Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN)

The Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) is a community-based nonprofit that works for social justice, delivers a range of social services, and cultivates the arts in urban communities. IMAN was formed in 1995 and incorporated in 1997 by Muslim students, community residents and leaders responding to the pervasive symptoms of inner-city poverty and abandonment. IMAN sought to create a community organization driven by the spiritual ideals of community service, social justice and human compassion. Within two short years, a diverse network of students, residents and various institutions throughout the Chicagoland area joined IMAN in working to develop a full-fledged community organization that sought to embody the principles of those lofty ideals. Organizers and volunteers strove to make IMAN a holistic community organization that offered a range of programming and services while organizing to affect positive social change. While led by Muslims, IMAN sought from the outset to work for and along side community residents of all ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds: a commitment clearly reflected in the constituency that IMAN serves and organizes with through its many programs and projects. Vision: To foster a dynamic and vibrant space for Muslims in Urban America by inspiring the larger community towards critical civic engagement exemplifying prophetic compassion in the work for social justice and human dignity beyond the barriers of religion, ethnicity, and nationality. Our services, organizing and arts agenda stem from our spiritual convictions about community service, human compassion, and social justice, particularly for marginalized people of color. IMAN categorizes all of its work to serve and empower disadvantaged individuals and communities within three broad areas: o Direct Services o Organizing & Social Justice o Arts & Culture