COOK COUNTY – The Chicago Palestine Film Festival (CPFF) and Arab American Family Services (AAFS), in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, seek mentors and mentees to participate in their Arab American Mentoring program this October. The program officially kicked off in October 2014, in the Bridgeview neighborhood of Chicago, supporting 11…
كلمة الشهر حسن The next installment in our Arab Word of the Month blog series highlights an Arabic word that has many different meanings depending on the context in which it used: حسن. Transliterated as ‘hassan’, this Arabic word’s many meanings share a common theme: the idea of being good, or better than before – an improvement. Used as…
Physical fitness has many benefits, including strong mental and psychological benefits. Brothers Paul and Todd Turner, the founders of GUTS (Ground Up Training System), hope to help individuals with special needs develop healthy fitness habits through their unique physical fitness and training program. CAAP recently visited the brand new GUTS facility in Ferndale, MI, to learn more about their mission…
Photo Courtesy of Huffington Post For David Salha, opening a summer youth camp on his vacation property in northern Michigan has been a longtime dream. A Lebanese, Muslim American, and the owner of a mattress store in Detroit, David and his family have a history of involvement in scout troops; David’s son and daughter are active members of the…
Universities are meant to provide a safe space for students, where they can express their opinions, study, gather, practice their religion, or express their culture. For Omar Abboud, a third-year engineering student at Columbia University, promoting Arab culture proved to be incredibly important. Omar has accomplished plenty in his time at Columbia, which includes his work…
كلمة الشهر زكاة This month, in honor of the holy month of Ramadan, we will be taking a look at one of the five pillars of Islam, ‘zakat’ (زكاة) for our Arabic Word of the Month series. When translated to English, ‘zakat’ takes on the meaning of ‘alms-giving’ or ‘charity,’ but this definition is rather misleading, as it…
Coffee is the world’s second most valuable traded commodity. Coffee owes its origins to the Arab World, as it was first produced in the port city of Mocha in Yemen. It should be no surprise, then, that there exists a strong connection between coffee and Arab culture; the English word for coffee even comes from the Arabic word for coffee, ‘qahwa’. Coffee…
كلمة الشهر الأب Welcome to another special edition of our Arabic Word of the Month blog series! Last month we honored mothers with a special Mother’s Day edition of our word of the month by taking a look at the Arabic word for mother, الأم (al-umm), and examining the significance of the mother to the Arab culture….
On June 3, the Teen Grantmaking Initiative (TGI), a project of the Center for Arab American Philanthropy (CAAP) held its inaugural Year End Celebration to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of the past year. TGI is a youth philanthropy group dedicated to bettering their community through grantmaking. Formed in the fall of 2011 in Dearborn, MI, TGI has seen…
Photo courtesy of GOOD Magazine The Center for Arab American Philanthropy (CAAP) recently got a chance to speak with Tasbeeh Herwees, founder of Kifah, a Libya-focused online magazine, and a current employee of GOOD Magazine, a news organization that combats the negativity of today’s media by sharing positive news stories, to learn more about her and her work. CAAP:…