Muslim Run & GOTV
During the next month, IMAN leaders will be hitting the pavement to register the community to vote. Six days a week, leaders will be stationed in and around three of our Muslim Run corner stores. As we continue to push to transform corner stores across Englewood and West Englewood into sites of community education and engagement, we believe that voter education and empowerment centered in and around these stores is a key tool to ensure that voices from the community are heard.
While registering voters, our leaders will be connecting with the residents on two key issues around which IMAN has been actively organizing: tax credits and minimum wage. Alongside community partners, IMAN recently helped to pass state legislation that provides incentives in the form of tax credits to companies that hire formerly incarcerated individuals. This piece of legislation greatly impacts many leaders from within IMAN and our Green Reentry program, and several have made the commitment to be a part of educating the community on this issue through voter engagement. In addition to the tax credit piece, leaders will be educating voters on the issue of raising the minimum wage to a level that could more realistically support working families in Illinois.
IMAN’s voter registration and issue education efforts are an opportunity to empower a historically disenfranchised community by encouraging residents to recognize that their vote, whether for a person or an issue, can create change. If you are interested in getting involved with registering voters and providing education around these issues, please contact Sara Hamdan (sara@imancentral.org).
IMAN’s voter registration and issue education efforts are supported by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Equal Voice for America’s Families.