The Enough Foundation which is currently working to build a school in Pakistan." Alam has pledged to donate all profits to The Enough Foundation. Since its release, "Ten Years Older" has sold over 2,000 copies.

In Business

In November 2011 Alam announced the launching of Fort Box Publishing LLC, a not-for-profit publishing service targeted to "cause-minded" authors. According to the website, the name of the company was inspired by a former art teacher Alam had in school. The concept behind the company is the topic of Alam's next book entitled "A Cardboard Box", in which the theme of resourcefulness will play a major role. The website also makes mention of "Threads of a Generation : The Stories that Define Us", a collaborative effort of high school and college students to put together a collection of essays and other writings that work to show the "moments and events" that have shaped them.

External links