Firmly convinced more than 20 years ago that the key to a productive life on a living wage was through education, Gurnee area native Ashfaq Mohiuddin began teaching General Educational Development (GED) classes as a volunteer in Chicago, where he was then working.
Visiting his parents in Gurnee and attending Muslim prayer services at a nearby mosque, Mohiuddin learned there was also a need for GED classes in northeast Lake County.
“I drew parallels to Waukegan, North Chicago and Zion, which had the same challenges that existed on the South Side of Chicago,” Mohiuddin said. “There was a large Latino and Black population. There were huge high school dropout rates. I started a GED training program.”
Mohiuddin started teaching the GED classes in Waukegan, and the Urban Muslim Minority Alliance (UMMA) was born.
UMMA grew from a small tutoring center in 2004 to an organization offering resources and education for self-sufficiency with a presence on 10th Street in Waukegan, where it has a free grocery store, affordable housing, and is turning a former school into an adult community center.
Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said UMMA’s growth parallels the needs of the city and its neighbors as both evolve. From job searches to healthy food to housing for a larger family to a place for people to gather, it is all part of UMMA’s package.
“They have evolved into the very needs of what the community wants,” Cunningham said. “When they saw people taking classes needed food, they provided it. The growth of the organization helps build on the needs of the Waukegan community.”
While UMMA was growing, so was Mohiuddin. Tutoring as a volunteer, he said he was also designing data and analytic systems for companies like IBM as well as others. He started his own company — Ruvu AI — in July, helping businesses adopt artificial intelligence technology.
Now living in northern California, Mohiuddin remains company president with UMMA’s day-to-day operations in the hands of Executive Director Hamaas Ibrahim. Ibrahim began as a volunteer GED teacher in 2004 and became executive director in March, 2024.
Opening a small facility on Washington Street in Waukegan in 2004, Ibrahim said they began teaching GED classes. As people earned the diploma, they needed to learn the intricacies of getting a job paying a living wage.
Classes were offered in Microsoft Office programming so people could learn how to prepare resumes and develop other workplace skills. Ibrahim said computer courses came next so people could prepare a resume and learn how to apply for a job in 21st Century America.
Classes in English as a second language and Spanish came next. Ibrahim said those classes were about more than helping Spanish-speaking immigrants learn English and individuals whose first language was English learn to communicate in Spanish.
“Many of the jobs available had a bilingual request,” Ibrahim said. “These jobs engaged the Spanish-speaking community and enabled them to enlarge their earning capacity.”
Helping people find good jobs became another part of the mission. Mohiuddin said the organization developed a network to help guide individuals they were helping to strong local employers paying a “living wage.”
Moving to a larger building on Washington Street after about 10 years, Ibrahim said the organization was able to do more for the people taking classes. A small food pantry was established for them to take food home.
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When refugees from Syria and Rohingya started coming to the United States, Ibrahim said UMMA started coat drives, food boxes for refugees, and offered rental assistance to those who needed a place to live.
Teaching financial literacy was another way to help people achieve a better life. Mohiuddin said there were people selling cars offering a 21% loan. People were coached not to do things that would significantly increase the price of things they needed.
A decision was made between 2019 and 2020 to provide affordable housing. Ibrahim said families needed larger homes to avoid squeezing parents and three or four children into two bedrooms.
“Our goal was three houses in three years,” Ibrahim said. “We got three in 18 months. There was a strong need for three bedrooms or higher in Waukegan and greater Lake County. We wanted to provide upscale affordable housing.”
By 2023, Ibrahim said UMMA was in a position to purchase the two-story building at the northwest corner of 10th Street and McAlister Avenue in Waukegan. The ground floor was earmarked for what was to become the Harvest Market. It opened two years ago.
“We turned it into a grocery-style store where people took a shopping cart and picked their food,
Ibrahim said. “When people got boxes of food at a pantry, they threw some of it away. Now they can pick their own fresh produce.
John Kirkpatrick, the Harvest Market manager, said approximately 600 people shop there each week. No questions are asked when someone arrives. They take the cart and select their groceries. There are limited to 25 items a week. An ID is required.
Kirkpatrick said the market is open 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays. Wednesdays are reserved for seniors over 55.
More affordable housing was available on the second floor of the Harvest Market building. Ibrahim said there was a four-bedroom apartment, a two-bedroom unit and a pair of three-bedroom dwellings.
A major move came in late 2024 when UMMA purchased a former Catholic school on 10th Street less than 200 feet from the Harvest Market. Ibrahim said the goal is to make it an adult community center.
“We want to own the entire block,” Ibrahim said, referring to the portion of 10th Street between McAllister and Wadsworth Avenue. “This is a food desert and lacks programs for the community. We want to cover all the wraparound services they need.”
Moving the offices and classes now on Washington Street to 10th Street, Ibrahim said new courses will be added, a wellness center, a fitness room, a multipurpose room for a variety of activities both for UMMA and the community.
“We’re going to offer AI classes and a pathway into the trades,” Ibrahim said. “There will be healthy food classes, a health and wellness fitness room and a wellness center. We’ll have a nurse practitioner educate people on illnesses which are more prevalent in the minority community.”