Ayada Leads is a nonprofit organization that provides resources and training to assist African American women in the Minneapolis area to run for elected positions at all levels of government, with a particular focus on local races. ¹ It engages in voter mobilization efforts targeting African American and Muslim women in Minnesota to address social issues that face their demographic.  ^{2 3}

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was trained by Ayada Leads, resulting in successful campaigns for the state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Omar has since provided support for Ayada Leads by helping to conduct its training. ^{4 5}

Background

Ayada Leads is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based nonprofit organization that was founded in 2015 as Women Organizing Women Network. It engages with women with African heritage, especially Muslim women, to recruit them to run for elected positions and participate in voter mobilization efforts. ⁶

Ayada Leads states that it was founded to increase voter participation amongst women with African heritage because equal voting rights were not federally protected until the Civil Rights Act. It claimed that the Trump administration Executive Order 13780 that temporarily banned travel to the United States from the terrorist hotspot nations of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, and Venezuela resulted from an alleged desire to prevent ethnic minorities from immigrating and having equal rights. ⁷ Ayada Leads conducts campaigns in both English and Somali, attempting to recruit Muslim and African American women to vote under the belief that officials such as former President Trump are oppressing them. ⁸

Trainings

Ayada Leads offers a Future Leaders in the Making training program for girls between the ages of 14 and 25 who are in high school or college. It trains individuals to use the left-wing identity politics concept of intersectionality to advocate for issues pertaining to ethnic minority women. The Future Leaders in Making training also includes topics on personal success, such as communication skills and financial literacy. ⁹

Ayada Political Campaign Training is a program offered by Ayada Leads that recruits and trains African American woman to run for elected positions. It helps prospective and current candidates develop a campaign strategy, create a communications strategy, fundraise, and network. The program states that it can help candidates use their background or identity to promote their campaigns. ¹⁰

Ayada Leads’ Engaged Parent Program hosts events and provides training for African American women parents to engage in political advocacy within their school systems, local communities, and labor unions. It includes voter education programs where participants are trained to engage in voter mobilization and to identify so-called “voter disenfranchisement.” The Engaged Parent Program promotes civic engagement by African women to address housing, education, health, and employment within their demographic. It promotes the idea that public schools serve to prepare students for prison and that African American women parents should participate in education policy advocacy as it claims they are excluded from policymaking. ¹¹

The group’s most notable alumna is likely U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Rep. Omar was trained by the group and has since provided support for Ayada Leads by helping to conduct similar training. ^{12 13}

Advocacy

In 2023, Ayada Leads partnered with Rent Control for Minnesota. ¹⁴ In its YouTube series “Ayada’s Corner,” Ayada Leads hosted Qannani Omar to discuss its advocacy in support of rent control, claiming that allegedly “predatory landlords” have a monopoly on housing in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area and that Muslims and ethnic minorities in particular are victims of the housing market. Through its partnership with Rent Control for Minnesota, Ayada Leads advocated for a ballot measure that would enable the Minneapolis City Council to regulate rent prices and for an initiative that would limit rent increases to three percent. ¹⁵

Leadership

Habon Abdulle is the founder and executive director of Ayada Leads. She is also on the board of directors of Headwaters Foundation for Justice and was a Bush Foundation fellow in 2013. ¹⁶

Financials

In 2022, Ayada Leads reported receiving $237,376 in total revenue and $291,189 in total expenses. ¹⁷

1. “Candidate Eligibility.” Ayada Leads. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ayadaleads.org/candidate-eligibility.
2. Ansari, Hibah. “‘Power Is the Number of Voters You Have’: Minnesota’s Growing Muslim Population Expands Political Reach through Organizing, Activism-and Winning.” Sahan Journal, October 29, 2020. https://sahanjournal.com/election-2020/muslim-minnesota-political-organizing-2020-election/.
3. “Engaged Parent Program.” Ayada Leads. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ayadaleads.org/engaged-citizens-program.
4. Ansari, Hibah. “Vilified by Trump, Ilhan Omar Turns the Tables by Filing New Articles of Impeachment after Trump Supporters Seize U.S. Capitol.” Sahan Journal, January 8, 2021. https://sahanjournal.com/election-2020/ilhan-trump-capitol-impeachment/.
5. “Future Leaders in the Making.” Ayada Leads. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ayadaleads.org/future-leaders-in-the-making.
6. Ansari, Hibah. “‘Power Is the Number of Voters You Have’: Minnesota’s Growing Muslim Population Expands Political Reach through Organizing, Activism-and Winning.” Sahan Journal, October 29, 2020. https://sahanjournal.com/election-2020/muslim-minnesota-political-organizing-2020-election/.
7. “About.” Ayada Leads. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ayadaleads.org/about.
8. Abdulle, Habon. “Habon: Islamophobia Is a Political Weapon to Keep Muslim Women from Participating in Politics. the Way to Beat It? Run for Office.” Sahan Journal, December 8, 2021. https://sahanjournal.com/community-voices/ilhan-omar-countering-islamophobia-minnesota-muslim-women/.
9. “Future Leaders in the Making.” Ayada Leads. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ayadaleads.org/future-leaders-in-the-making.
10. “Ayada Campaign School.” Ayada Leads. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ayadaleads.org/ayada-political-campaign-training.
11. “Engaged Parent Program.” Ayada Leads. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ayadaleads.org/engaged-citizens-program.
12. Ansari, Hibah. “Vilified by Trump, Ilhan Omar Turns the Tables by Filing New Articles of Impeachment after Trump Supporters Seize U.S. Capitol.” Sahan Journal, January 8, 2021. https://sahanjournal.com/election-2020/ilhan-trump-capitol-impeachment/.
13. “Future Leaders in the Making.” Ayada Leads. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ayadaleads.org/future-leaders-in-the-making.
14. “A Year in Review: 2023.” Ayada Leads. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ayadaleads.org/projects-7.
15. Ayada’s Corner. “Rent Control.” YouTube, October 11, 2021. https://youtu.be/oLXvf1rr-ho.
16. “Habon Abdulle: Headwaters Foundation for Justice.” Headwaters Foundation for Justice. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://headwatersfoundation.org/about/board-of-directors/habon-abdulle-2/.
17. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Ayada Leads. Part I, Lines 12-18.