Become a Community Ambassador: Changing the Discourse About American Muslims
Nearly a year ago, IMAN partnered with the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), Chicago Community Trust and One Nation to launch the One Chicago, One Nation. The project brings together Chicagoans of diverse faiths and cultures, with an emphasis on the Muslim community, to get to know each other through addressing local needs. The effort included a successful film contest hosted by LinkTV, the training of over 100 youth and adult leaders and a series of dialogues hosted throughout the city to address pertinent local issues.
For 2011, we’ve heightened our focus on developing leaders and achieving concrete change in our communities. Community Ambassadors are proven community, campus and congregation leaders who will receive extensive training on managing interfaith dialogue and promoting a discourse of respect and cooperation across faith lines. They will learn from IFYC’s incredibly skilled trainers as well as draw from IMAN’s own unique model of community organizing to hone their skills in identifying allies, building bases and sustaining movements with respectful but effective tactics.
From a total cohort of 60 Community Ambassadors, 20 will work directly with IMAN on crafting a plan to create and sustain a more physically, spiritually, and economically healthy community on the Southwest Side of Chicago. Drawing from the arts, health and wellness work led by our free clinic, and with a focus on economic development, the Ambassadors will create IMAN’s Guide to Community Health and Wellness.
Plain and simple, there are 3 key reasons to apply for this year’s Community Ambassador cohort, specifically IMAN’s Community track:
- You will receive invaluable training and networking with like-minded, equally ambitious, individuals from across the city and suburbs
- Your contribution to a living guide on community improvement will be rewarded with a $2000 stipend
- There are no other fellow or internship opportunities with IMAN in 2011 so taking advantage of this chance to get involved in a high capacity is critical
If you love IMAN, and more importantly the work that we do; If you have just 10 hours to spare each week between February and May; If you are committed to the concept of interfaith cooperation; And if you’d like to join an effort that will alter both this community and the way Muslims are perceived as contributors to substantive change in America, YOU NEED TO APPLY TO BE A COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR.