The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Michigan is pleased to announce that on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 2:00 PM, it will host a special event and press conference unveiling the beginning of the second phase of its project to establish the first-ever American-Arab Center for Civil Rights (ACCHR) in the United States. The press conference will take place at the ACCHR project site on Chase Road (between Warren Ave. and Ford Road a plot of land is located to the direct right of the Al Berdouni Restaurant) in Dearborn.
In approximately two months, ADC Michigan plans on breaking ground on the ACCHR, which will, once complete, forever change the political landscape in the United States. This landmark Center will give Arab Americans a state-of-the-art facility and serve as an education and resource center on civil and human rights.
This 10,000 square-foot, two-story Center will house an Arab American Cultural Center, a comprehensive resource library and all of ADC Michigan’s educational programs. The cultural center will include a gallery that will display artifacts from around the Arab World and will provide visitors with insight into who Arab Americans are. The library will include resources, offering information and documented reports on some of the most pressing and challenging civil rights struggles facing Arab Americans today. In addition, the Center will allow space for ADC to grow its staff and services in the State of Michigan; home to the largest Arab American community in the nation, and will serve as a vital link between the United States and the Arab World.
Approximately three years ago, ADC Michigan announced its plans to establish the ACCHR. The decision to take on this project was based on the growing need to serve the largest Arab American community in the nation, especially post 9/11. Through the ACCHR, which is a 501 (c) 3 entity, ADC hopes to strengthen its advocacy services to the community and broaden its influence throughout Michigan, across the United States and around the world.
Today, with the generous support of some primary donors, H.H. Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Misnad of the State of Qatar and the Qatar Foundation, who donated $1 million in 2005 and H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani, Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of the State of Qatar, who recently made an initial contribution of $500,000 to the ACCHR, ADC is now ready to break ground on the Center and turn its dream into a reality.
ADC Michigan continues to work hard to secure the funding for its construction and hopes that the community will take part in securing our future and the future of all of our children in this country, by contributing to this landmark Center. Every dollar counts, please be a part of this future.
To read more on the center plans please visit: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070820/METRO01/708200333/1006 .
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
August 20, 2007 Monday 11:46 AM GMT
Arab civil rights group to build $3M research center in Michigan
SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL
LENGTH: 241 words
DATELINE: DEARBORN Mich.
An Arab civil rights group said it plans to break ground next month on a $3 million center for research and advocacy services.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said the Arab American Center for Civil and Human Rights will be built in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, widely considered the capital of Arab America and already home to a national Arab-American museum. The area has about 300,000 people who trace their roots to the Middle East.
The 20,000-square-foot facility is designed to serve as a clearinghouse for information on Arab-Americans and provide a library and meeting space. It is the first center of its kind, said Imad Hamad, a regional director for the group.
“It will add another powerhouse to add to the mix of community resources, a bridge maker and a building where all of us can find a warm house where we not only share our common values, as Americans, but live up to them and praise them,” Hamad told The Detroit News for a story Monday.
Construction partly will be paid for by a $1 million grant from the Qatar Foundation as well as from an individual donor from that nation. The civil rights group, whose Michigan chapter is based in Dearborn, said it has secured an additional $500,000 and will launch a fundraising campaign for the remaining $1.5 million as construction begins.
Hamad said he expects the center to be fully functional within two years.