Initiative 3: Building Civic Leadership Capacity Programs
Across the nation, the American Muslim community has built masjids, schools, businesses, and social services. We are a young, diverse, and resilient community.
Our stories are inspiring, and yet, in the landscape of power brokers, American Muslims are still weak in civic leadership, policy, and politics. This is at the center of Initiative 3: Strengthening Civic Leadership.
Young Adults Civic Leaders Fellowship
All Coalition one pagers, lapel pin design, branding, graphic design, logos, and community organizing is developed and executed by young adults. "This is a pretty amazing testament to the youth development that the Coalition leads" says a 2024 Coalition Intern.
According to ISPU and Muslim Civic Coalition research, 50% of our community is under the age of 35. The moment is now - to strengthen the leadership of young adults ages 18-30, and build capacity in them, as well as those who directly work and support them; educators, chaplains, healthcare workers, etc.
“Coalition turned me into a professional. What began as my very first internship became a defining chapter in my life. Through mentorship, leadership opportunities, and a deep commitment to youth development, Coalition gave me the tools to grow, the space to lead, and the confidence to carry my work forward. Beyond just the skills I gained, I’m most grateful for the connections and community I found here. I will always consider myself part of the Coalition’s mission and will contribute whenever possible.”
—Hamza, Coalition Intern and Fellow
“Serving as a co-lead for the Muslim Civic Coalition Fellowship, I worked closely with people from diverse backgrounds and engaged with leaders doing powerful work across the country. Hearing about their initiatives and community projects was deeply inspiring and expanded my own vision for leadership.”
—Yaminah, Coalition Fellow
Supporting Local Partners and Allies:
Supporting Statewide Partners Across the Nation
The Coalition launched in Illinois, the state with the largest per capita Muslim population in the nation. In the last 7 years, we have created systems and templates – of civic success and also of lessons learned through failures.
For the past three years, our team has counseled and supported dozens of organizational leaders, and our impact has been showcased as a national model at conferences and convenings across the country. Coalition leaders and sector experts have delivered workshops that help organizations either build systems and sustainability from the ground up or advance to their next phase of growth with fully operational processes, resources, and mentorship.
The Coalition has also provided briefings, templates, and hands-on support to state and national organizations engaged in civic work. We are one of the few organizations that consistently identifies, drafts, organizes, and helps pass legislation year after year. All of our resources are open source, and our team of experts remains available for consultation.
*We help 501c3 and 501c4 launch with strong systems and processes with workshops and toolkits.
* Coalition provides support as a fiscal or organizational sponsor.
* Coalition Microgrants and sponsorships. Your organization’s mission and scope may be social services, religious services, schools, etc. To help support and supplement Civic Justice efforts in specific instances (which we all have to do somehow), the Coalition sponsors or provides sponsorships for events at $500 and micro-grants up to $5,000 to help your team provide Civic Justice activities such as voter engagement and turnout, education on new laws, briefings with public officials, hire a Fellow to coordinate this work, etc.
Providing Nationwide Resources and Convenings
Imagine the collective impact of specialized regional powerhouse organizations in the top 15 Muslim populated states! We officially started working towards this with a small grant provided in 2024 that has now sunset. We codified our processes by building systems and templates so other organizations and communities can quickly learn and ramp up this work – and when they share their work with us, it’s a win for our entire American Muslim Ummah; NJ, WI, NC, GA, UT, MI, IN, TX, and a couple of new states and regions.
Coalition co-convened a policy conference in 2022, 2024, and in 2025, bringing together dozens of organization leaders focusing on critical policy and protections for our communities.
“The [August 15th convening in Washington, DC] convening was invaluable in helping us expand our local coalition to a national level by connecting with leaders and organizations across the country. Through our partnership with Muslim Civic Coalition, we are aligning with a larger vision that strengthens our team and amplifies our community’s voice.” —Dr. Arbazz and Husam Suleiman, Muslim Visionaries, California
“The convening was a much needed reunion of well intended, well prepared, national Muslim leaders. It energized and inspired us to go back to our communities to continue the ongoing work of educating our brothers and sisters on the Islamic duty to get civically engaged, in order to change the tide. It also provided physical examples that we can use in guiding the youth to go into educational tracks that can produce that change: legal, political. The Muslim Civic Coalition leadership was key in leading us to attend. We are collaborating with them in initiatives that they have led and are an important source of knowledge and inspiration for us to continue our work in NC.” —Dr. Mimi Aljabi, Muslim American Public Affairs Council, North Carolina
UMCL appreciated being included in the convening on Aug 15 2025 by the Muslim Civic Coalition, whereby we were able to meet with all the organizations working across the country. The discussion allowed to learn the similarity of the challenges we faced in the current environment. The most important after understanding the commonality was the discussion surrounding various strategies being deployed by each organization and options for sharing resources and strategies. We hope to utilize the learning from the convening into partnerships in the Mountain West region. —Luna Banuri, Utah Muslim Civic League
Civic Appointments and Trainings
Since 2018, the Coalition has developed a database of experts across the region ready to be appointed to boards and commissions. Then the Coalition works with partners and allies to ensure our diverse communities have a pipeline to leadership.
The Coalition partners with New Americans Leaders, former Congressman Jamaal Bowman’s Built to Win PAC, and other leadership strengthening organizations to provide candidate and staff training - to prepare the next set of elected officials.