Hedieh Mirahmadi is president of the World Organization for Resource Development and Education (WORDE), an educational organization whose mission is to enhance communication and understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim communities, and to strengthen moderate Muslim institutions worldwide to mitigate social and political conflict, and a past visiting fellow of The Washington Institute. She recently established the International Cultural Center, the first community center in the U.S. specifically focused on preventing radicalization through educational programming, community service, and community engagement with law enforcement.
Mirahmadi has briefed countless policymakers both in the U.S. and abroad, and has presented at conferences organized by the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the National Fusion Center, and the Director of National Intelligence. She currently serves on the LAPD’s Community Police Advisory Board, the Director of National Intelligence’s Heritage Council, and she was recently appointed to the Montgomery County Faith Community Advisory Board and the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families.
She has also led several innovative programs to explore counter-extremism initiatives in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2010, she hosted a high-level delegation, including a Federal Minister of Pakistan, to inform U.S. policymakers about the potential role of traditional-cultural Muslim networks in countering radicalism. Since 2011 she has co-sponsored “The Project for Islamic Cooperation for a Peaceful Future in Afghanistan,” an initiative that has networked over 200 Afghan community leaders, social activists, and former Taliban commanders with internationally renowned moderate religious scholars. She is also the co-author of a ground-breaking study based on field interviews in over 35 cities and villages across Pakistan to examine initiatives led by traditional Muslim networks to decrease sectarian and communal violence and promote peace-building. The WORDE Report, “Pakistan’s Civil Society: Alternative Channels to Countering Extremism” and its supplementary 275 page directory of civil society organizations is the first study of this magnitude and will be replicated in Afghanistan between 2012-2014.
With an undergraduate degree in history from UCLA, she earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Southern California and a degree in Islamic doctrine from the As-Sunnah Foundation.
