The Sister Clara Muhammad Memorial Education Foundation Needs Your Support
Your support today is more important than ever because of various factors. One such factor is the racial wealth gap. The online Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, on Wednesday, August 17, 2016, reported that the Institute for Policy Studies documented the racial wealth gap over the last thirty years as having increased by eighty-four percent for average European American families, which is three times the increase for African American families. They predict that if this trend continues, it will take two hundred and twenty-eight years for the average African American family’s wealth to equal that of the European American family. Another factor is that society has a need for the sober-minded, moderate, critical-thinking students these schools produce. The graduates, many descendants of ex-slaves, are responsible, accountable, dependable individuals with the disciplined moral fortitude for developing and contributing to a shared freedom space for all humankind that in necessary to build a good family and good community life globally.
Recognizing that “all children have a right to an education in a moral environment,” according to Imam W. D. Mohammed, we encourage you to contribute to the Sister Clara Muhammad Education Foundation , which supports the network of schools, providing an excellent education for our diverse Muslim and non-Muslim student population, many of whom would have little to no other opportunity for a quality education.
We thank you in advance for your financial assistance. Please see the form below and support our cause by pledging your donation today.
Dr. Jon A. Yasin - President
Jon A. Yasin is a Professor Emeritus at Bergen Community College. He was Le Responsable D’ Animation Rurale in N’gabou, Senegal, West Africa for two years after completing his undergraduate studies at the California State University at Hayward, where he received the Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Anthropology. Upon his return to the United States from Senegal, while converting to Al Islam in 1971, Dr. Yasin attended graduate school in Massachusetts, where he received a masters of education from Northeastern University in Applied Linguistics; a masters of public administration from Harvard University, with a specialization in the politics of language, and a Certificate of Graduate Studies from Boston College. While in Massachusetts, Dr. Yasin was on the founding faculty of Roxbury Community College. During this time, he was the Director of the University of Islam School, which Imam W.D. Mohammed [raa ] renamed the Clara Muhammad School, of which Yasin was Convener of the School Board. He was awarded the PhD in Linguistics and Rhetoric by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, PA, after which he taught Linguistics and English at the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi from 1981 through 1988. Returning to the United States, Dr. Yasin joined the faculty at Bergen in Paramus, New Jersey, and completed the Doctorate of Education in Applied Linguistics at Columbia University’s Teachers College, in New York City. He has written a plethora of articles on various aspects of Youth and Hip Hop culture, with his primary research interest being the emcee and the notion of talk in the music of the African Diaspora. Other research interests include the language of racism and the University of Islam Schools/ Clara Muhammad Schools. Imam Warithudeen Mohammed [raa] appointed Yasin to his committee on education in 2004, on which he has continuously served. He is married to Sarah Terry Yasin, an educator, and counseling psychologist.
Contact Jon A. Yasin
Dr. Hameed el Amin - Vice President
Dr. Hameed el Amin was raised in Tuskegee, Alabama and educated at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He received his masters degree in Biological Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, from where he earned the PhD in Clinical Psychology, as well. Dr. Hameed was an officer in the United States Army; in addition, he worked in the Montclair Schools in Montclair, New Jersey. Having lectured in the academy for many years, he has retired from teaching undergraduates at Calhoun Community College, and graduate students at Alabama A and M University in Huntsville, Alabama. He converted to Al Islam during the 1970s. For more than twenty years, Dr. Hameed has dedicated his life to working with the Imam W.D. Mohammed Educational Program, after being commissioned by Imam Mohammed [raa] to contribute to this great work, by assisting in the development of the Creation Inspired Curriculum. Dr. Hameed is spearheading the effort by educators working on the Clara Muhammad School’s curriculum, about which a colleague from the University of California at Los Angeles, at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association [AERA] in Toronto, Canada, described as a new approach to the representation of knowledge. Dr. Hameed is the author of two books, and lives in Huntsville, Alabama and has several children, and grandchildren.
Contact Dr. Hameed el Amin
Sister Katara Aleem - Secretary
Sister Katara Aleem was raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. She graduated, with highest honors, from American International College with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. Sister Katara converted to Al-Islam in 1975. She now lives in Bowie MD and has been blessed with 4 daughters, 6 granddaughters, 1 grandson, and 2 great-grandsons, Alhamdulillah! Sister Katara’s career has spanned over more than 50 years. She is currently, serving as Curriculum Coordinator for The Sister Clara Muhammad Youth Weekend School, Masjid Muhammad, Washington, DC. At various points in her career, she has been a Kindergarten teacher: Springfield Public School and Arts and Technology Public Charter School WDC; Director of Education: Robert M. Hughes Academy Charter School Springfield, MA; Teaching-Administrator at Clara Mohammed School DC; Teacher and Team Lead at Clara Muhammad School, New York; Kindergarten Team Lead, Lower School Resource, and Mentor at Arts and Technology Academy Public Charter School, WDC. Co-Founder and Headteacher for Al-Nur -- a K-6 Home Education Center (1991- 1999), Springfield, MA. Experience, faith, and reason have all played a part in Sister Katara’s dedication to establishing Imam WD Mohammed’s [raa] vision and mission for education and since 2006 she has worked in the Freedom Space of The Clara Muhammed Consortium of Schools to help build our system of Education.
Contact Sister Katara Aleem
Sister Laila Muhammad - Director
Sister Laila is a fifth generation African American Muslim. She is an educator and community advocate born in Philadelphia, PA, raised in Chicago, IL and now living in Roselle, NJ. She is a devoted wife, mother of three children and several grandchildren. She graduated from the University of Islam School, now known as the Sister Clara Muhammad School System. Currently, Sister Laila works with a team of educators on curriculum and policy for that eighty-plus year old private education system. Sister Laila holds a degree in Child Development, has extensive studies in Behavior Science, is a certified Domestic Violence Advocate, certified private Mediator and certified Reiki practitioner. Her parents, Imam Warith-U-Deen Mohammed [raa] and Sister Shirley Allen Muhammad [raa], and grandparents, Honorable Elijah Muhammad [raa] and Sister Clara Muhammad [raa], modeled extensively the importance of giving service through charitable acts throughout their lives. One of the monumental opportunities she was blessed to have experienced is the development of the Sister Clara Muhammad Memorial Educational Foundation, a 501c 3 organization, established by Sister Laila’s mother in honor of her grandmother. Her international travels include the blessings of making pilgrimage to Mecca, experiencing the life changing moment, walking through the Door of No Return in Ghana, experiencing the walk through the concentration camps in Europe, meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican and being among the interfaith leaders who attended The Art of Living World Cultural Festival India. Based on her work with Ash-Shamsiyyah–The Umbrella, during President Barack Obama’s tenure, she was invited to be the first African American Muslim Woman to present a prayer at the Interfaith Presidential Inauguration Service and was part of a delegation of religious leaders representing The President in Indonesia. As the result of seeing the world through the lens of a world citizen, she is further driven to build healthy community life for the betterment of humanity through service, with such organizations as the Compassion - Action Foundation. Sister Laila believes all people are striving to reach their human excellence and with a “shared freedom space” will succeed.
Contact Sister Laila Muhammad
Sister Kendra al Kaleem Evans - Director
Kendra al-Kaleem Evans is an energetic and enthusiastic Muslimah who loves the Islamic life the Boston Community has provided. She has been a Muslim since the tender age of 4 years old. She was one of the first 11 students to graduate from the Boston Sister Clara Muhammad School, formerly known as the Muhammad University of Islam! She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in African Studies and Journalism and Mass Communication, from The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. Her educational experience includes years as a caregiver and a range of teaching assignments from learning centers to high school. However, her foundation starts with the Sister Clara Muhammad School in Boston Massachusetts, at 35 and 37 Intervale Street as a student and community member. The cultural and Islamic nuances gained from this experience remain a key element in shaping who she is as a Muslim, a mother of an adolescent male, and a society member. Her service includes working in the financial industry and several Islamic community associations. She endeavors to work in a collaborative environment with members who help Muslim communities invest in their children by opening a S.C.M.S. in their cities. She is blessed to have witnessed parents and teachers working together to educate their beloved children in an Islamic cultural setting. The connections and friendships built have lasted a lifetime, for adults and children. These elements are the building blocks to communities that last forever!