University of Southern California

CRCC American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute

AMCLI Alumni

The following individuals have participated in the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute. To date, 64 fellows from three cohorts have participated in AMCLI.

Please note that some of the affiliations have changed subsequent to the program.

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Kasar Abdulla

Kasar Abdulla was born in Kurdistan of Iraq. When former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein waged war on the region in 1988, Kasar lost several family members and she was forced to become a refugee.

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Suzy Abu-Nie

Suzy Abu-nie has a strong commitment to contribute to society in a variety of ways as taught in Islam. She currently assists underserved Muslim women, men, and families with social and mental health services at Hyde Street Community Services in San Francisco.

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Junaid Afeef

Junaid M. Afeef is an attorney, community organizer and writer. He serves in the Office of General Counsel at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority where he works on a range of criminal justice policy matters.

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Amer Ahmad

Amer Ahmad is the comptroller of the City of Chicago, appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Until recently, he served as Deputy State Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer for the State of Ohio Treasury.

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Samar Ahmad

Samar Kaukab Ahmad is the executive director of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV). Prior to serving at OAESV, she was the executive director at SalamCorps, a Central Ohio based community service organization promoting civic engagement within the American Muslim community.

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Sameer Ahmed

Sameer Ahmed is a Skadden Fellow and staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). He provides direct representation, community education and policy advocacy for low-income South Asian, Arab, and Muslim residents of New York City.

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Rabia Akram

Rabia Akram is the president of the American Muslim Health Professionals. Previously, he served as a board member and led the Health Research and Policy Committee.

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Sehreen Noor Ali

Sehreen Noor Ali is the strategic planning officer for the U.S. State Department.

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Shahed Amanullah

Shahed Amanullah is the founder and CEO of Halalfire, a pioneer in creating compelling online content that empowers Muslim communities in the West and beyond.

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Kevin Barrow

Kevin Barrow is co-founder of DC Qur'an Halaqa and serves as head of partnerships for Green Muslims in the District.

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Umbreen Bhatti

Umbreen Bhatti is a lawyer with experience in civil rights and constitutional law, and a particular interest in the First Amendment. Most recently, she was the legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware.

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Shahid Buttar

Shahid Buttar is a civil rights lawyer, musician, columnist, and grassroots organizer. He is the executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee in Washington, D.C. He served as former counsel of a national program combating racial and religious profiling at Muslim Advocates.

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Rabia Chaudry

Rabia Chaudry is an attorney and principal of the Chaudry Immigration Law firm with over a decade of experience in federal immigration law. She is the president of the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut, a community service and educational organization.

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Farhad Chowdhury

Farhad Chowdhury is co-founder and chairman of the Micro-philanthropy 100 (M100) Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations in the Washington, D.C., metro area.

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Mohamed Elibiary

Mohamed Elibiary co-founded the Freedom and Justice Foundation in November 2002 to promote a centrist public policy environment in Texas by coordinating the state level government and interfaith community relations for the organized Texas Muslim community.

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Basim Elkarra

Basim Elkarra is the executive director of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV). Elkarra was re-elected in 2011 to the California Democratic Party's executive board and chairs its Arab American Caucus and Affirmative Action Committee.

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Fatemeh Fakhraie

Fatemeh Fakhraie is an editor, author, and blogger who writes about issues from her perspective as Iranian-American Muslim woman. Her work has appeared at B*tch magazine, CNN, The Guardian, and AltMuslimah.

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Hebah Farrag

Hebah Farrag is program manager of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture.

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Taha Gaya

Taha Gaya is the executive director of the Pakistani American Leadership Center, the premier political advocacy organization representing the Pakistani American community to the U.S. Government.

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Safiya Ghori-Ahmad

Safiya Ghori is MPAC’s Government Relations Director in the Washington, D.C. office. She earned a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Arts in May 2006 from the University of Arkansas.

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Umar Hakim

A graduate of Compton High School, Umar Hakim ignored an opportunity for higher education and pursued a telecommunications job for the next 13 years. It was there that a customer introduced Al Islam to him.

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Ahmed Heban

Ahmed Heban has served as the executive director of Somali Community Services since 2004. Prior to joining Somali Community Services, he served as a program coordinator at the Bay Area Somali Community, where he planned, organized, and coordinated the Somali community.

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Zeba Iqbal

Zeba Iqbal is the executive director of CAMP International (Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals). In her role as executive director, Zeba’s focus has been on refining CAMP’s vision and on strengthening CAMP as an organization.

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Milia Islam-Majeed

Milia currently serves as the Executive Director of the South Coast Interfaith Council (SCIC), the largest interfaith council in Southern California encompassing some 35 cities and approximately 1.8 million people.

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Kyle J. Isma'il

Kyle Isma'il began a new position in January 2011 as the government affairs representative for Islamic Relief USA, based in the DC National Office. He is responsible for managing relationships with government officials in the US Congress and all Federal Executive Departments.

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Maryam Jamshidi

Maryam Jamshidi is founder of Muftah, a magazine focusing on the domestic issues confronting countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

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Shenaaz Janmohamed

Shenaaz Janmohamed has worked on ending domestic violence since 2004. She has held positions within national, state and grassroots organizations, shaping a broad understanding of the complexities in dismantling violence against women within communities.

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M. Bilal Kaleem

M. Bilal Kaleem is a Dubin Fellow at Harvard Kenedy School's Center for Public Leadership. He currently serves as president of the Muslim American Society of Boston (MAS-Boston), which focuses on increasing civic engagement, and manages the landmark Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center.

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Sarah Kalim-Ullah

Sarah Kalim-Ullah is the development assistant coordinator for Unity Productions Foundation (UPF)—a non-profit organization that promotes peace through the media.

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Ruby Khan

Ruby Khan is the executive director of the Hamdard Center for Health and Human Services in Chicago, IL. She previously worked for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and for the daily talk radio show, Radio Islam.

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Moein Khawaja

Moein Khawaja is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Pennsylvania (CAIR-PA). He is committed to protecting the rights of all Muslim Americans and to promote the understanding and integration of Islam into the American experience.

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Amal Killawi

Amal Killawi is a social worker with a specialization in mental health and marriage education. She coordinates a research project through the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation focused on addressing health disparities among American Muslims.

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Sophia Kizilbash

Sophia currently works for the New York City Department of Education as a Community Based Organizations Grants Manager for the 21st Century Regional Assistance Center. She also is a consultant with Young People For, working in Native American communities with tribal college student leadership development.

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Farhan Latif

Farhan Latif is the CEO and development strategist of Strategic Inspiration.

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Sofia B. Latif

Sofia Begg Latif is co-founder and CFO of Strategic Inspirations, a marketing and consulting firm focused on the development of non-profit organizations. Formerly, Sofia served as Communications Specialist for the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn, Michigan.

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Edina Lekovic

As MPAC's director of policy & programming, Edina Lekovic is responsible for working with the MPAC team of staff and volunteers to coordinate programs, campaigns, and strategy for tackling domestic and international events.

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Mostafa Mahboob

Mostafa Mahboob is the former communications manager for Islamic Relief USA.

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Hind Makki

Hind Makki is a leadership associate at the Interfaith Youth Core where she has developed and implements the One Chicago, One Nation program, an initiative that brings together diverse Chicagoans, with an emphasis on the Muslim community, through dialogue, community service and philanthropy.

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Asma Men

Asma Men works as the special projects coordinator for the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance, serving the under-represented and under-privileged communities. Her concentrations are policy, advocacy, and youth leadership development.

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Nadiah Mohajir

Nadiah Mohajir is the co-founder and director of programs for the HEART Women & Girls Project, a young nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women and girls in interfaith and community settings to build self-esteem and leadership through health and wellness.

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Syed Mohiuddin

Syed Mohiuddin is the director of strategic partnerships for the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan. He also serves as as chair of the ISNA-CIOM Diversity Forum to be held in January 2011.

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Sharaf Mowjood

Sharaf Mowjood is a master's degree candidate at the Columbia University School of Journalism. He is also the former Government Relations Coordinator for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Greater Los Angeles.

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Precious Muhammad

Precious Rasheeda Muhammad—author, lecturer, researcher, poet, and publisher—is not only nationally known for her ability to educate and inspire audiences of diverse faiths and backgrounds about America’s unique Islamic heritage, but also for her ability to empower them with the tools to build community through a deeper understanding of history.

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Sultan Muhammad

Sultan Muhammad, a native Chicagoan, is a community organizer with a background in strategic communications and multimedia production. He publishes educational resources and is co-founder of a Chicago-based multi-media production company.

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Zarinah Nadir

Zarinah Nadir serves as the secretary of the board of the Islamic Social Services Association-USA. She is also the co-founder and board member of Al-Mu’minah Young Muslim Women Association, dedicated to instilling activism and leadership skills in young Muslim women.

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Ndidi A. Okakpu

Ndidi Amatullah Okakpu is a community advocate dedicated to empowering the socio-economic welfare of the Ummah. She is Assistant to the Editor of the Muslim Journal newspaper, and founding Director of NAIM Community Mentoring.

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Salim Patel

Salim Patel is serving his second year in public office on the Passaic Board of Education, the 9th largest school district in New Jersey. He also serves as a founder/board member of an emergency food pantry at his local mosque.

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Sharmeen Malik Premjee

Sharmeen Malik Premjee is currently a Master's in Public Affairs Degree candidate in International Development at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She was awarded a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans to pursue this graduate work.

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Megan Putney

Megan Putney is program director of the Muslim Consultative Network, an organization that works to strengthen and unify the diverse New York City Muslim community through education, collaboration, capacity-building and social justice advocacy.

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Faisal Qazi

Faisal Qazi currently serves as vice president of the American Muslim Health Professionals, a national Public Health group. Qazi founded and became the first CEO of Health Unit on Davison Avenue free clinic in Detroit in 2004.

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Zeenat Rahman

Zeenat Rahman, director of policy at the Interfaith Youth Core, works closely with the White House and other federal agencies to advance youth-led interfaith cooperation. A regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune, she has also appeared on CNN and other media outlets.

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Qudsia Raja

Qudsia Raja is a domestic violence counselor and community education director at the YWCA Eastern Union County, the lead domestic violence agency in Union County, New Jersey. She provides direct counseling services to victims of domestic violence, as well as community education and policy advocacy work.

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Mansoor Sabree

Mansoor Sabree serves as the resident imam of the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam. He is a member of World Pilgrims (Atlanta-based interfaith group of Muslims, Christians and Jews), co-founder of Muslim Neighbors Inc., and board chair for Neighborhood Works Inc.

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Jihad F. Saleh

Jihad Saleh is the government affairs representative for Islamic Relief USA. He is responsible for managing IR-USA's advocacy and engagement with Congressional Offices, Federal Executive Departments, and foreign embassies in Washington, DC.

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Murtaza Sanwari

Murtaza Sanwari is the director of strategic planning and decision support at Kaiser Permanente - Los Angeles Medical Center. He is also co-founder of Ehsan Center, a faith-based, nonprofit in north Los Angeles County, and was recently appointed to the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission.

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Linda Sarsour

Linda Sarsour is a working woman, community activist, and mother of three. Ambitious, outspoken and independent, Linda shatters stereotypes of Muslim women while also treasuring her religious and ethnic heritage.

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Nura Sediqe

Nura Sediqe is currently a Masters in Public Policy candidate at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Prior to graduate school, she served as Research Director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund in the Washington, D.C. office.

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Hashi Shafi

Hashi Shafi, was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and received a bachelor’s degree in business and management from Somali National University in 1990. After the 1991 civil war, Hashi left Somalia and become refugee in neighboring Kenya.

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Naim Shah Jr.

Niam Shah, Jr., completed the Community Organizing Residency Program in 2010-2011.

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Kashif Shaikh

Kashif Shaikh is currently a program officer for the McCormick Foundation, a Chicago based foundation committed to fostering communities of educated, informed and engaged citizens through philanthropic programs and is one of the nation's largest foundations, with more than $1 billion in assets.

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Haris Tarin

Haris Tarin is currently the director of the Washington DC office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Haris is currently pursuing his graduate work.

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Asma Uddin

Asma Uddin is the founder and editor-in-chief of altmuslimah.com. She is also an international law attorney with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit, non-partisan, public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C.

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Yusufi Vali

Yusufi Vali is an organizer for the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, an Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate. Among his organizing victories include working with parents and teachers at an inner-city school in Boston to win a $40 million renovation.

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Khuram Zaman

Khuram Zaman is the general administrator of SeekersGuidance, an online Islamic educational institute specializing in the teaching of sacred knowledge in its modern context through online courses, webinars, weekend seminars, retreats, and through social media.