Reinventing MYNA

Reinventing
the Muslim Youth of North America

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate



Executive Summary


Nature of the Study and Proposal

In the summer of 1998, the Muslim Youth of North America (“MYNA”) Executive Committee and Advisory Committee met in Washington, D.C. and commissioned this study and the formulation of this proposal in response to a perceived decline in the effectiveness, activity, and coherence of the MYNA structure.
This proposal is the result of discussions with over fifty people over the course of the past year. Individuals who have been consulted include former and current MYNA youth leaders, former and current MYNA advisors, community activists, individuals who have had no contact with MYNA, individuals very familiar and active with nonprofit organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and the Red Cross, individuals trained in nonprofit management, an attorney, and numerous others. While many people who have contributed significantly to MYNA and to Islamic work in general were not directly consulted, the range of views received from those who were consulted is expansive and probably inclusive of the opinions of those who were not consulted.
This proposal was formulated after the authors extensively discussed and analyzed the views which had been expressed to them, according each opinion considerable weight. Inevitably, the generalities and specifics of the proposal contained herein will not mirror the considered opinions of many people who are deeply invested in MYNA and Muslim youth work. However, one should recognize that the very purpose of the study was not to reflect any single person’s vision of what MYNA should be like or of what steps need to be taken to improve MYNA’s performance. Rather, it was meant to produce a proposal that considers the experiences, interests, and perceptions of all concerned parties. Indeed, the final proposal is vastly different than what either of the authors at the outset believed was necessary to reinvigorate MYNA or what they believed would be the likely result of the study.


Background

Almost fifteen years have passed since the creation of the Muslim Youth of North America (“MYNA”). In these fifteen years, MYNA has affected the lives of thousands of Muslim youth. Hundreds of camps and conferences have been organized under the auspices of MYNA. Numerous youth groups and college Muslim Students Associations have benefited from the leadership development, Islamic inspiration, and commitment fostered by MYNA’s activities. MYNA has provided a sense of belonging, a network of business and personal relationships, and an intense leadership experience to many youth.
Over the fifteen years, the cost-benefit balance established initially in the creation of the current youth-advisor, continental-zonal-regional-local structure degraded. The costs of a youth led structure, the extremely broad scope of MYNA activities, and the dependence upon volunteers surpassed their benefits. The challenges presented by the structure of MYNA became increasingly apparent. Changes were suggested, and some were made, but only within the general parameters of the existing structure and with limited success.
Furthermore, the context in which MYNA operates has changed dramatically. The nature of the Muslim community has changed. The community is larger, more developed, and more self-sufficient.


The Proposal

Together, these factors suggest the need for a reevaluation of the role MYNA is best suited to play in the development of exemplary Muslim youth. This proposal presents a dramatically different approach towards achieving the vision consistently held by those involved with MYNA since the first meeting in December, 1985. The Mission Statement of the reinvented MYNA would be: To assist families and communities in the development of exemplary Muslim youth.
The structure would correspond to the priorities reflected in the Mission Statement: that the goal be the development of exemplary Muslim youth, that the focus be on the development of local youth work, and that the mechanism would be facilitation of youth work by assisting those who have the primary and secondary responsibilities of raising the youth—parents, schools, and mosques.
The proposal prioritizes efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery products and services directly to local communities over the current priority of training youth by placing them in charge of the continental organization. Consequently, the existing youth-advisor structure would not be continued. The proposal also approaches youth work in an organic, bottom-up fashion, and expects the development of organizational structures beyond the local level to be gradual and upon the initiative of the local communities. Consequently, the continental, zonal, and regional structure would not be actively perpetuated.
Similar to the structure of the Council on American Islamic Relations, the new MYNA structure would be led by a self-perpetuating Board of Directors. The Board of Directors would hire an Executive Director. Eventually, the Executive Director would be joined by an Executive Assistant, a Communications Coordinator, an Outreach Coordinator, and several Project Coordinators. Using the internet and personal visits to communities across the continent, the staff of MYNA would facilitate the implementation and use of the products and services which MYNA will make available. The products and services would be implemented in a manner that respects the particular community’s needs, concerns, and approach towards youth work. The products and services would include resources which MYNA has gathered from communities across the continent and others the development of which MYNA has commissioned. Products and services would include, for example, training programs for youth, advisors, facilitators and counselors and resource materials for making youth work more effective.
MYNA would effectively become a small, streamlined, and, eventually, non-volunteer based organization. Following the successful example of CAIR, MYNA’s focus would be limited in scope and would only expand when doing so would not compromise the effectiveness of its existing operations. Insha’Allah, the effective delivery of services will expand the effectiveness and reach of MYNA beyond that of today.

A final note of thanks to brother Jawaad Abdul Rahman who served as a sounding board for the authors’ ideas and who assisted tremendously in refining the concepts that form this proposal.


Aimen Mir

Waheed Mustapha

September 3, 1999

Contents



Executive Summary
Nature of the Study and Proposal
Background
The Proposal

MYNA’s Current Structure
Description
Strengths of the Existing Model
Rationale for Change
The Costs of the Current MYNA Structure
Growth of Communities and Institutions

Reinventing MYNA
Mission Statement
Explan ation of Mission
The New Structure
Board of Directors
Executive Director
Executive Assistant
Communications Coordinator
Outreach Coordinator
Project Coordinators
Phased Implementation
Relationship to Other Organizations
Funding

Frequently Asked Questions


MYNA’s Current Structure


Description

The current structure of MYNA was established at the inception of MYNA in 1985 and consists of parallel youth and advisory bodies. The youth structure is led by a national executive committee, consisting of a chairperson, secretary-treasurer, and five zonal representatives. The chairperson and secretary-treasurer are elected at an annual, national winter conference where attendance varied between being open and by invitation. Initially, the representatives for the three U.S. zones and the two Canadian zones were also elected at the winter conference. Later practices varied, however, with some being elected at the winter conference and others at zonal conferences. Each zone also created its own sub-zonal structure, with the more active zones creating several other zonal and regional positions. At the bottom of the youth structure are youth groups. While MYNA no longer seeks to formally create “MYNA Local Chapters,” MYNA does seek to create a sense of identification of the local youth group with the national organization.
To be a youth member of MYNA, an individual must be between the ages of twelve and eighteen and in junior or senior high school. Officially, MYNA’s membership is open to all who pay the nominal dues. Practically, however, membership is based upon participation and has not been meticulously tracked.
The advisory structure mirrors the youth structure. The chairperson of the advisory committee advises the chairperson and secretary-treasurer of MYNA, and each youth zonal representative has a personal advisor. The advisors are supposed to be selected by a body of associate members, concerned individuals who are above the age of eighteen or who have graduated from high school.
The scope of MYNA’s programming is very broad. Since its inception, MYNA’s activities have included: educational, leadership, and recreational camps and conferences on all levels of organization (local, regional, zonal, and continental); counselor training programs; the production of a magazine and newsletters; the development of resources for local youth groups, such as a halaqa curriculum and a manual providing programming ideas and techniques for local youth groups; and numerous other activities.


Strengths of the Existing Model

MYNA was established in 1985 by a pioneering group of Muslim youth and adults who recognized the need for an organization devoted to serving the needs of Muslim youth maturing in the non-Islamic American society. In its fifteen years, MYNA has affected the lives of thousands of Muslim youth. Hundreds of camps and conferences have been organized under the auspices of MYNA. Numerous youth groups and college Muslim Students Associations have benefited from the leadership development, Islamic inspiration, and commitment fostered by MYNA’s activities.
Perhaps foremost amongst the strengths of MYNA is its ability to inspire a sense of belonging and identification within many Muslim youth which it reaches, a sense of belonging with other Muslim youth in America, a sense of identification with the Muslim ummah as a whole. Countless Muslims feel that MYNA has provided them with a sense of belonging without which they doubt that they would have been able to withstand the un-Islamic pressures faced by Muslim youth today. In a society where adherence to traditional values and religious practices can isolate an individual, MYNA has been able to facilitate such adherence among Muslim youth by drawing them together within the same locality, region, and within the continent and allowing them to draw the necessary support and strength from one another.
The web of support and interaction, the development of which MYNA has facilitated, has not only inspired a sense of belonging, but it also has developed a relatively common approach towards life as Muslims in America. Amongst youth who have been active with MYNA, common attitudes have arisen towards issues, such as: involvement of Muslim women in the community and leadership positions; dress and behavior; and political involvement, among other issues.
The common attitudes and the sense of belonging have facilitated the growth of interrelationships amongst many Muslims which may not have arisen in the absence of an organization such as MYNA. Many cross-country, life-long friendships have developed. Marriages have resulted between one-time MYNA youth, some of whom now have their own children who participate in MYNA activities. Business and other relationships have also formed and flourished as a result of shared MYNA experiences.
MYNA also was able to provide a limited group of youth with an intense leadership experience by giving those youth significant responsibility and authority in the operations of the organization. Many of the MYNA youth who held leadership positions went on to become significant contributors to the development of university campus Muslim organizations, local communities, and other national organizations.


Rationale for Change

Despite the numerous strengths of the existing structure of MYNA, the structure also has costs. The structure was developed to balance the costs and benefits in the context in which it was created in 1985 and to achieve the objectives then deemed most useful to the Muslim community. Since 1985, the context in which MYNA functions has changed, and as a result, the costs of the current structure have steadily increased. The premise of the proposal that follows is that the costs have exceeded the benefits, and that, therefore, for MYNA to best serve the needs of the Muslim community, the structure of MYNA must be altered to address the current and foreseeable context. MYNA’s fifteen year history and the changed context together also suggest that the mission of MYNA must be modified, while remaining oriented towards achieving the previous goal of strengthening the Muslim community by addressing the needs of the youth.


The Costs of the Current MYNA Structure

Youth-Led Structure

Having youth occupy the primary positions of responsibility within the organization, as previously described, has provided a limited number of youth with an intense and unparalleled leadership experience. Over the years, however, the limitations placed on the organization due to the youth-led structure have become increasingly apparent.
Among the dilemmas that became apparent was the steep learning curve required to operate efficiently and the short terms of office. At the time when they take their leadership position, almost all youth, regardless of their involvement in school and other activities, lack the developed skills and experiences necessary to perform their responsibilities at a level which is conceivably within the capacity of a youth. Consequently, the first months of an individual’s term consists of becoming acquainted with the structure of the organization, its functions, the needs of the target population, and how to meet those needs. The effectiveness of the organization is stifled during that learning period. For most youth, minimal efficiency of operations might arise after an entire year in office—just when their terms come to an end. After one or two months of somewhat efficient operation, the cycle begins again, and efficiency drops.
Another reality of a youth-led structure is the limitation that age places upon a youth’s ability to comprehend and evaluate the needs of the community and to lead a continental organization. Most youth do not and cannot have the exposure and maturity which come only through age and lived-experiences and which are crucial to the success of an organization such as MYNA.
Youth leaders are further restricted in the ability to make necessary commitments due to their primary roles as student. While some youth are able to attend to their MYNA responsibilities without injuring their academic performance, most find that the enormous burden of MYNA responsibilities, whether on the continental, zonal, or regional level, do adversely affect their academic performance. Youth, and sisters in particular, are also often restricted in their ability to travel, attend various programs, or engage in outreach and other activities which are vital to the growth of any organization. While in some cases the tradeoff between extreme activism and grades may be reasonable, where the youth who become MYNA leaders are hopefully those with significant academic potential, even a slight drop in grades can have lasting negative repercussions. Even upon examination solely of the benefits to the community as opposed to the individual, the long term cost of deprioritizing academics may outweigh the benefit gained by the intense leadership experience.
In the past several years, various attempts have been made and suggestions put forward to address the various problems of the youth-led structure. Each, however, serves only as a partial-fix, with the underlying problems remaining unresolved. For example, several regions and zones have instituted a training period before an elected youth takes office. However, the training period is limited in its effectiveness. The trainee does not really experience the burden placed upon the actual leader, so part of the term will still be consumed by the training process. The youth leaders are also not necessarily in a position to train someone else effectively. While a youth leader may be somewhat efficient in accomplishing certain tasks after one or two years of holding office, they are not necessarily experienced enough to train the next in line. Furthermore, adding a trainee to the structure increases the complexity of the structure. Each position would have an advisor, a youth leader, and a trainee. The addition of another layer serves to increase many of the costs which are associated with the initial one advisor-one youth structure. Finally, the training period does not address the issues of the inherent limit on the ability of most youth to grasp certain concepts or of their primary role as students.
Alternatively, some have suggested that the leader of MYNA be college-aged, rather than high school-aged. Such a modification to the structure would address many of the problems that arise with a youth-led structure. However, it also would be a fundamental change to the nature of MYNA, a nature which has been defined by the existence of a youth-led structure. This proposal is in fact the logical extension of the proposal that the leadership of MYNA not be age-bound. If the entire existing MYNA structure has been formed around the youth-led characteristic, abandonment of that defining characteristic begs the reevaluation of the rest of the structure and the redetermination of the best mode of achieving the end goal of developing exemplary Muslim youth.


Scope of MYNA

MYNA has sought to be a full-service youth organization. MYNA seeks (or has sought): to organize youth and counselor conferences, camps, and training programs on the local, regional, and continental levels; to create scholarship programs, a magazine, newsletters, entertainment products, web pages, a study-circle curriculum, and various other resources for youth groups; and to create MYNA local youth groups. These undertakings, as well as the numerous others which are not listed, have been prioritized or deprioritized at various times. Success and consistency of the programs and projects have varied, with some, like zonal conferences, being regular in occurrence, and others, like the magazine, being sporadic.
MYNA has served more as a general forum in which interested parties can engage in youth work rather than as a focused tool for the development of the Muslim community. The broad scope is beneficial in so far as it is adaptable to the interests and unique combination of priorities that each new youth activist brings to MYNA. The needs of the Muslim youth in North America are so expansive and so little development has occurred to fulfill those needs, that almost anyone can apply their particular combination of interests and talents and benefit the Muslim community in some way through MYNA.
The broad scope and the extremely flexible nature of the organization, however, are also the source of the inconsistency in programming and the inability to lay a firm base upon which to build. With each new group of youth bringing a new approach to youth work, there is minimal continuity, and the minimal continuity eventually leads to the problem of having to “recreate the wheel” every few years. Furthermore, since no long term plan is being implemented, the benefits arising out of various MYNA programs and projects are short term in nature, and their full potential is never realized. The inconsistency has diminished MYNA’s ability to gain wide-spread credibility or to highlight a track record of successful and consistent projects and programs. The approach of trying to address any and all needs of Muslim youth has spread thin MYNA’s resources and has affected its ability to excel or meet its potential in any of its programming areas.


Dependence Upon Volunteers

The expansive scope and structure of MYNA require that it be volunteer-dependant. As an organization in which the central characteristic of the structure is leadership and organization by youth who are in high school, the primary structure of the organization would naturally be composed of volunteers. With so many youth leaders who require advisors, the advisors would also have to be volunteers.
For a well-established organization that has the ability to efficiently manage and train volunteers, a large volunteer base could be a tremendous source of growth for the organization’s activities. However, where an organization has yet to develop the resources to manage and train large numbers of volunteers, dependence on volunteers may become a significant liability.
Over the years, MYNA has frequently faltered because people of excellent character and with the best of intentions are over-committed and are, therefore, unable to devote the amount of time to MYNA which is necessary.


Growth of Communities and Institutions

The past fifteen years has seen significant development and growth of the Muslim community, mostly at the local level. Tens of full-time Islamic schools have been established. Many communities have built million-dollar mosques. Campus Muslim activism has taken on a new and reinvigorated life. And many local communities have made significant progress in addressing the needs of their community independent of any regional or national organizations.
Whereas fifteen years ago, Muslim youth had to go beyond the borders of their state in order to achieve the critical mass necessary to organize, today many youth have no need to go beyond the walls of their mosque to establish thriving youth groups. A sense of identity is more easily created on the local level today than it was yesterday. A sense of belonging is more possible, as the number of youth has increased.
Individuals who never associated or new about MYNA but are no less dedicated, secure, and resourceful are entering college campuses and making dramatic and positive contributions.
The momentum that MYNA once had has diminished in part simply due to the diminished need for parents and youth to look outside of their community to find the support necessary to withstand the pressures which a Muslim youth faces growing up in North America. Indeed, many of the programs and initiatives of local communities are superior to those coming from MYNA, which is not necessarily to say that the quality of MYNA programming has declined, but that the quality of local programming has dramatically improved.
Reinventing MYNA


For MYNA to effectively progress towards its end goal, it must be modified to address the apparent cost imbalance of the existing structure and to reflect the reality that the nature of the Muslim community has changed significantly since 1985. This proposal envisions the establishment of a new structure, whether under the name MYNA or a new name, that seeks the same ends as the existing structure, but through a significantly different means.


Mission Statement

To assist families and communities in the development of exemplary Muslim youth.


Explanation of Mission

“exemplary Muslim youth”

MYNA would continue to strive towards achieving the goal of developing exemplary Muslim youth. Exemplary Muslim youth are defined by the following commitments:

· Committed to developing their relationship with Allah (God) and consciousness of his love;
· Committed to a life-long process of studying Islam, beginning with basic beliefs, knowledge of ritual worship, and understanding of the Qur’an;
· Committed to serving humanity;
· Committed to their responsibilities as citizens of the US and Canada and as positive, productive members of the society in which they live.


“To assist families and communities”

The Mission Statement recognizes the responsibility of raising children as primarily that of each child’s parents. Islamically, the parents are charged with the role of guiding and nurturing their children. Logically, parents are also best suited for fulfilling such a role, as most children spend more time with their parents than any other adults. A national organization that interacts with youth mostly in large group settings and only several times each year is, at best, ill suited for assuming the delicate role of directly fostering the development of exemplary Muslim youth. After a child’s parents, the most suitable parties for directly addressing the needs of Muslim youth are schools and mosques. While not suited for or charged with primary responsibility, schools and mosques also have a position superior to that of any non-local organization, as they have the most frequent, consistent, and substantive relations with youth.
The Mission Statement envisions an organization which aims to achieve its goal of fostering the development of exemplary Muslim youth by assisting, not purporting to act in place of a youth’s parents or community. Developing exemplary Muslim youth is a goal shared by MYNA, parents and other Islamic institutions. The proposed Mission Statement recognizes that MYNA, as compared to parents and other local institutions, is uniquely situated to make resources available to those who are better situated than MYNA to provide direct, frequent, and consistent services to the youth. MYNA can facilitate the flow of information, experiences, and other advice from one community to the next, allowing each community to give benefit to and take benefit from many more other communities than any community would be able to on its own.
The Mission Statement recognizes the significant reality that Muslim communities across the continent are far more developed than they were fifteen years ago. Not every community needs an outside organization to come in and start a local youth group for them. Not every community seeks to affiliate with MYNA, ISNA, or any other national organization. At the same time, there are still communities that have little youth activity and need assistance in starting a youth group. The varying landscape of the Muslim community in North America requires an organization that is flexible, non-imposing, and resourceful.
MYNA would seek to empower parents, mosques, schools, and youth groups by providing them with a menu of resources which they can apply as they deem most appropriate. Rather than coming from the outside and seeking to impose a “MYNA” youth group structure or approach to youth work, MYNA would supplement the objectives and methods chosen by the local community. Thus, if a community in Virginia decides that the local youth group should be led by a high school youth, MYNA would provide resources to the community that would strengthen the ability of the youth led group to achieve its goals. If, on the other hand, a community in Michigan decides that the youth group should be led by a college-aged student, then MYNA would provide resources to the community that would strengthen the ability of the college-student led group to achieve its goals. This approach recognizes the fact that many communities already have established youth programs and approaches to youth work; that seeking externally imposed uniformity in methodology of youth work is less important and may produce more alienation than ensuring that whatever methodology a community uses achieves its potential; and that MYNA’s institutional competence is not to deal individually with each youth, but to multiply its effect by reaching out to those who can and do deal closely with a group of youth on a very regular basis.

The New Structure

The new structure of MYNA would correspond to the priorities as reflected by the Mission Statement: that the goal be the development of exemplary Muslim youth, that the focus be on the development of local youth work, and that the mechanism be facilitation of youth work through assisting those with the primary and secondary responsibilities of raising the youth. Concerns reflected by the existing structure of MYNA are not dismissed as unimportant. Rather, the proposed structure reflects a set of concerns that are most critical, which MYNA is best suited to handle, and which MYNA can most effectively address.
The new structure would replace the existing youth-advisor structure with a full-time, adult staff that directly accesses local communities. This reflects a deprioritization of the need to provide youth with leadership training by placing them in charge of a national, zonal, or regional structure. It also reflects a deprioritization of establishing links between youth across great geographical distances. It reflects a prioritization of efficient and skilled delivery of services and resources to local communities. It reflects a prioritization of reaching more youth and more places. Finally, it reflects a prioritization of an organic, grass roots, bottom-up—rather than top-down—growth of the Muslim community and Muslim youth work.


Board of Directors

At the top of the organizational structure would be a Board of Directors (“the Board”).


Responsibilities of the Board

The Board would be charged with the responsibilities ordinarily charged to a board of a non-profit organization, namely:

1. Legal and financial responsibility for the welfare of MYNA;
2. Promotion of MYNA;
3. Establishment of the organizational vision and direction;
4. Supervision of the Executive Director

To ensure effective supervision and operation of the organization, the Board would meet at least three times each year for two day each meeting.

Composition of the Board

The Board would be composed of five individuals who serve for three year terms. The criteria for Board membership would generally be demonstrated commitment to the growth of youth and Islamic activism in North America. More specifically, each members must meet the following requirements:

1. At least three years of demonstrated involvement with youth work, including activism as a youth or regular service as a counselor, advisor or booster of a youth group;
2. Significant involvement with Islamic or youth work beyond a local level;
3. Ability to regularly monitor and attend MYNA activities;
4. Ability (time) to attend at least four different two-day Board meetings each year;
5. Involvement in the management of a for-profit or non-profit organization or institution;

Board membership would not be subject to geographic or age requirements. The Board, however, should have at least one female member at all times.


Selection of Board Members

The MYNA Board would be self-perpetuating, a common form of organization among non-profit institutions. This arrangement reflects the priority of efficient and effective delivery of services and the deprioritization of forming a necessarily “representative” organization. A self-perpetuating Board is best suited for MYNA, as it would ensure that individuals appointed to the Board are highly qualified and committed. Though possible, such an outcome is much more difficult to achieve where individuals are elected by a very broad, geographically dispersed, and relatively uninvolved membership base which selects candidates based upon a brief, written biography. Such a method of selection is much more important where the emphasis is on the representative nature of the organization, rather than on maximizing effectiveness and efficiency in delivery of services.
Selection of Board members would be staggered, so that no more than two individuals would be replaced at any one time, minimizing the possibility of sudden shifts in the composition of the Board. Board members would be selected through the following process: the Board creates an election committee of outsiders who have no interest themselves in serving on the Board but who have some degree of familiarity with the landscape of Islamic and youth work in North America. The selection committee then takes suggestions for candidates. Suggestions for candidates can be made by any concerned party, including the MYNA Board members, individually or as a group. The selection committee then undertakes an evaluation process, thoroughly assessing each candidates qualifications according to the selection criteria. The selection committee then determines which of the candidates who meet the selection criteria is most likely to effectively contribute to the operation of MYNA. That individual would then take the seat of the Board member whose term has expired. The selection committee would then be dissolved.
The initial Board, of course, would be selected by an alternate procedure. A meeting would be called of all interested parties, youth and non-youth. This group would vote for a selection committee composed of individuals who are very familiar with the landscape of Islamic and youth work in North America but who themselves are not able or interested to serve on the Board. This selection committee would then take nominations for appointment to the initial Board and would evaluate each candidate according to the established selection criteria. The selection committee would narrow the list to five individuals who will be appointed to the initial Board. The decision of the selection committee would be final. The selection committee would also set the terms of each individual, such that one Board member would have a one-year term, two would have two-year terms, and two would have three-year terms. Thereafter, the selection committee would be dissolved and the process described in the last paragraph would be undertaken as the terms of the initial Board members expire.


Executive Director

The Staff of MYNA would be led by an Executive Director hired by and answerable to the Board of Directors. The Executive Director would be an ex-officio, non-voting member of the Board. The criteria for selection of the Executive Director are:

1. Proven management skills;
2. Experience with Islamic or youth work;
3. Ability to travel frequently;
4. Ability to relocate to the MYNA office (location of which is undetermined) once support staff is hired.

The functions of the Executive Director include:

1. Implementing a plan to achieve the direction and goals determined by the Board;
2. Oversee the daily affairs of MYNA;
3. Keeping the Board informed about activities, programs, etc. of MYNA;
4. Supervise Project Coordinators;
5. Initially serve as Outreach Coordinator and Training Coordinator;
6. Maintain the finances of the organization.


Executive Assistant

The Executive Assistant would:

1. Provide secretarial assistance to the Executive Director;
2. Filed general questions about MYNA services and products;
3. Serve as interim Communications Coordinator


Communications Coordinator

The Communications Coordinator would:

1. Establish a web site;
2. Maintain a database of contacts;
3. Collect resources and organize them to be in useable form;
4. Collect activity reports and updates.

The Communications Coordinator would focus largely on multiplying the exposure of MYNA through the internet, particularly to those communities which staff members would not be able to visit initially. The MYNA web site can feature, among many other things, various databases of relevance to youth work, online manuals, discussion areas, notices and updates of MYNA and community activities and events, and links to other useful sites.
The Communications Coordinator with the assistance of the Outreach Coordinator, would establish a network of connections to whom regular updates of MYNA activities would be provided. Through these contacts, the Communications Coordinator would also seek to remain apprised of developments in various communities, partially with the intention of securing additional ideas and resources which MYNA can add to its repository of products and services.


Outreach Coordinator

The Outreach Coordinator would:

1. Establish contacts in communities across the continent;
2. Visit the communities to understand the needs, concerns, and nature of the communities;
3. Present the menu of products and services which MYNA can offer the community to support its youth work;
4. Work with the contacts to develop a plan for delivery and implementation of MYNA products and services;
5. Facilitate the implementation of the plan by placing the contacts in touch with the relevant project coordinators.

In carrying out the above functions, the Outreach Coordinator would seek to develop a plan which reflects the needs, concerns, and priorities as determined by the community itself. The Outreach Coordinator would identify an individual as a primary contact person in the community and would interface with community primarily through that individual. After developing a plan for the delivery and implementation of MYNA products and services, the Outreach Coordinator would place the contact person in touch with the appropriate Project Coordinators, who would then work with the contact according to the agreed upon schedule and plan to deliver or implement the particular products or services.


Project Coordinators

Project Coordinators will be charged with the responsibility of developing the substantive products and services which MYNA will offer to local communities. Project Coordinators would be hired to coordinate the development and delivery or implementation of two broad categories resources—youth group resources and training programs.
The emphasis should not be on the quantity of products or services MYNA has to offer. Rather, each product or service which MYNA makes available should be of extremely high quality. The range of MYNA products and services should be expanded only when and if such expansion would not entail a reduction in quality of the existing products and services. Consequently, growth in the range of products and services will be gradual, particularly at the beginning, when a reputation has yet to be developed and financial and human resources will be limited.


Youth Group Resources

The Project Coordinator for Youth Group Resources would focus on making available non-training print, video, an electronic resources to assist in the development and strengthening of youth groups. Such products could include manuals similar to but more comprehensive than the MYNA Workers Manual, describing the steps to forming a youth group, basics of fundraising, and organizing a weekend retreat, among many other possible topics. MYNA would also make available materials to assist in the organization or operation of study groups (halaqas), including directions on the best methods to run a study group, curricula, etc.
The products will not necessarily be, and as much as possible should not be, created by MYNA itself. Rather, to the extent possible, the Project Coordinator for Youth Group Resources should seek to consolidate existing resources available throughout the continent. MYNA’s relationship with local communities, in this respect, will be symbiotic, with MYNA providing resources to which the community would otherwise not have access, and with the community sharing its original products and concepts with MYNA so that MYNA can make them available to other communities. This approach to developing MYNA’s bank of products minimizes duplication of efforts, requires a smaller staff and fewer resources, and recognizes the numerous original contributions to youth work that have been made on a sub-continental level by individuals unaffiliated with MYNA.


Training Programs

The Project Coordinator for Training Programs would focus on facilitating the implementation of various training programs on the local, regional, and occasionally, on the continental level. Eventually, the Project Coordinator would facilitate youth leadership training programs, counselor training programs, youth group advisor training programs, facilitator training, camp and retreat organization seminars, and other programs which develop skills necessary for the successful development of a supportive environment for the youth.
For many of the training programs, MYNA could employ a model similar to that used by the Education, Training and Resource Associates (“ETRA”), a Virginia-based consulting firm founded by Iqbal and Nudrat Unus, long-time ISNA workers. The prime benefits of the ETRA model are: that the same program can be repeated in many different places during the same year without a full-time training staff; that each program features highly qualified and experienced trainers; that the planning is much less complex than for the traditional MYNA training programs; and that program is largely self-sufficient.
The model operates as follows: if one or several communities in a particular area were interested in training individuals to serve as counselors in camps and retreats, the Outreach Coordinator place the Project Coordinator for training programs in touch with a contact person in the area where the training program would be held. The Project Coordinator and the community contact would schedule several one-day seminars (as many as are deemed necessary to achieve the desired goals) over a period of one year. The community contact would be charged with the responsibility for arranging the site, food, and other logistics. The Project Coordinator would contract trainers to conduct one of the one-day seminars, who would be given an honorarium for their service. The trainers would be selected from a pool of individuals with considerable experience or formal training in youth counseling, facilitation, etc. Participants would be invited and would be charged based upon the number of seminars they would like to pay for at one time. Individuals who attend the full course would receive MYNA certification, demonstrating their competence to serve as counselors in youth programs.
ETRA has focused on training Islamic school teachers and has received a very positive response. At its pilot program in the Washington, D.C. area, ETRA has enjoyed an average attendance of 25-30 individuals paying $35 per seminar or a package price of $275 for the twelve seminars. ETRA has proposed a cooperative project with ISNA for national implementation, which projections indicate could take the program to ten different cities, conducting a total of over 100 seminars using a pool of thirty trainers, each of whom conduct at least four seminars in the course of a year. ISNA’s alternative would be to higher a full time teacher and trainer for this one project, the total cost of which would far exceed the cost the ETRA model and the reach of which would fall far short of the reach of the ETRA model.
The ETRA model is suitable for some types of programs, must be modified for others, and may be unsuitable for yet others. While MYNA need not adopt the specific ETRA model for a particular program, the ETRA model is instructive in that it recognizes the vast wealth of experience that the Muslim community possesses collectively and that, if efficiently organized, can produce dramatic and far reaching results.


Phased Implementation

The structure described above is the structure we should seek to attain within an approximately five year time frame. While the basic elements of the structure would be established at the outset, some elements, like the number of staff persons and the range of products and services offered, would have to be increased over time, as a track record is established, as qualified persons are identified, and as greater financial resources become available.
Growth of the reinvented MYNA should be paced according to the organization’s ability to ensure that each element of the operation achieves maximum quality. Therefore, even if fundraising efforts yielded unexpected positive results, MYNA’s growth should be controlled. To establish a reputation of excellence, MYNA should initially adopt a very limited range of services and products. For example, the first MYNA projects could be the establishment of a web site and a training program for youth group advisors. Over a period of two years, MYNA could focus on producing a professional quality web site that gathers information and quality resources already available and known to many MYNA activists. Also during the two years, MYNA could focus on facilitating top-notch training programs geared towards adults who are interested in assisting in the development or promotion of the Muslim youth groups in their locality. Individuals who complete the training program could be designated “Certified Youth Workers.” By focusing on adults, efforts would concentrated on training the population which is has the greatest potential to facilitate the development of exemplary youth on the local level over a much longer period. (Training youth is extremely valuable, but their contributions frequently cease when they leave high school, whereas adults can be active over a much longer period of time.) Focusing on adults also builds the reputation of MYNA where it is most need, in that adults are most likely to be the prime control over MYNA’s influence and access to any particular community, and adults will be primary source of financial support.
Once MYNA has established its reputation as a provider of high quality services, the range of services which MYNA offers can be expanded, as can the size of the organization. Initially, responsibilities will have to be vested in a single person—the hired Executive Director. As greater financial support becomes available, the Executive Assistant should be hired and a permanent location selected for the MYNA office. Initially, MYNA will be reliant upon a small group of volunteers who are willing to assist in the development and maintenance of the web site and in the administration and facilitation of the training programs. Over time, however, the reliance upon volunteers can be reduced, as a Communications Coordinator is hired, then an Outreach Coordinator, and then Project Assistants. At each stage of growth, as stated, commitment to quality must remain of prime importance.
Of equal importance is the need for continual evaluation. On a regular basis, the staff of MYNA and the Board of Directors should reevaluate the organization bottom-up, questioning the assumptions, assessing its successes and failures, and evaluating the change in its operating environment. Adjustments to the structure and approach should be made as necessary.


Relationship to Other Organizations


Islamic Society of North America

MYNA would remain an affiliate of the Islamic Society of North America (“ISNA”). MYNA, however, would assume a status similar to that of a professional organization such as the Association of Muslim Social Scientists or the Islamic Medical Association, in that MYNA would assume responsibilities and control over its own functions. This includes authority over the independent operation of MYNA. MYNA will not limit its services or give preference to ISNA members or affiliates. As an organization under ISNA umbrella, MYNA would strive to co-author a productive vision of Islam in America.


Other Organizations

MYNA will strive to provide services to any youth groups or Islamic organizations, irrespective of their affiliations, so long as they agree with MYNA’s stated values.


Funding

MYNA’s programs will range from those entirely dependant upon funding by MYNA to those mostly dependant upon the funding of the benefiting community. To the extent that MYNA’s programs are not self-sufficient or funded by the benefiting communities, MYNA will need to raise money from the general Muslim community.
Initially, the starting capital must be secured through the fundraising efforts of the Board of Directors alone. The Board could approach MYNA graduates, many of whom would be able and willing to donate at least $1000. If one hundred MYNA graduates can be identified to donate $1000 each, the first years expenses would probably be satisfied.
Thereafter, the reputation that MYNA will begin to build will facilitate the Boards job of raising the money necessary for MYNA’s operation. The more successful MYNA’s programs are, the more money and interest the success is likely to generate.
MYNA may, at some point, also consider establishing a non-voting membership base, similar to CAIR, environmental organizations, public radio stations, and many other nonprofit organizations.


Frequently Asked Questions


If the Board of Directors is not elected by members, to whom is it accountable?

The Board of Directors would be accountable, first, of course, to Allah, and then to the organization, which would take the form of a corporation. Several mechanisms would exist that would ensure that the Board acts reasonably. First, the criteria for Board membership are fairly stringent. Second, the terms of the Board members are staggered, so that the chance that the composition of the board will change suddenly is unlikely. Consequently, the decisions of the Board are also likely to remain fairly consistent. Third, MYNA would remain a tax exempt organization, and the exemption would be threatened if the Board abused its authority. Fourth, the Directors would owe the corporation the fiduciary duties which any director owes a corporation. If any Board member violated his or her duty of loyalty or care to the organization, he or she would potentially personally liable and subject to suit by the state attorney general.
Finally, and most importantly, the Board would have to operate reasonably and responsibly for the organization to be viewed as successful by the general Muslim population. If the organization is responsible and successful, people will donate money and keep the organization alive, as they do for CAIR. If the Board performs poorly or abuses its authority, the funds will cease to come and the organization will falter.


What will happen to MYNA’s existing structure?

The new model does not aim to dismantle “activities” that are already in place, such as zonal camps and conferences. At the same time, the new official structure would not actively perpetuate the old structure of a continental organization divided into zones and regions. Instead, the emphasis will be on training individuals and youth groups. The “MYNA Executive Board” and “MYNA Advisory Board” and other officers would be asked to voluntarily step down with those positions dissolved. These individuals would be asked to assist in the development of the new structure.
MYNA would assist organizations that wish to coordinate beyond the local level and may even recommend such coordination in specific situations. MYNA would not aim to develop a deliberate continental structure as it has in the past.
For example, if all of the youth groups in the Washington, D.C. area or even on the east coast of the United States decide to collectively form a council and elect representation, MYNA would not try to assign its name or have a controlling role in the council. Rather, the council or any of its local groups will have equal, full, and direct access to the MYNA products and services. Effectively, growth of the connections between youth and youth groups would be organic.
Whether activities not organized by the official structure of MYNA can continue to use the name of MYNA must be further discussed. Legal liability issues may require that such activities not share the name with the new organization. In such a case, either the new organization will have to establish a new identity or the non-official activities will have to operate under a name other than MYNA.


Can the existing structure be continued and the proposed structure created as a new, different organization?

While such an arrangement is conceivable, it is not advisable. First, this proposal arose out of a study intended to determine what changes were necessary to effectively progress towards MYNA’s end goals without the current problems. This proposal is the result of that study, so to retain the existing structure, even if independent from the new structure, would be to perpetuate the current, weakened structure. This study concludes that any attempts to improve MYNA while maintain its current basic structure would only be half-measures and that the problems of MYNA are constitutional in nature. Furthermore, it concludes that the most effective approach towards the development of a continental structure would be organic growth—which perpetuation of the current structure would not permit.
Second, resources, human and financial, of the Muslim community that are readily available are limited. The same people who would be needed to perpetuate the current structure are the people who would be needed to get the proposed structure off to a running start.
Third, while the structures of the two organizations would differ dramatically, the purposes would be repetitive. The proposed structure seeks to provide quality training and resources for youth groups—the same substantive goals as MYNA. Taking away the role that the new organization would fulfill leaves the current organization with only a structure, a structure which is unlikely to gain firmity it now lacks unless there are youth and youth groups ready to support that structure.


What ages will MYNA serve?

The primary audience of MYNA would still be middle school and high school students. However, MYNA would not restrict itself to the traditional definition of youth as twelve to eighteen year olds. If a community youth group wants to assist in the organization of a camp and the leader of the youth group is a college student, the community would have no less access to MYNA’s resources than would a community with a high school student leading the youth group.

What role would youth have in the new structure?

This proposal does not envision a considerable youth role in the leadership of the current structure. However, as appropriate, the staff of MYNA may select highly qualified youth to assist with discreet projects, where the success or failure of the project would not revolve around the youth’s ability to independently grapple with the assigned task.
Youth would be encouraged to take leadership roles on the local level, organizing camps, retreats, seminars, fundraising events, dinners, and other programs. MYNA would also provide training to youth through specialized programs, whether at the regional or continental level.

Reinventing
the Muslim Youth of North America

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate



Executive Summary


Nature of the Study and Proposal

In the summer of 1998, the Muslim Youth of North America (“MYNA”) Executive Committee and Advisory Committee met in Washington, D.C. and commissioned this study and the formulation of this proposal in response to a perceived decline in the effectiveness, activity, and coherence of the MYNA structure.
This proposal is the result of discussions with over fifty people over the course of the past year. Individuals who have been consulted include former and current MYNA youth leaders, former and current MYNA advisors, community activists, individuals who have had no contact with MYNA, individuals very familiar and active with nonprofit organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and the Red Cross, individuals trained in nonprofit management, an attorney, and numerous others. While many people who have contributed significantly to MYNA and to Islamic work in general were not directly consulted, the range of views received from those who were consulted is expansive and probably inclusive of the opinions of those who were not consulted.
This proposal was formulated after the authors extensively discussed and analyzed the views which had been expressed to them, according each opinion considerable weight. Inevitably, the generalities and specifics of the proposal contained herein will not mirror the considered opinions of many people who are deeply invested in MYNA and Muslim youth work. However, one should recognize that the very purpose of the study was not to reflect any single person’s vision of what MYNA should be like or of what steps need to be taken to improve MYNA’s performance. Rather, it was meant to produce a proposal that considers the experiences, interests, and perceptions of all concerned parties. Indeed, the final proposal is vastly different than what either of the authors at the outset believed was necessary to reinvigorate MYNA or what they believed would be the likely result of the study.


Background

Almost fifteen years have passed since the creation of the Muslim Youth of North America (“MYNA”). In these fifteen years, MYNA has affected the lives of thousands of Muslim youth. Hundreds of camps and conferences have been organized under the auspices of MYNA. Numerous youth groups and college Muslim Students Associations have benefited from the leadership development, Islamic inspiration, and commitment fostered by MYNA’s activities. MYNA has provided a sense of belonging, a network of business and personal relationships, and an intense leadership experience to many youth.
Over the fifteen years, the cost-benefit balance established initially in the creation of the current youth-advisor, continental-zonal-regional-local structure degraded. The costs of a youth led structure, the extremely broad scope of MYNA activities, and the dependence upon volunteers surpassed their benefits. The challenges presented by the structure of MYNA became increasingly apparent. Changes were suggested, and some were made, but only within the general parameters of the existing structure and with limited success.
Furthermore, the context in which MYNA operates has changed dramatically. The nature of the Muslim community has changed. The community is larger, more developed, and more self-sufficient.


The Proposal

Together, these factors suggest the need for a reevaluation of the role MYNA is best suited to play in the development of exemplary Muslim youth. This proposal presents a dramatically different approach towards achieving the vision consistently held by those involved with MYNA since the first meeting in December, 1985. The Mission Statement of the reinvented MYNA would be: To assist families and communities in the development of exemplary Muslim youth.
The structure would correspond to the priorities reflected in the Mission Statement: that the goal be the development of exemplary Muslim youth, that the focus be on the development of local youth work, and that the mechanism would be facilitation of youth work by assisting those who have the primary and secondary responsibilities of raising the youth—parents, schools, and mosques.
The proposal prioritizes efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery products and services directly to local communities over the current priority of training youth by placing them in charge of the continental organization. Consequently, the existing youth-advisor structure would not be continued. The proposal also approaches youth work in an organic, bottom-up fashion, and expects the development of organizational structures beyond the local level to be gradual and upon the initiative of the local communities. Consequently, the continental, zonal, and regional structure would not be actively perpetuated.
Similar to the structure of the Council on American Islamic Relations, the new MYNA structure would be led by a self-perpetuating Board of Directors. The Board of Directors would hire an Executive Director. Eventually, the Executive Director would be joined by an Executive Assistant, a Communications Coordinator, an Outreach Coordinator, and several Project Coordinators. Using the internet and personal visits to communities across the continent, the staff of MYNA would facilitate the implementation and use of the products and services which MYNA will make available. The products and services would be implemented in a manner that respects the particular community’s needs, concerns, and approach towards youth work. The products and services would include resources which MYNA has gathered from communities across the continent and others the development of which MYNA has commissioned. Products and services would include, for example, training programs for youth, advisors, facilitators and counselors and resource materials for making youth work more effective.
MYNA would effectively become a small, streamlined, and, eventually, non-volunteer based organization. Following the successful example of CAIR, MYNA’s focus would be limited in scope and would only expand when doing so would not compromise the effectiveness of its existing operations. Insha’Allah, the effective delivery of services will expand the effectiveness and reach of MYNA beyond that of today.

A final note of thanks to brother Jawaad Abdul Rahman who served as a sounding board for the authors’ ideas and who assisted tremendously in refining the concepts that form this proposal.


Aimen Mir

Waheed Mustapha

September 3, 1999

Contents



Executive Summary
Nature of the Study and Proposal
Background
The Proposal

MYNA’s Current Structure
Description
Strengths of the Existing Model
Rationale for Change
The Costs of the Current MYNA Structure
Growth of Communities and Institutions

Reinventing MYNA
Mission Statement
Explan ation of Mission
The New Structure
Board of Directors
Executive Director
Executive Assistant
Communications Coordinator
Outreach Coordinator
Project Coordinators
Phased Implementation
Relationship to Other Organizations
Funding

Frequently Asked Questions


MYNA’s Current Structure


Description

The current structure of MYNA was established at the inception of MYNA in 1985 and consists of parallel youth and advisory bodies. The youth structure is led by a national executive committee, consisting of a chairperson, secretary-treasurer, and five zonal representatives. The chairperson and secretary-treasurer are elected at an annual, national winter conference where attendance varied between being open and by invitation. Initially, the representatives for the three U.S. zones and the two Canadian zones were also elected at the winter conference. Later practices varied, however, with some being elected at the winter conference and others at zonal conferences. Each zone also created its own sub-zonal structure, with the more active zones creating several other zonal and regional positions. At the bottom of the youth structure are youth groups. While MYNA no longer seeks to formally create “MYNA Local Chapters,” MYNA does seek to create a sense of identification of the local youth group with the national organization.
To be a youth member of MYNA, an individual must be between the ages of twelve and eighteen and in junior or senior high school. Officially, MYNA’s membership is open to all who pay the nominal dues. Practically, however, membership is based upon participation and has not been meticulously tracked.
The advisory structure mirrors the youth structure. The chairperson of the advisory committee advises the chairperson and secretary-treasurer of MYNA, and each youth zonal representative has a personal advisor. The advisors are supposed to be selected by a body of associate members, concerned individuals who are above the age of eighteen or who have graduated from high school.
The scope of MYNA’s programming is very broad. Since its inception, MYNA’s activities have included: educational, leadership, and recreational camps and conferences on all levels of organization (local, regional, zonal, and continental); counselor training programs; the production of a magazine and newsletters; the development of resources for local youth groups, such as a halaqa curriculum and a manual providing programming ideas and techniques for local youth groups; and numerous other activities.


Strengths of the Existing Model

MYNA was established in 1985 by a pioneering group of Muslim youth and adults who recognized the need for an organization devoted to serving the needs of Muslim youth maturing in the non-Islamic American society. In its fifteen years, MYNA has affected the lives of thousands of Muslim youth. Hundreds of camps and conferences have been organized under the auspices of MYNA. Numerous youth groups and college Muslim Students Associations have benefited from the leadership development, Islamic inspiration, and commitment fostered by MYNA’s activities.
Perhaps foremost amongst the strengths of MYNA is its ability to inspire a sense of belonging and identification within many Muslim youth which it reaches, a sense of belonging with other Muslim youth in America, a sense of identification with the Muslim ummah as a whole. Countless Muslims feel that MYNA has provided them with a sense of belonging without which they doubt that they would have been able to withstand the un-Islamic pressures faced by Muslim youth today. In a society where adherence to traditional values and religious practices can isolate an individual, MYNA has been able to facilitate such adherence among Muslim youth by drawing them together within the same locality, region, and within the continent and allowing them to draw the necessary support and strength from one another.
The web of support and interaction, the development of which MYNA has facilitated, has not only inspired a sense of belonging, but it also has developed a relatively common approach towards life as Muslims in America. Amongst youth who have been active with MYNA, common attitudes have arisen towards issues, such as: involvement of Muslim women in the community and leadership positions; dress and behavior; and political involvement, among other issues.
The common attitudes and the sense of belonging have facilitated the growth of interrelationships amongst many Muslims which may not have arisen in the absence of an organization such as MYNA. Many cross-country, life-long friendships have developed. Marriages have resulted between one-time MYNA youth, some of whom now have their own children who participate in MYNA activities. Business and other relationships have also formed and flourished as a result of shared MYNA experiences.
MYNA also was able to provide a limited group of youth with an intense leadership experience by giving those youth significant responsibility and authority in the operations of the organization. Many of the MYNA youth who held leadership positions went on to become significant contributors to the development of university campus Muslim organizations, local communities, and other national organizations.


Rationale for Change

Despite the numerous strengths of the existing structure of MYNA, the structure also has costs. The structure was developed to balance the costs and benefits in the context in which it was created in 1985 and to achieve the objectives then deemed most useful to the Muslim community. Since 1985, the context in which MYNA functions has changed, and as a result, the costs of the current structure have steadily increased. The premise of the proposal that follows is that the costs have exceeded the benefits, and that, therefore, for MYNA to best serve the needs of the Muslim community, the structure of MYNA must be altered to address the current and foreseeable context. MYNA’s fifteen year history and the changed context together also suggest that the mission of MYNA must be modified, while remaining oriented towards achieving the previous goal of strengthening the Muslim community by addressing the needs of the youth.


The Costs of the Current MYNA Structure

Youth-Led Structure

Having youth occupy the primary positions of responsibility within the organization, as previously described, has provided a limited number of youth with an intense and unparalleled leadership experience. Over the years, however, the limitations placed on the organization due to the youth-led structure have become increasingly apparent.
Among the dilemmas that became apparent was the steep learning curve required to operate efficiently and the short terms of office. At the time when they take their leadership position, almost all youth, regardless of their involvement in school and other activities, lack the developed skills and experiences necessary to perform their responsibilities at a level which is conceivably within the capacity of a youth. Consequently, the first months of an individual’s term consists of becoming acquainted with the structure of the organization, its functions, the needs of the target population, and how to meet those needs. The effectiveness of the organization is stifled during that learning period. For most youth, minimal efficiency of operations might arise after an entire year in office—just when their terms come to an end. After one or two months of somewhat efficient operation, the cycle begins again, and efficiency drops.
Another reality of a youth-led structure is the limitation that age places upon a youth’s ability to comprehend and evaluate the needs of the community and to lead a continental organization. Most youth do not and cannot have the exposure and maturity which come only through age and lived-experiences and which are crucial to the success of an organization such as MYNA.
Youth leaders are further restricted in the ability to make necessary commitments due to their primary roles as student. While some youth are able to attend to their MYNA responsibilities without injuring their academic performance, most find that the enormous burden of MYNA responsibilities, whether on the continental, zonal, or regional level, do adversely affect their academic performance. Youth, and sisters in particular, are also often restricted in their ability to travel, attend various programs, or engage in outreach and other activities which are vital to the growth of any organization. While in some cases the tradeoff between extreme activism and grades may be reasonable, where the youth who become MYNA leaders are hopefully those with significant academic potential, even a slight drop in grades can have lasting negative repercussions. Even upon examination solely of the benefits to the community as opposed to the individual, the long term cost of deprioritizing academics may outweigh the benefit gained by the intense leadership experience.
In the past several years, various attempts have been made and suggestions put forward to address the various problems of the youth-led structure. Each, however, serves only as a partial-fix, with the underlying problems remaining unresolved. For example, several regions and zones have instituted a training period before an elected youth takes office. However, the training period is limited in its effectiveness. The trainee does not really experience the burden placed upon the actual leader, so part of the term will still be consumed by the training process. The youth leaders are also not necessarily in a position to train someone else effectively. While a youth leader may be somewhat efficient in accomplishing certain tasks after one or two years of holding office, they are not necessarily experienced enough to train the next in line. Furthermore, adding a trainee to the structure increases the complexity of the structure. Each position would have an advisor, a youth leader, and a trainee. The addition of another layer serves to increase many of the costs which are associated with the initial one advisor-one youth structure. Finally, the training period does not address the issues of the inherent limit on the ability of most youth to grasp certain concepts or of their primary role as students.
Alternatively, some have suggested that the leader of MYNA be college-aged, rather than high school-aged. Such a modification to the structure would address many of the problems that arise with a youth-led structure. However, it also would be a fundamental change to the nature of MYNA, a nature which has been defined by the existence of a youth-led structure. This proposal is in fact the logical extension of the proposal that the leadership of MYNA not be age-bound. If the entire existing MYNA structure has been formed around the youth-led characteristic, abandonment of that defining characteristic begs the reevaluation of the rest of the structure and the redetermination of the best mode of achieving the end goal of developing exemplary Muslim youth.


Scope of MYNA

MYNA has sought to be a full-service youth organization. MYNA seeks (or has sought): to organize youth and counselor conferences, camps, and training programs on the local, regional, and continental levels; to create scholarship programs, a magazine, newsletters, entertainment products, web pages, a study-circle curriculum, and various other resources for youth groups; and to create MYNA local youth groups. These undertakings, as well as the numerous others which are not listed, have been prioritized or deprioritized at various times. Success and consistency of the programs and projects have varied, with some, like zonal conferences, being regular in occurrence, and others, like the magazine, being sporadic.
MYNA has served more as a general forum in which interested parties can engage in youth work rather than as a focused tool for the development of the Muslim community. The broad scope is beneficial in so far as it is adaptable to the interests and unique combination of priorities that each new youth activist brings to MYNA. The needs of the Muslim youth in North America are so expansive and so little development has occurred to fulfill those needs, that almost anyone can apply their particular combination of interests and talents and benefit the Muslim community in some way through MYNA.
The broad scope and the extremely flexible nature of the organization, however, are also the source of the inconsistency in programming and the inability to lay a firm base upon which to build. With each new group of youth bringing a new approach to youth work, there is minimal continuity, and the minimal continuity eventually leads to the problem of having to “recreate the wheel” every few years. Furthermore, since no long term plan is being implemented, the benefits arising out of various MYNA programs and projects are short term in nature, and their full potential is never realized. The inconsistency has diminished MYNA’s ability to gain wide-spread credibility or to highlight a track record of successful and consistent projects and programs. The approach of trying to address any and all needs of Muslim youth has spread thin MYNA’s resources and has affected its ability to excel or meet its potential in any of its programming areas.


Dependence Upon Volunteers

The expansive scope and structure of MYNA require that it be volunteer-dependant. As an organization in which the central characteristic of the structure is leadership and organization by youth who are in high school, the primary structure of the organization would naturally be composed of volunteers. With so many youth leaders who require advisors, the advisors would also have to be volunteers.
For a well-established organization that has the ability to efficiently manage and train volunteers, a large volunteer base could be a tremendous source of growth for the organization’s activities. However, where an organization has yet to develop the resources to manage and train large numbers of volunteers, dependence on volunteers may become a significant liability.
Over the years, MYNA has frequently faltered because people of excellent character and with the best of intentions are over-committed and are, therefore, unable to devote the amount of time to MYNA which is necessary.


Growth of Communities and Institutions

The past fifteen years has seen significant development and growth of the Muslim community, mostly at the local level. Tens of full-time Islamic schools have been established. Many communities have built million-dollar mosques. Campus Muslim activism has taken on a new and reinvigorated life. And many local communities have made significant progress in addressing the needs of their community independent of any regional or national organizations.
Whereas fifteen years ago, Muslim youth had to go beyond the borders of their state in order to achieve the critical mass necessary to organize, today many youth have no need to go beyond the walls of their mosque to establish thriving youth groups. A sense of identity is more easily created on the local level today than it was yesterday. A sense of belonging is more possible, as the number of youth has increased.
Individuals who never associated or new about MYNA but are no less dedicated, secure, and resourceful are entering college campuses and making dramatic and positive contributions.
The momentum that MYNA once had has diminished in part simply due to the diminished need for parents and youth to look outside of their community to find the support necessary to withstand the pressures which a Muslim youth faces growing up in North America. Indeed, many of the programs and initiatives of local communities are superior to those coming from MYNA, which is not necessarily to say that the quality of MYNA programming has declined, but that the quality of local programming has dramatically improved.
Reinventing MYNA


For MYNA to effectively progress towards its end goal, it must be modified to address the apparent cost imbalance of the existing structure and to reflect the reality that the nature of the Muslim community has changed significantly since 1985. This proposal envisions the establishment of a new structure, whether under the name MYNA or a new name, that seeks the same ends as the existing structure, but through a significantly different means.


Mission Statement

To assist families and communities in the development of exemplary Muslim youth.


Explanation of Mission

“exemplary Muslim youth”

MYNA would continue to strive towards achieving the goal of developing exemplary Muslim youth. Exemplary Muslim youth are defined by the following commitments:

· Committed to developing their relationship with Allah (God) and consciousness of his love;
· Committed to a life-long process of studying Islam, beginning with basic beliefs, knowledge of ritual worship, and understanding of the Qur’an;
· Committed to serving humanity;
· Committed to their responsibilities as citizens of the US and Canada and as positive, productive members of the society in which they live.


“To assist families and communities”

The Mission Statement recognizes the responsibility of raising children as primarily that of each child’s parents. Islamically, the parents are charged with the role of guiding and nurturing their children. Logically, parents are also best suited for fulfilling such a role, as most children spend more time with their parents than any other adults. A national organization that interacts with youth mostly in large group settings and only several times each year is, at best, ill suited for assuming the delicate role of directly fostering the development of exemplary Muslim youth. After a child’s parents, the most suitable parties for directly addressing the needs of Muslim youth are schools and mosques. While not suited for or charged with primary responsibility, schools and mosques also have a position superior to that of any non-local organization, as they have the most frequent, consistent, and substantive relations with youth.
The Mission Statement envisions an organization which aims to achieve its goal of fostering the development of exemplary Muslim youth by assisting, not purporting to act in place of a youth’s parents or community. Developing exemplary Muslim youth is a goal shared by MYNA, parents and other Islamic institutions. The proposed Mission Statement recognizes that MYNA, as compared to parents and other local institutions, is uniquely situated to make resources available to those who are better situated than MYNA to provide direct, frequent, and consistent services to the youth. MYNA can facilitate the flow of information, experiences, and other advice from one community to the next, allowing each community to give benefit to and take benefit from many more other communities than any community would be able to on its own.
The Mission Statement recognizes the significant reality that Muslim communities across the continent are far more developed than they were fifteen years ago. Not every community needs an outside organization to come in and start a local youth group for them. Not every community seeks to affiliate with MYNA, ISNA, or any other national organization. At the same time, there are still communities that have little youth activity and need assistance in starting a youth group. The varying landscape of the Muslim community in North America requires an organization that is flexible, non-imposing, and resourceful.
MYNA would seek to empower parents, mosques, schools, and youth groups by providing them with a menu of resources which they can apply as they deem most appropriate. Rather than coming from the outside and seeking to impose a “MYNA” youth group structure or approach to youth work, MYNA would supplement the objectives and methods chosen by the local community. Thus, if a community in Virginia decides that the local youth group should be led by a high school youth, MYNA would provide resources to the community that would strengthen the ability of the youth led group to achieve its goals. If, on the other hand, a community in Michigan decides that the youth group should be led by a college-aged student, then MYNA would provide resources to the community that would strengthen the ability of the college-student led group to achieve its goals. This approach recognizes the fact that many communities already have established youth programs and approaches to youth work; that seeking externally imposed uniformity in methodology of youth work is less important and may produce more alienation than ensuring that whatever methodology a community uses achieves its potential; and that MYNA’s institutional competence is not to deal individually with each youth, but to multiply its effect by reaching out to those who can and do deal closely with a group of youth on a very regular basis.

The New Structure

The new structure of MYNA would correspond to the priorities as reflected by the Mission Statement: that the goal be the development of exemplary Muslim youth, that the focus be on the development of local youth work, and that the mechanism be facilitation of youth work through assisting those with the primary and secondary responsibilities of raising the youth. Concerns reflected by the existing structure of MYNA are not dismissed as unimportant. Rather, the proposed structure reflects a set of concerns that are most critical, which MYNA is best suited to handle, and which MYNA can most effectively address.
The new structure would replace the existing youth-advisor structure with a full-time, adult staff that directly accesses local communities. This reflects a deprioritization of the need to provide youth with leadership training by placing them in charge of a national, zonal, or regional structure. It also reflects a deprioritization of establishing links between youth across great geographical distances. It reflects a prioritization of efficient and skilled delivery of services and resources to local communities. It reflects a prioritization of reaching more youth and more places. Finally, it reflects a prioritization of an organic, grass roots, bottom-up—rather than top-down—growth of the Muslim community and Muslim youth work.


Board of Directors

At the top of the organizational structure would be a Board of Directors (“the Board”).


Responsibilities of the Board

The Board would be charged with the responsibilities ordinarily charged to a board of a non-profit organization, namely:

1. Legal and financial responsibility for the welfare of MYNA;
2. Promotion of MYNA;
3. Establishment of the organizational vision and direction;
4. Supervision of the Executive Director

To ensure effective supervision and operation of the organization, the Board would meet at least three times each year for two day each meeting.

Composition of the Board

The Board would be composed of five individuals who serve for three year terms. The criteria for Board membership would generally be demonstrated commitment to the growth of youth and Islamic activism in North America. More specifically, each members must meet the following requirements:

1. At least three years of demonstrated involvement with youth work, including activism as a youth or regular service as a counselor, advisor or booster of a youth group;
2. Significant involvement with Islamic or youth work beyond a local level;
3. Ability to regularly monitor and attend MYNA activities;
4. Ability (time) to attend at least four different two-day Board meetings each year;
5. Involvement in the management of a for-profit or non-profit organization or institution;

Board membership would not be subject to geographic or age requirements. The Board, however, should have at least one female member at all times.


Selection of Board Members

The MYNA Board would be self-perpetuating, a common form of organization among non-profit institutions. This arrangement reflects the priority of efficient and effective delivery of services and the deprioritization of forming a necessarily “representative” organization. A self-perpetuating Board is best suited for MYNA, as it would ensure that individuals appointed to the Board are highly qualified and committed. Though possible, such an outcome is much more difficult to achieve where individuals are elected by a very broad, geographically dispersed, and relatively uninvolved membership base which selects candidates based upon a brief, written biography. Such a method of selection is much more important where the emphasis is on the representative nature of the organization, rather than on maximizing effectiveness and efficiency in delivery of services.
Selection of Board members would be staggered, so that no more than two individuals would be replaced at any one time, minimizing the possibility of sudden shifts in the composition of the Board. Board members would be selected through the following process: the Board creates an election committee of outsiders who have no interest themselves in serving on the Board but who have some degree of familiarity with the landscape of Islamic and youth work in North America. The selection committee then takes suggestions for candidates. Suggestions for candidates can be made by any concerned party, including the MYNA Board members, individually or as a group. The selection committee then undertakes an evaluation process, thoroughly assessing each candidates qualifications according to the selection criteria. The selection committee then determines which of the candidates who meet the selection criteria is most likely to effectively contribute to the operation of MYNA. That individual would then take the seat of the Board member whose term has expired. The selection committee would then be dissolved.
The initial Board, of course, would be selected by an alternate procedure. A meeting would be called of all interested parties, youth and non-youth. This group would vote for a selection committee composed of individuals who are very familiar with the landscape of Islamic and youth work in North America but who themselves are not able or interested to serve on the Board. This selection committee would then take nominations for appointment to the initial Board and would evaluate each candidate according to the established selection criteria. The selection committee would narrow the list to five individuals who will be appointed to the initial Board. The decision of the selection committee would be final. The selection committee would also set the terms of each individual, such that one Board member would have a one-year term, two would have two-year terms, and two would have three-year terms. Thereafter, the selection committee would be dissolved and the process described in the last paragraph would be undertaken as the terms of the initial Board members expire.


Executive Director

The Staff of MYNA would be led by an Executive Director hired by and answerable to the Board of Directors. The Executive Director would be an ex-officio, non-voting member of the Board. The criteria for selection of the Executive Director are:

1. Proven management skills;
2. Experience with Islamic or youth work;
3. Ability to travel frequently;
4. Ability to relocate to the MYNA office (location of which is undetermined) once support staff is hired.

The functions of the Executive Director include:

1. Implementing a plan to achieve the direction and goals determined by the Board;
2. Oversee the daily affairs of MYNA;
3. Keeping the Board informed about activities, programs, etc. of MYNA;
4. Supervise Project Coordinators;
5. Initially serve as Outreach Coordinator and Training Coordinator;
6. Maintain the finances of the organization.


Executive Assistant

The Executive Assistant would:

1. Provide secretarial assistance to the Executive Director;
2. Filed general questions about MYNA services and products;
3. Serve as interim Communications Coordinator


Communications Coordinator

The Communications Coordinator would:

1. Establish a web site;
2. Maintain a database of contacts;
3. Collect resources and organize them to be in useable form;
4. Collect activity reports and updates.

The Communications Coordinator would focus largely on multiplying the exposure of MYNA through the internet, particularly to those communities which staff members would not be able to visit initially. The MYNA web site can feature, among many other things, various databases of relevance to youth work, online manuals, discussion areas, notices and updates of MYNA and community activities and events, and links to other useful sites.
The Communications Coordinator with the assistance of the Outreach Coordinator, would establish a network of connections to whom regular updates of MYNA activities would be provided. Through these contacts, the Communications Coordinator would also seek to remain apprised of developments in various communities, partially with the intention of securing additional ideas and resources which MYNA can add to its repository of products and services.


Outreach Coordinator

The Outreach Coordinator would:

1. Establish contacts in communities across the continent;
2. Visit the communities to understand the needs, concerns, and nature of the communities;
3. Present the menu of products and services which MYNA can offer the community to support its youth work;
4. Work with the contacts to develop a plan for delivery and implementation of MYNA products and services;
5. Facilitate the implementation of the plan by placing the contacts in touch with the relevant project coordinators.

In carrying out the above functions, the Outreach Coordinator would seek to develop a plan which reflects the needs, concerns, and priorities as determined by the community itself. The Outreach Coordinator would identify an individual as a primary contact person in the community and would interface with community primarily through that individual. After developing a plan for the delivery and implementation of MYNA products and services, the Outreach Coordinator would place the contact person in touch with the appropriate Project Coordinators, who would then work with the contact according to the agreed upon schedule and plan to deliver or implement the particular products or services.


Project Coordinators

Project Coordinators will be charged with the responsibility of developing the substantive products and services which MYNA will offer to local communities. Project Coordinators would be hired to coordinate the development and delivery or implementation of two broad categories resources—youth group resources and training programs.
The emphasis should not be on the quantity of products or services MYNA has to offer. Rather, each product or service which MYNA makes available should be of extremely high quality. The range of MYNA products and services should be expanded only when and if such expansion would not entail a reduction in quality of the existing products and services. Consequently, growth in the range of products and services will be gradual, particularly at the beginning, when a reputation has yet to be developed and financial and human resources will be limited.


Youth Group Resources

The Project Coordinator for Youth Group Resources would focus on making available non-training print, video, an electronic resources to assist in the development and strengthening of youth groups. Such products could include manuals similar to but more comprehensive than the MYNA Workers Manual, describing the steps to forming a youth group, basics of fundraising, and organizing a weekend retreat, among many other possible topics. MYNA would also make available materials to assist in the organization or operation of study groups (halaqas), including directions on the best methods to run a study group, curricula, etc.
The products will not necessarily be, and as much as possible should not be, created by MYNA itself. Rather, to the extent possible, the Project Coordinator for Youth Group Resources should seek to consolidate existing resources available throughout the continent. MYNA’s relationship with local communities, in this respect, will be symbiotic, with MYNA providing resources to which the community would otherwise not have access, and with the community sharing its original products and concepts with MYNA so that MYNA can make them available to other communities. This approach to developing MYNA’s bank of products minimizes duplication of efforts, requires a smaller staff and fewer resources, and recognizes the numerous original contributions to youth work that have been made on a sub-continental level by individuals unaffiliated with MYNA.


Training Programs

The Project Coordinator for Training Programs would focus on facilitating the implementation of various training programs on the local, regional, and occasionally, on the continental level. Eventually, the Project Coordinator would facilitate youth leadership training programs, counselor training programs, youth group advisor training programs, facilitator training, camp and retreat organization seminars, and other programs which develop skills necessary for the successful development of a supportive environment for the youth.
For many of the training programs, MYNA could employ a model similar to that used by the Education, Training and Resource Associates (“ETRA”), a Virginia-based consulting firm founded by Iqbal and Nudrat Unus, long-time ISNA workers. The prime benefits of the ETRA model are: that the same program can be repeated in many different places during the same year without a full-time training staff; that each program features highly qualified and experienced trainers; that the planning is much less complex than for the traditional MYNA training programs; and that program is largely self-sufficient.
The model operates as follows: if one or several communities in a particular area were interested in training individuals to serve as counselors in camps and retreats, the Outreach Coordinator place the Project Coordinator for training programs in touch with a contact person in the area where the training program would be held. The Project Coordinator and the community contact would schedule several one-day seminars (as many as are deemed necessary to achieve the desired goals) over a period of one year. The community contact would be charged with the responsibility for arranging the site, food, and other logistics. The Project Coordinator would contract trainers to conduct one of the one-day seminars, who would be given an honorarium for their service. The trainers would be selected from a pool of individuals with considerable experience or formal training in youth counseling, facilitation, etc. Participants would be invited and would be charged based upon the number of seminars they would like to pay for at one time. Individuals who attend the full course would receive MYNA certification, demonstrating their competence to serve as counselors in youth programs.
ETRA has focused on training Islamic school teachers and has received a very positive response. At its pilot program in the Washington, D.C. area, ETRA has enjoyed an average attendance of 25-30 individuals paying $35 per seminar or a package price of $275 for the twelve seminars. ETRA has proposed a cooperative project with ISNA for national implementation, which projections indicate could take the program to ten different cities, conducting a total of over 100 seminars using a pool of thirty trainers, each of whom conduct at least four seminars in the course of a year. ISNA’s alternative would be to higher a full time teacher and trainer for this one project, the total cost of which would far exceed the cost the ETRA model and the reach of which would fall far short of the reach of the ETRA model.
The ETRA model is suitable for some types of programs, must be modified for others, and may be unsuitable for yet others. While MYNA need not adopt the specific ETRA model for a particular program, the ETRA model is instructive in that it recognizes the vast wealth of experience that the Muslim community possesses collectively and that, if efficiently organized, can produce dramatic and far reaching results.


Phased Implementation

The structure described above is the structure we should seek to attain within an approximately five year time frame. While the basic elements of the structure would be established at the outset, some elements, like the number of staff persons and the range of products and services offered, would have to be increased over time, as a track record is established, as qualified persons are identified, and as greater financial resources become available.
Growth of the reinvented MYNA should be paced according to the organization’s ability to ensure that each element of the operation achieves maximum quality. Therefore, even if fundraising efforts yielded unexpected positive results, MYNA’s growth should be controlled. To establish a reputation of excellence, MYNA should initially adopt a very limited range of services and products. For example, the first MYNA projects could be the establishment of a web site and a training program for youth group advisors. Over a period of two years, MYNA could focus on producing a professional quality web site that gathers information and quality resources already available and known to many MYNA activists. Also during the two years, MYNA could focus on facilitating top-notch training programs geared towards adults who are interested in assisting in the development or promotion of the Muslim youth groups in their locality. Individuals who complete the training program could be designated “Certified Youth Workers.” By focusing on adults, efforts would concentrated on training the population which is has the greatest potential to facilitate the development of exemplary youth on the local level over a much longer period. (Training youth is extremely valuable, but their contributions frequently cease when they leave high school, whereas adults can be active over a much longer period of time.) Focusing on adults also builds the reputation of MYNA where it is most need, in that adults are most likely to be the prime control over MYNA’s influence and access to any particular community, and adults will be primary source of financial support.
Once MYNA has established its reputation as a provider of high quality services, the range of services which MYNA offers can be expanded, as can the size of the organization. Initially, responsibilities will have to be vested in a single person—the hired Executive Director. As greater financial support becomes available, the Executive Assistant should be hired and a permanent location selected for the MYNA office. Initially, MYNA will be reliant upon a small group of volunteers who are willing to assist in the development and maintenance of the web site and in the administration and facilitation of the training programs. Over time, however, the reliance upon volunteers can be reduced, as a Communications Coordinator is hired, then an Outreach Coordinator, and then Project Assistants. At each stage of growth, as stated, commitment to quality must remain of prime importance.
Of equal importance is the need for continual evaluation. On a regular basis, the staff of MYNA and the Board of Directors should reevaluate the organization bottom-up, questioning the assumptions, assessing its successes and failures, and evaluating the change in its operating environment. Adjustments to the structure and approach should be made as necessary.


Relationship to Other Organizations


Islamic Society of North America

MYNA would remain an affiliate of the Islamic Society of North America (“ISNA”). MYNA, however, would assume a status similar to that of a professional organization such as the Association of Muslim Social Scientists or the Islamic Medical Association, in that MYNA would assume responsibilities and control over its own functions. This includes authority over the independent operation of MYNA. MYNA will not limit its services or give preference to ISNA members or affiliates. As an organization under ISNA umbrella, MYNA would strive to co-author a productive vision of Islam in America.


Other Organizations

MYNA will strive to provide services to any youth groups or Islamic organizations, irrespective of their affiliations, so long as they agree with MYNA’s stated values.


Funding

MYNA’s programs will range from those entirely dependant upon funding by MYNA to those mostly dependant upon the funding of the benefiting community. To the extent that MYNA’s programs are not self-sufficient or funded by the benefiting communities, MYNA will need to raise money from the general Muslim community.
Initially, the starting capital must be secured through the fundraising efforts of the Board of Directors alone. The Board could approach MYNA graduates, many of whom would be able and willing to donate at least $1000. If one hundred MYNA graduates can be identified to donate $1000 each, the first years expenses would probably be satisfied.
Thereafter, the reputation that MYNA will begin to build will facilitate the Boards job of raising the money necessary for MYNA’s operation. The more successful MYNA’s programs are, the more money and interest the success is likely to generate.
MYNA may, at some point, also consider establishing a non-voting membership base, similar to CAIR, environmental organizations, public radio stations, and many other nonprofit organizations.


Frequently Asked Questions


If the Board of Directors is not elected by members, to whom is it accountable?

The Board of Directors would be accountable, first, of course, to Allah, and then to the organization, which would take the form of a corporation. Several mechanisms would exist that would ensure that the Board acts reasonably. First, the criteria for Board membership are fairly stringent. Second, the terms of the Board members are staggered, so that the chance that the composition of the board will change suddenly is unlikely. Consequently, the decisions of the Board are also likely to remain fairly consistent. Third, MYNA would remain a tax exempt organization, and the exemption would be threatened if the Board abused its authority. Fourth, the Directors would owe the corporation the fiduciary duties which any director owes a corporation. If any Board member violated his or her duty of loyalty or care to the organization, he or she would potentially personally liable and subject to suit by the state attorney general.
Finally, and most importantly, the Board would have to operate reasonably and responsibly for the organization to be viewed as successful by the general Muslim population. If the organization is responsible and successful, people will donate money and keep the organization alive, as they do for CAIR. If the Board performs poorly or abuses its authority, the funds will cease to come and the organization will falter.


What will happen to MYNA’s existing structure?

The new model does not aim to dismantle “activities” that are already in place, such as zonal camps and conferences. At the same time, the new official structure would not actively perpetuate the old structure of a continental organization divided into zones and regions. Instead, the emphasis will be on training individuals and youth groups. The “MYNA Executive Board” and “MYNA Advisory Board” and other officers would be asked to voluntarily step down with those positions dissolved. These individuals would be asked to assist in the development of the new structure.
MYNA would assist organizations that wish to coordinate beyond the local level and may even recommend such coordination in specific situations. MYNA would not aim to develop a deliberate continental structure as it has in the past.
For example, if all of the youth groups in the Washington, D.C. area or even on the east coast of the United States decide to collectively form a council and elect representation, MYNA would not try to assign its name or have a controlling role in the council. Rather, the council or any of its local groups will have equal, full, and direct access to the MYNA products and services. Effectively, growth of the connections between youth and youth groups would be organic.
Whether activities not organized by the official structure of MYNA can continue to use the name of MYNA must be further discussed. Legal liability issues may require that such activities not share the name with the new organization. In such a case, either the new organization will have to establish a new identity or the non-official activities will have to operate under a name other than MYNA.


Can the existing structure be continued and the proposed structure created as a new, different organization?

While such an arrangement is conceivable, it is not advisable. First, this proposal arose out of a study intended to determine what changes were necessary to effectively progress towards MYNA’s end goals without the current problems. This proposal is the result of that study, so to retain the existing structure, even if independent from the new structure, would be to perpetuate the current, weakened structure. This study concludes that any attempts to improve MYNA while maintain its current basic structure would only be half-measures and that the problems of MYNA are constitutional in nature. Furthermore, it concludes that the most effective approach towards the development of a continental structure would be organic growth—which perpetuation of the current structure would not permit.
Second, resources, human and financial, of the Muslim community that are readily available are limited. The same people who would be needed to perpetuate the current structure are the people who would be needed to get the proposed structure off to a running start.
Third, while the structures of the two organizations would differ dramatically, the purposes would be repetitive. The proposed structure seeks to provide quality training and resources for youth groups—the same substantive goals as MYNA. Taking away the role that the new organization would fulfill leaves the current organization with only a structure, a structure which is unlikely to gain firmity it now lacks unless there are youth and youth groups ready to support that structure.


What ages will MYNA serve?

The primary audience of MYNA would still be middle school and high school students. However, MYNA would not restrict itself to the traditional definition of youth as twelve to eighteen year olds. If a community youth group wants to assist in the organization of a camp and the leader of the youth group is a college student, the community would have no less access to MYNA’s resources than would a community with a high school student leading the youth group.

What role would youth have in the new structure?

This proposal does not envision a considerable youth role in the leadership of the current structure. However, as appropriate, the staff of MYNA may select highly qualified youth to assist with discreet projects, where the success or failure of the project would not revolve around the youth’s ability to independently grapple with the assigned task.
Youth would be encouraged to take leadership roles on the local level, organizing camps, retreats, seminars, fundraising events, dinners, and other programs. MYNA would also provide training to youth through specialized programs, whether at the regional or continental level.