MYNA 2004 Action Plan

MYNA 2004 Action Plan

Who we are:
Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA) is dedicated to provide youth programming encompassing youth issues. In accepting and nurturing environments youth develop qualities that serve them all their lives. MYNA exists in that environment and its primary aim is to strengthen that environment.

Vision: Exemplary Youth
§ Strive towards excellence through a relationship with and consciousness of Allah.
§ Engage in the life-long process of gaining knowledge.
§ Pursue the doing of good deeds that build an honorable character.
§ Initiate of positive influence in school and in the community.

Mission: To inspire youth and facilitate an environment that cultivates knowledge of self.
Knowledge of self is the most important thing a youth must work to achieve. It includes the challenges of resolving issues of identity, and gaining an awareness of one’s duties and responsibilities. This requires an inner struggle that is nurtured by a cultivating environment. A youth’s environment includes the family and the community in which the youth lives.

With the resources available to us we work to inspire youth with examples of the past and present, and we facilitate youth-related activities and opportunities to promote their development towards our vision of exemplary youth. We facilitate by providing assistance to those families and community institutions that want to create a cultivating environment for their youth.


2004 Action Plan:
The following action plan outlines activities to be implemented during the next year which will foster an environment which cultivates knowledge of self. Because MYNA is in it restructuring phase many of the action items include outreach seminars to local communities, to reacquaint them with the services MYNA can offer to their community. The other items focus heavily in creating a sustainable infrastructure, which will become the foundation for dynamic youth programming in the years to come insha’Allah.




Training Location Overview:
The following locations will be the target cities to conduct Advisor Training, Youth group affiliation, Parent workshops, and Youth Leadership training.

1. Detroit
2. Washington D.C.
3. San Francisco
4. Los Angeles
5. Houston
6. Chicago
7. New York/New Jersey

The following cities already have a MYNA event scheduled, however in addition to those events trainings will be conducted.

1. Dallas (Dallas Youth Camp-April)
2. St. Louis (Central Zone Conference-May)
3. Dallas (South Central Zone Conference-May)
4. Upstate New York Regional Conference (June)
5. ISNA National Convention (September)
6. West Zone Conference (December)

Advisor Training and recruitment will be held in each city one month prior to the youth and parent trainings. It is possible to conduct more trainings in conjunction with the ISNA Towne Hall meetings. This will be coordinated between the Youth Coordinator and Mohammad ElSanoussi.



ADVISOR TRAINING/RECRUITMENT
In order to sustain a functioning youth group in various areas around the country, investment for recruiting and training advisors of youth groups will take place first in a series of community trainings.

Advisor training and recruitment will take place one month prior to Youth Group Affiliation and Parent Workshops (described in the following pages). During this training advisor will be notified of their exact duties and obligations as serving as a MYNA youth group advisor. Procedures, guidelines, activity ideas (fundraisers and service projects) will all be distributed at this time in a manual.

Once the advisor is chosen, he/she will be responsible in recruiting youth from his/her community to form a youth group. One month will be given for this process, at which time further trainings involving youth and parents will be conducted.

Budget:



YOUTH GROUP AFFILIATION
PARENT-YOUTH WORKSHOPS
MYNA representative will come back to a city one month after a youth group advisor has been chosen and has recruited youth to form a youth group. At this point a MYNA representative will travel to the city to conduct a variety of workshops over a weekend. This will include:

1. Youth Group Affiliation: What does it mean to be a MYNA youth group? What are the benefits a youth group will receive after becoming affiliated with MYNA? Understand the criteria of being a MYNA youth group, etc.
2. Parent Workshops: It is important to introduce MYNA to parents as well as youth so they have a better understanding of the importance of having their children involved.
3. Youth Workshops: These workshops will focus us how to get a youth group started, elect officers of a club, become familiar on how to effectively organize events, raise money, and recruit more members.


Budget:



DALLAS YOUTH CAMP (TBD)


SUMMER YOUTH LEADERSHIP CAMP
This leadership camp will become the culmination of the trainings done throughout the year. The goal of this camp will be to bring together all newly affiliated MYNA youth groups together annually, to discuss youth group issues as well as concentrate further on leadership and teambuilding development.

At this camp we will also hold national MYNA elections fully incorporate youth into the leadership structure—MYNA Executive Council—as outlined in the MYNA Strategic Plan.


Budget:



ISNA REGIONAL CONFERENCES & NATIONAL CONVENTION

1. Central Zone (St. Louis)
2. South Central Zone (Dallas)
3. Upstate New York
4. West Zone


MYNA programming is essential during the ISNA regional conferences. Resources dedicated for MYNA program is essential for a dynamic program. The following are areas where MYNA needs more monetary resources:

1. PR is essential for registration as well as attendance during the conferences.
2. Allocating funds for MYNA rep to travel to conference area to recruit youth and advisors for MYNA programming.
3. Recruiting young, knowledgeable speakers is key in attracting youth to “new” innovative sessions.
4. Alternative off-site Community Service Projects
5. Teambuilding activities
6. T-shirts
7. Fliers
8. Posters
9. Banners


Budget:



WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
A Web company will be contracted by MYNA to fulfill its goals:

MYNA’s constituency is primarily the Muslim youth themselves who are relatively tech-savy and have become extremely comfortable and dependent on the internet as their primary method of gaining information. Hence we have made the establishment of a website portal our first objective to gain access to Muslim youth across the North American continent.

Our website is planned to contain information gathered from youth groups and former youth workers all across North America. It will also include an archive and analysis of various youth activities that have taken place since the inception of MYNA; an analysis on the speakers and scholars that have participated in those activities; a demographic analysis on the youth of various communities; and an analysis of the various national and local, Muslim and Non-Muslim resources.

Website Goals:
1. create online youth group registry
2. create only access to youth group materials
3. create online database: new registrants and alumni
4. create online Friday Jummah Khuthbah resource
5. create online Mentoring Program manual

Friday Jummah Khuthbah: Develop a Friday Prayer Congregation support service for the promotion and establishment of local prayer services along with a sermon education program to develop q strong knowledgebase and speaking ability in the Muslim youth. Establishing Friday prayers in high schools is a top priority so our youth can fulfill their religious requirement. Furthermore, high school congregation prayers also develop a sense of solidarity, and provide an opportunity fro Muslim youth to teach and learn about Islam.

Mentoring Program: Muslim youth living in the United States experience tremendous stress due to the challenge of practicing Islam as religious minorities in a secular questioning and antagonistic environment. The challenge of developing a Muslim-American identity is a key problem that youth face in which a mentorship program could be very productive. MYNA would like to assist communities in the development of mentorship programs. We will look at models such as “big brothers and big sisters” and network with local masjids, and national and local social service agencies

Database: Develop a support network and information database to facilitate local communities in establishing new MYNA chapters, and to provide a forum and networking system for established MYNA groups to expand and broaden their activities. MYNA’s philosophy is that youth groups are run by youth for youth, and that the act of organizing an activity is as important as the activity itself.
Budget:
NATIONWIDE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Gather local Muslim youth through their MYNA chapter to establish test preparation and college entrance preparation programs which are held at local masjid classroom facilities with the benefit of a group discount to the local youth. Many Muslim youth would like to take a test preparation program for national entrance exams such as the ACT, SAT. However, they are often prevented from taking the course due to the far distance of the location or the financial cost of the program.

This is an excellent opportunity for us to gather and join together Muslim youth in their local communities who are not strongly affiliated with the masjid and often not even aware of each other. We can then take this united and organized group of youth to apply to establish a test preparation program of their choice at their local masjid classroom facility AND for a group discount.

2 cities will be chosen to run a pilot program:
1. Chicago
2. Washington D.C.


Budget:



BUDGET

Staff: P.R. coordinator $18,000
TOTAL: $18,000

PROGRAMMING:
Parent youth workshops $1,000 each($18,000)
Advisor recruitment/training $500 each ($9000)
Conferences $1000 each, ($5000)
Summer Leadership Camp ($30,000)
Dallas Youth Camp($1000) TOTAL: $63,000

Web Design Company TOTAL: $12,000

Printing
Brochures $1000
Manuals $3000 (youth group, advisor, mentoring program)
Fliers $1000
Banners (3) $1000
TOTAL: $6000
Local Sponsorships
Local Youth Events $1000 each/mo TOTAL: $12,000



Grand Total: $99,000


prepared by Taneeza Islam (ISNA Youth Coordinator)