INNER-CITY MUSLIM ACTION NETWORK (IL)

Program Description
Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on community building and development in the inner city through the empowerment of its people. The organization was established in the fall of 1995 by a group of Muslim students concerned with the increase in poverty in the Chicago's inner city. IMAN strives to create a network of Muslims and non-Muslims who work together to
effect positive change using the prophetic model to become trustworthy and inspiring agents of such change. Driven by the Islamic ethic of serving humanity, IMAN has initiated an array of programs and projects that seek to effect real and positive social change. In order to achieve its goals and keep its vision relevant, IMAN has developed a diverse membership and staff, which includes community residents, youth, professionals, and students.

IMAN offers services to the increasing number of Muslim men and women who are incarcerated in the Cook County Jail. Currently, IMAN participates closely with the leadership of currently incarcerated Muslims in the jail to coordinate yearly holiday festivals and to provide information about Islam to
interested inmates. IMAN is also expanding its mission to reach beyond the prison gates. Its new prison outreach program is designed to improve outcomes for children, families, and prisoners. To achieve its mission, IMAN is developing, implementing, and pursuing a broad range of reentry strategies, including post-release services, community linkages, resource development, volunteerism, public education, professional training. and crime prevention.

Program Goals
The goal of the prison outreach program is to provide inmates reentering Chicago's communities with a comprehensive, systematic continuum of services, including, but not limited to, employment, pro-social skills development, and linkages to community services and resources.

Networking, Partnering & Collaboration
IMAN is forging relationships with community, faith, and corrections agencies as it develops its prison outreach program. The organization currently collaborates with the Southwest Youth Collaborative, a Latino-American church, and the Arab American Action Network for the IMAN after-school program, which seeks to create an empowering environment through which issues of racism and prejudice can be addressed and confronted. In addition, IMAN has formed partnerships with the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, Youth Net, and the Southwest Youth Collaborative to focus on developing positive weekend/evening programs to serve as deterrents to the gangs that have presented such a deadly community problem in Chicago's 8th district.

Outcomes
No outcome information was provided.

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