Group Picture of CMGT members, volunteers, Tree Ambassadors, Green Teams from Masjid Al Farooq, Muslim Community Center, Chicago Islamic Center, Faith in Place, Interfaith Chaplain Dominican University, Wayfinding LLC, The 26th Ward, CRTI Morton Arboretum, Openlands, Solar Landscape, Chicago Frontlines Funding Initiative & LVEJO, Austin Garden Collective, Thrive Outside Nature Conservancy, Good Food is Good Medicine.
CMGT member Sara Siddique opening and moderating the event.
This year, the Chicago Muslims Green Team (CMGT) celebrates its five years of existence as a 501(c)(3) organization. CMGT is grateful to continue growing with the strong support from diverse communities in the greater Chicago.
On January 31, CMGT’s members, volunteers, partners, donors, and supporters gathered together at the 2025 CMGT Kick-off and Celebration event located at Impact House, the home of Funders and Changemakers in Downtown Chicago. At this invitation-only event, CEO Layalee Beirat delivered a great presentation on CMGT’s 2024 achievements, 2025 programs that include the new Tree Equity Program, and awards to recognize our amazing community members and dedicated environmental activists.
One of the awards went to Ela Finch, our best Tree Ambassador (TA). In July 2024, Finch joined CMGT’s TA program, a collaboration program with the Chicago Region Tree Initiative, Morton Arboretum. She became a TA trainer who recruited new TAs and organized multiple training in her Humboldt Park neighborhood. She contributed hundreds of tree request as part of our mission to equitably expanding Chicago’s tree canopy.
The 2025 CMGT’s award also went to Djeneba Diakite from Masjid Al Farooq. Diakite has been part of CMGT since she attended CMGT’s Green Team training in 2020 and trained as C3 (Chicago Conservation Corps) leader by the Nature Museum. Her mosque has been a CMGT’s great partner in various projects and activities, i.e., 2023 Tree Ambassador Training, Community Garden, and the 2025 Green Ramadan Program.
At this event, CMGT invited Solar Landscape, a company based in New Jersey that has been working together with CMGT since 2022. Jennifer Schneider, Solar Landscape‘s Director of Partnership delivered an informative presentation about Illinois Community Solar.
Schneider mentioned how CMGT supported their application to Illinois Community Solar Program in order to build local solar projects, to create local jobs, and to generate green power in the City and suburban centers. So far, they have 49 approved solar projects in Illinois. “The average annual saving for resident who enrolls in the Community Solar Program is about $250, which is wonderful,” she said.
“If anyone owns their home and has the ability to put solar on their home, that’s still a great thing to do and it’s the greatest saving. But, what Community Solar is all about is for people who can’t put solar on their home. So, I am a renter and this is the program I participate in New Jersey and thanks to the State of Illinois, you have a really robust Community Solar Program as well. We’re lucky enough to have amazing community partner like CMGT that supports local projects from the start,” Schneider explained.
It is now very easy for anyone to enroll in Illinois Community Solar Program. CMGT as a community partner will receive $200 from Solar Landscape for every new enrollment via CMGT’s webpage or using the code “CMGT“. This partnership truly benefits everyone involved including residents, organizations, mosques who want to easily switch to clean energy and save 20% of their annual electric bill.
The next speaker at the event was Uzma Noormohamed, the co-Director of Chicago Frontlines Funding Initiative (CFFI) who has done environmental work within the community for the last 15 years around education, engagement, and advocacy.
Noormohamed beautifully explained her view as a Muslim, “I just want to say a couple things that really stood out to me of the works that CMGT is doing. I personally draw from a couple of stories from our faith that inspired me to do environmental work. One is that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) always went to cave Hira. This cave is such an important landmark within the Muslim community and the faith because many revelations, the scriptures were revealed to the Prophet because he went there to meditate and contemplate his life and the world around him. There are so many messages that came down on what must be done on justice, community, and preserving that.”
“So, I always thought that it did not happen inside structure or did not happen inside the wall or something. It happened outside. For me, it is always important to connect to outdoors, to spiritual rejuvenation, and I see so much of that in the work that you are all doing. How important it is to have mind, body, and spirit connected to the outdoors and also to constantly renew that.”
In addition to motivating people to go outdoor, she also emphasized the importance of CMGT’s works on creating the stewardship and making sure that the environmental concern is also a concern in the Muslim community, because this is not an outside agenda. It is part of our faith.
Another important message in CMGT’s work that connects to her as a Muslim is a message that the Ummah, the Muslim community is like one body. If one part of the body is ill or not well, the other part of the body is also ill. “We have a duty or obligation and responsibilities to have overall wellness through this connectedness. That’s a deep message of justice and equity,” Noormohamed said.
For the closing remark, Board President, Caroline Williams acknowledged challenges in the past, present, and future to deliver meaningful impacts for our community, environment, civilization, and our beloved Planet.
After quoting Surah Al Baqarah number 45 and 153, she said, “Patient, perseverance and prayer are mentioned multiple times in the Quran. They are the keys for us to overcome our struggles.” She mentioned that CMGT has been through hard times during COVID pandemic. 2024 was also a hard year for the Ummah, especially with what happened to our families in Palestine. But she is hopeful that we will go through these hard time together with patience, perseverance, and prayer.
She added, “Collaboration and cooperations are highly important. We are so blessed to have all of you as part of CMGT’s big family and our amazing diverse community. The CMGT would like to thank you again, to everyone here. InshaAllah, God willing, we will always survive and we will thrive. Ameen.”
2025 CMGT CEO Award Recipients
Room and Tables Setting
CMGT Table
Food served with compostable utensils and plates.
CMGT ladies after the event (Caroline, Layalee, Sara, Djeneba, Christy).
Pictures by Caroline, Fred, Djeneba, Sam.