| Arab American Action Network | |
3148 W. 63rd St. Chicago, IL 60629
773-436-6060
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Staff
Hatem Abudayyeh
Executive Director
Rasmea Yusef
Associate Director
Suha Abuosba
Case Manager
Samira Ahmad
Lead Case Manager
Gihad Ali
Youth Organizing Program Coordinator
Halima Bahri
Youth Services
Program Coordinator
Muna Hammad
New Americans Initiative/ Citizenship Project
Nadia Musa
AmeriCorps Members
Nazly Damasio
Aaisha Durr
Tahany Elian
Besan Quran
Muhammad Sankari
Shira Tevah
Laila Younes
Put Illinois to Work
Amal Abdellatif
Medinah Abdelmuti
Tammy Abughnaim
Kholoud Abusalem
Inas Affaneh
Yasmeen Affaneh
Mahmoud Alshaikh
Nuer Alshaikh
Ramzy Elian
Veronica Garcia
Hanan Ghanayem
Ayah Hassan
Mustafa Hassan
Remal Hindi
Amany Hussein
Widad Hussein
Heba Matari
Rowaida Nofal
Asma Razik
Donia Razik
Arasele Robles
Fatmah Tabally
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Board
Lamees Talhami
Louise Cainkar-Mashrah
Treasurer
Widad AlBassam
Omar Bishtawi
Laila Farah
Ahlam Jbara
Mona Khalidi
Souzan Naser
Ora Schub
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Tickets Available for AAAN Fundraiser with Helen Thomas
Arab American Action Network (AAAN)
15th Anniversary Banquet and Fundraiser
with Keynote Speaker, Helen Thomas, Dean of the White House Press Corps
Sunday, December 12
7:00 PM
Belvedere Chateau
8055 W 103rd St
Palos Hills, IL
Purchase tickets online here.
For more information call Laila Younes at 773.436.6060, x. 111, or email laila@aaan.org.
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| Our Condolences | |  AAAN Family Experiences Loss
We lost a member of our extended family in the early hours of Sunday, September 12th, 2010, when Mohammad Musa, the son of long-time AAAN staffer, Nadia Musa, was killed in a car accident. His vehicle was struck head-on by a man driving the wrong way on Interstate 294 in south suburban Hazel Crest. Mohammad was returning home from celebrating the Eid with friends in Indiana. He was 25.
Mohammad had worked and volunteered with the AAAN when he was in high school. Before the accident, he owned a tow truck and was working as a mechanic, helping to support his parents and siblings. And he was recently talking with his mother about getting married and starting a family.
All of the Musas, who are originally from Beit Jeez in 1948 Palestine, have been affiliated with the AAAN in one way or another. Two of Mohammad's brothers, and one sister, had also participated in our youth development programming from as far back as 2002.
Mohammad cared much for his family and community, and we are all devastated by this tragic loss. He will be missed. |
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AmeriCorps Internships Available for 2011--Apply Now!
 
The Arab American Action Network (AAAN) is announcing the availability of AmeriCorps member positions in 2011, in the areas of youth development and services; adult education, including English as a Second Language (ESL) and Civics instruction; cultural arts / outreach; and social services, with a focus on public benefits outreach and enrollment, and immigration application support.
The positions begin in mid-January of 2011, and last for one calendar year. The AmeriCorps member's obligation will be 1,700 hours of work (approximately 33 hours a week), in which a bi-weekly stipend will be paid, totaling approximately $11,000 for the year. Once the 1,700 hours are complete, the member will receive nearly $5,000 in an education award that can be used to pay off student loans or for current or future studies (this is NOT a cash award).
Bi-lingual Arabic and English skills, and a strong understanding of the Arab community of Chicagoland, are preferred qualifications for employment, but not mandatory. A candidate for the position must be 17 years or older and a legal permanent resident or citizen; and have a high school degree or equivalent, or be willing to work towards completing a GED by the end of the service year.
If interested, please send a resume and cover letter to Halima Bahri at halima@aaan.org by November 1st, or call 773.436.6060, x. 111. You must be immediately available for an interview.
The AAAN is a grassroots, community based organization that strives to strengthen the Arab immigrant and Arab American community in the Chicago area through the combined strategies of community organizing, advocacy, education and social services, cultural outreach, leadership development, and forging productive relationships with other communities. The AAAN works to improve the quality of life of Arab Americans by building our community's capacity to be an active agent for positive social change.
Our vision is for a strong Arab American community, whose members have power to make decisions about actions and policies that affect their lives; and have access to a range of social, political, cultural, and economic opportunities in a context of equity and social justice.
The AAAN is an equal opportunity employer. | | |
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Upcoming Events
Palestine: One Land, One People, One Destiny
The Legendary Marcel Khalife, Haneen Zoubi from 1948 Palestine (and passenger on the ship to Gaza that was attacked by the Israeli army), Ghassan Ben Jiddo of Aljazeera Arabic (broadcasting LIVE from the conference), and Archbishop Atallah Hanna to headline USPCN's 2nd Popular Palestinian Conference in Chicagoland!
October 29-31, 2010The Westin Chicago Northwest
400 Park BoulevardItasca, IL 60143
======================================== America the Inclusive: Taking Charge of Our Path ForwardA Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC), Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC), and Islamic Relief (IR) ConferenceOctober 249:30 AMRosemont Convention Center5555 N. River Road Rosemont, IL 60018Register at www.ciogc.org or call 312-506-0070 ========================================
Helen Thomas to Speak at AAAN Fundraiser
Arab American Action Network (AAAN)
15th Anniversary Banquet and Fundraiser
with Keynote Speaker, Helen Thomas, Dean of the White House Press Corps
Sunday, December 12
7:00 PM
Belvedere Chateau 8055 W 103rd St Palos Hills, IL
Purchase tickets online here.
For more information call Laila Younes at 773.436.6060, x. 111, or email laila@aaan.org. ========================================
Arab Heritage Month Celebration
Join us for a celebration of Arab Heritage Month with an Arabic music workshop, henna, and more! Refreshments will be available.
November 9th 6:30 PM Bridgeview Library
7840 W 79th St, Bridgeview contact Halima@aaan.org or call 773-436-6060 ext. 111 with questions.
======================================== Women's Committee Cultural Event Save the date! November 29th will be the next Women's Committee event, from 11:00 AM-3:00 PM at the Green Hills Library. More info to come.
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AAAN Updates=========================================
AAAN took part in the Marquette Park Un ity Festival on September 11. A program of the Chicago Council on Human Relations, the event is part of a series of Unity Walks intended to "create a deeper sense of cultural understanding, raise public awareness, fight stereotypes and eradicate bigotry, in an effort to, promote a more unified society," according to the city's web site.
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The AAAN celebrated the Dream Fund September 17 with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and a number of other organizations. The Dream Fund enables qualified citizenship applicants to pay $145 in application fees instead of the usual $675, which is so high that it is often a barrier for potential citizens. The AAAN was presented with an award for "Most Applications Processed by an Individual Agency."
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Shonettia Monique, wellness coordinator for the Chicago Freedom School, led the AAAN staff in a self-care workshop on September 17.
The group discussed common challenges that often arise for people engaged in social services and organizing work, such as an inability to say no, and how to work on those challenges.
Read more on our blog.
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The youth organizing program held their first of many "Markaz Youth Madness" events September 17. The youth got a chance to have the markaz all to themselves, where they ate food, played games, and told potential new members about the program.
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| Learn, Adapt, Succeed: The National Network for Arab American Communities held it's 9th annual conference September 24 and 25 in  Newark, New Jersey. Sixteen AAAN staff, majority youth, attended. The conference was an opportunity for AAAN staff to learn useful skills like communications/marketing and building relationships with state social service agencies, network with Arab individuals and organizations from around the country, bond with each other, and spend some fabulous time in New York City.
Read tweets from lunch keynote speaker Susan Berresford's speech.
Read tweets from the AAAN's workshop on youth development.
======================================== AAAN turned out in full force for the October 16th anti-war protest on the 9th anniversary of the Afghanistan war. |
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The Wrong Profile
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AAAN Defends Civil Rights and Liberties
 In the early morning of Friday, September 24th, the FBI raided the homes of, and served subpoenas to, 14 anti-war and international solidarity activists around the country. All have subsequently refused to testify before a grand jury. "This case is really scary," a Chicago-based lawyer advising the activists, Jim Fennerty, told the AP. He called the raid "an attempt to silence advocacy." While the trajectory of this grand jury investigation remains unclear, racial, religious, and national-origin profiling by the FBI has played a role in many cases of harassment and intimidation against Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. for decades. And ironically, this coordinated FBI operation was taking place during the Face the Truth Week of Actions, which marked the one-year anniversary of the Rights Working Group's campaign against racial profiling. Rights Working Group has called for an investigation into the raids. The AAAN, a member of the Rights Working Group (RWG)-a coalition of over 270 human rights, civil rights and liberties, immigrant rights, and Muslim, Arab, and South Asian organizations around the country-does work around profiling at the local and national level. Locally, we are developing a campaign around unequal treatment of youth of color at Oak Lawn High School. Nationally, we are helping to educate our community around the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) of 2010, as well as collecting petitions to convince the Department of Justice to revise the 2003 guidance on racial profiling, which currently includes dangerous loopholes exempting borders and national security issues. The Face the Truth campaign came about to bring racial profiling legislation, originally introduced in Congress over a decade ago, back to light since 9/11 "killed the legislation," says RWG's Pabrita Benjamin. At the time, the bill mostly focused on "driving while black/brown," and did not include "flying while Muslim/Arab." The legislation introduced this July covers both, and applies to all U.S. federal and local law enforcement agencies, including police, the Transportation Security Administration, the FBI, and more. The three most powerful parts of the act, says Benjamin, are that it asks all law enforcement agencies to collect data on perceived race/religion/country of origin, gives individuals the right to sue if an agency is shown to be profiling, and links agencies' funding to their preventative policies and practices. Read More.
Read about a Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) New York City day of action
Watch the video Face the Truth: Racial Profiling Across America
Read the RWG Report: Faces of Racial Profiling: A Report from Communities Across America
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 The Arab American Action Network (AAAN) strives to strengthen the Arab community in the Chicago area by building its capacity to be an active agent for positive social change. As a grassroots nonprofit, our strategies include community organizing, advocacy, education, providing social services, leadership development, cultural outreach and forging productive relationships with other communities. |
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