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Salaam and greetings John,

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, my first memory as a four-year-old was
seeing people running, screaming and crying down our street, as the soft
spring air was billowing with smoke. I was frightened and clung to my
maternal grandmother, asking what was happening. She said that we lost a
hero, and the whole world was weeping. Martin Luther King, Jr. was
assassinated and a couple of months later, Democratic presidential
candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. suffered a similar fate. It was a cruel,
chaotic and coarsening summer of 1968, with the death of my
communities' heroes and the Vietnam War violent protests. Witnessing
the volatility made the words in the pledge of allegiance we recited in
school ring hollow - there was no "liberty and justice for all."

My family tried to shield my sisters and I from the rampant racism and
violence for which they quickly realized there is no refuge. Like a
pandemic, it's everywhere.  As we could not escape it, we fought it.

As I got older, my family participated in peaceful marches, supported
economic protests, and attended church organizing meetings. I often
complained about the time-consuming and tedious gatherings, preferring
to play with my friends. My grandmother's response reminded me of a
quote from my favorite novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper
Lee:

Although fictional, the novel's setting and the theme was all too real
as it took place in my grandparents' home state of Alabama. The story
focuses on Atticus Finch, a prominent local lawyer who defends a black
man falsely accused of rape. The protagonist and narrator was Atticus'
young daughter, Jean "Scout" Finch. Scout's youthful experience
resonated with mine - dealing with issues of prejudice, human
morality, and injustice. It served as the impetus for my legal career.

Today, as a 25-year practicing lawyer, whether in the courtroom or the
boardroom, I continue to use my profession as a platform to create
social change and demand equal treatment under the law as the
Constitution guarantees. The government cannot just discard these rights
due to challenging times.

I joined the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America (CLCMA) in
2016, spearheading a pilot program called the Nonprofit Practice Group
(NPG). What I enjoyed most about working for CLCMA is that I continued
to fight for liberty and justice for the maligned and marginalized by
protecting and defending one of their most precious assets -
nonprofits. Just like the discrimination perpetrated upon enslaved
Africans, women, and immigrants before them, Muslims and Muslim-based
nonprofit organizations are continuing to lose their civil liberties
through profiling, surveillance, religious intolerance, and guilt by
association.

Access to free or low-cost legal services is limited as the U.S.
government continues to promulgate laws and enlarge its powers to target
Muslim nonprofits. These institutions struggle to obtain legal
representation to combat these injustices due to conflicts of interest,
risk profiles, or high legal fees. CLCMA's NPG provided its services
pro bono, expanding its legal reach to benefit thousands of Muslim
charitable, community, and faith-based nonprofits. Nonprofits serve as a
safety-net for human and health services and a catalyst for social
change. Without these institutions, we are depriving millions of people
in the U.S. and across the world of social, medical, educational, and
legal resources.  

I am proud that CLCMA educates, enlightens and enhances the capacity of
Muslim nonprofit organizations. Our work helps to improve the economic
and social inclusion of an at-risk population that they serve through
compliance reviews, risk management counseling, workshops and legal
services. Our guidance, resources and tools encourage leadership to
adopt standard procedures and policies to ensure compliance with
nonprofit best practices and withstand government scrutiny.  

Most importantly, CLCMA's Nonprofit Practice Group's work went
beyond compliance and was not just a "tick" the box approach. Our legal
support enabled Muslim nonprofits' to put their mission into action
and live out their values. I take great pride when clients remark that
"CLCMA's quality programming is beneficial to the board in
understanding their roles and responsibilities; "The Board Boot Camp
being free eliminated barriers for the smaller organizations who
otherwise could not afford to attend;" and "Our organization could not
assist orphans and widows ravaged by war without your support." Hearing
these sentiments lets me know that we are making progress in our fight
for liberty and justice for all.

The work of justice is a battle on many fronts, and I am honored to have
been a part of an organization that challenges injustice and empowers
communities. The work of justice is ongoing, and I am blessed to be able
to serve diverse organizations and contribute my expertise as they
fulfill their missions. The work of justice is not easy, and I hope you
continue to value the work of MLFA and CLCMA and invest in their mission
for as long as it takes to root out injustice wherever it is found.

We must face the challenges and injustices of our time with courage and
compassion. I truly believe we each have a role to play, and together,
we can build a more just society.

Sincerely,

Shari F. Crittendon

Senior Attorney

About Shari:

Originally from New York, Ms. Crittendon has over 25 years of legal
experience focusing on for-profits, nonprofits and higher education
institutions. She started her legal career as an associate for two major
law firms in the state of Maryland and as in-house counsel for a state
university. Most recently, Shari served as Vice President, General
Counsel and Secretary to the Corporation for the United Negro College
Fund, Inc. (UNCF), the nation's largest higher education minority
education assistance organization. The hallmark of her tenure was
providing legal advice and counsel to the Bill and Melinda Gates
Millennium Scholars $1.6 Billion dollar grant. Shari also served as
UNCF's top lobbyist on Capitol Hill and with the Bush and Obama
administrations, helping to secure $2.6 Billion for minority serving
institutions.

Shari served as the Senior Corporate Counsel and Director of CLCMA's
Nonprofit Organizations Practice Group. Her experience managing
governance, risk and compliance as well as other legal issues for
charitable, community and faith-based nonprofits across the nation has
proven invaluable to the American Muslim community. Ms. Crittendon
graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management
from Syracuse University and attended the University Of Maryland Francis
King Carey School Of Law in Baltimore, Maryland. She is licensed in the
State of Maryland and the District of Columbia, U.S. Federal District
Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. She is a member of the American and
National Bar Associations as well as the Association of Corporate
Counsel. Shari is a proud member of the public service sorority, Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Shari will serve as General Counsel at Kansas
State University in the fall.

About NPG:

In 2016, MLFA learned that over 300 American Muslim nonprofit
organizations lost their tax-exempt status between 2011-2015. That year,
its grant-funded law center, CLCMA, launched the Nonprofit Practice
Group (NPG) as a pilot project in September 2016, with a mission to
transform the Muslim community by equipping its nonprofit leaders with
the skills, confidence and resources they need to make their
organizations effective, innovative and sustainable. Under the expert
leadership of Senior Corporate Counsel Shari Crittendon,  NPG's work
consisted of assisting charitable, community and faith-based Muslim
nonprofits in strengthening their organizational and programmatic
infrastructure, so that they may achieve their mission and withstand
heightened government scrutiny. To date, NPG has assisted over 75
organizations and trained over 150 leaders across the nation.
_________________

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Muslim Legal Fund of America, 833 E Arapaho Rd, Suite 209, Richardson, Texas 75081, United States