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Hello Friend,
This challenging time makes us all more mindful of what truly
matters: our family, our loved ones, and everyone else we value. For
AAI, that includes you. Now, more than ever, we're grateful for all
the ways, big and small, Arab Americans have stepped forward to make a
difference.
During Arab American Heritage Month, to help you stay heartened,
AAI will share the uplifting stories of community members who are
making a difference right now, in this crisis. This week, meet an
#ArabAmerican
hero on the frontline of community service in the fight against
COVID19, Sirene Abou-Chakra
of Detroit, Michigan.
ARAB AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
What do you think when you hear
#DetroitStrong? People. People whose commitment to lifting up others
is legendary and whose grit is defined by never, ever giving up in the
face of great adversity. That spirit is what so many find inspiring
about Detroit and its people, and it is what makes proud Arab American
Sirene Abou-Chakra the right person to be selling the city she
loves.
As Detroit’s Director of Development,
Sirene utilizes her contagious energy to help attract investment from
foundations, corporations and government agencies to revitalize her
beloved city. By any measure, it is working.
Now, in the face of the COVID-19
outbreak, her focus has had to shift and for good reason as the number
of cases surged in Michigan. In response, the state has had to convert
the TCF Center in downtown Detroit into a 1,000-bed field hospital.
Detroit also became the first city in the US to roll out a 15-minute
COVID-19 test, making it possible to provide much-needed testing to
first responders and essential workers. Sirene is doing her part too
by helping to coordinate the effort to turn the Michigan State Fair
Grounds into a testing center and worked to make sure transportation
was available for all Detroiters who needed it to get there. And to
make sure those first responders are well cared for, Sirene helped
launch the Feed the Frontlines Program making sure Detroit’s frontline
workers have access to meals from local restaurants as a way to
support both the city’s first responders and the small business
community. These extraordinary times have called for extraordinary
responses from the millions of public servants in our country, Sirene
among them.
Sirene’s love of public service started
at a young age. Inspired from her own experience applying to college,
she started Doors of Opportunity, a nonprofit organization that works
to increase enrollment of underrepresented youth in top colleges
across the country. “I wanted to eradicate fear and still work every
day to make sure people believe all opportunities are available to
them.” Sirene continues to do that today, and Detroit — and all of us
— are greater for it.
Arab American Institute
http://www.aaiusa.org/
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