Grantees

For the past 10 years, the Association of Muslim Chaplains (AMC) has been supporting the professional development of Muslims who provide spiritual care as chaplains in communities and in public/private institutions in the United States, while promoting the advancement of the field of Islamic Chaplaincy. The TCIF grant will help AMC collaborate with universities and Islamic centers to implement an innovative pilot initiative to counter anti-Black racism in non-Black Muslim communities.

Project Name: AMC Speakers Bureau: Prophet Muhammad’s Love for Diversity and Inclusion

Target Area: Racial Justice

Grant Amount: $3,324

Grant Period: July 2021 – September 2021

Target Issue:

The murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2022 and the subsequent social uprisings served as a catalyst for conversations around racial justice in the United States, including within the Muslim American community. The Association of Muslim Chaplains (AMC) held a listening and healing session to address the needs and concerns of its members, learning from the lived experiences of members who had experienced racism, and who felt that many masjids had little if any contact with Black Islamic speakers. 

Response:

In response, AMC utilized funds granted by The Community Impact Fund’s Racial Justice Grant to launch the AMC Speakers Bureau. The project aimed to address anti-Black bias in Muslim congregations by implementing a pilot program in a select group of universities and masjids by educating participants about Prophet Muhammad’s (peace and blessing be upon him) love for diversity and inclusion. Expert Black Muslim community leaders were selected by AMC to lead the programming. Grant funds supported the design, implementation, evaluation, and documentation of this program.

Implementation:

The program was conducted virtually at two college campuses, two community centers, and one masjid. AMC advertised the events by sending flyers to its member chaplains, a group of over 200, who distributed them to their respective groups. Sessions were booked with interested community centers, masjids, and Muslim Student Associations at various colleges and universities, and targeted Muslim community members over the age of 18. Each session consisted of a participant survey, a presentation focused on the Prophet Muhammad’s love for diversity and inclusion, and an opportunity for group discussion. Through the implementation process, and in response to participant feedback and presenter notes, AMC honed the presentation in order to make the greatest impact on the participants. After each presentation, AMC conducted debrief sessions with each site collaborator. These conversations indicated that the program length was effective and the method of engagement impacted the participants. While attendance was not consistent site to site, the pilot program allowed AMC to continue to develop its processes to foster conversation around racial justice within the Muslim American community.

College communities served: 2

Nonprofits served: 2

Masjids served: 1

Attendance:

Swarthmore College (PA): 9

Villanova University (PA): 5

Muslim Space (TX): 5

Center DC (Washington DC): 20

Upper Westchester Muslim Society (NY): 20

Lessons Learned:

• Through this pilot program, AMC identified successes and opportunities for future, larger-scale racial justice programming. The initial presentation was academic and lackluster and was revamped to include more attractive visuals.
• Based on their observations, AMC hypothesizes that the disparity in attendance between sites may be attributed to the following factors which can inform later iterations of the program:
  • Center DC was established as a multicultural alternative space for youth to gather and engage with both their spiritual development and issues that impact their lives as Muslims. There had been a years-long infrastructure of programming addressing critical needs in the Muslim community, including racism. The already built-in audience for these types of topics translated into a greater attendance than in some of the other institutions. 
  • Prior to this year, the Muslim communities at the colleges had not been very active. To engage with a topic as sensitive as racism in the Muslim community requires trust, and these communities were not as prepared to discuss the topics as AMC had predicted. 
  • Mosques have historically steered clear of issues addressed in the unmosqued series (a previous initiative of AMC which focused on facilitating conversations through mosques and community centers) such as racial and gender exclusion patterns in those spaces. As a result, it was not a surprise that the mosque generated the lowest attendance at this virtual event. 
• AMC felt that virtual engagement in the face of the COVID pandemic presented itself first as an opportunity and later as a challenge for engagement. While virtual gatherings were the only initial mode of engagement, when universities reopened there was increased interest in participating in in-person events rather than virtual ones.
• AMC learned that mosques, which are organizations most in need of this training, demonstrated the most resistance to it. This implies that a different, more long-term strategy should be employed to foster inclusion in these spaces.