October 2002

Many people are surprised to learn that the largest population of people of Middle Eastern descent, outside of the Middle East, is the Detroit region.

Since 1979, the Arab American and Chaldean Council (ACC) has served not only many of the more than 500,000 members of this Arab/Chaldean community but also many others in Southeast Michigan through its varied government related educational programs and services, community health centers, prevention programs, administration of WIC and prenatal services, youth programs and more.

Thanks to its partnership with The Youth Connection, the ACC has been able to dramatically expand its youth services.

"The Youth Connection is a blessing," says Monty Fakhouri, public health consultant and youth program manager for ACC. "With support they provided us over three years ago, we were able to grow our after-school programs. Plus, they helped us form a coalition that is in the process of pursuing additional monies for further expansion and, most importantly, continuation of current programming and the development of monitoring and evaluation systems. And, the coalition is helping us overcome a significant obstacle - inadequate transportation."

The coalition is known as the Nolan and State Fair Collaborative, which refers to the neighborhoods in Detroit that it serves. In 1999, the Skillman Foundation invited The Youth Connection (TYC) to apply for a grant to support after-school programming in the Nolan-State Fair area. The proposal submitted by TYC brought together six key organizations in the area, including ACC.

The proposal requested funding to hire staff to facilitate after-school programs, repair facilities and, very notably, to purchase a shuttle to transport young people to the after-school and summer programs. The 11th police precinct, located in Nolan-State Fair, maintains the van.

The Skillman Foundation provided nearly $800,000 over three years, and the results so far have been impressive. During the first two years of the collaborative, the number of programs increased by 50 percent and youth participation increased by 300 percent in the area.

For its part, the ACC is now serving more than 500 youth in its after-school and other youth programs and continues to expand with new efforts such as a partnership with the Detroit Zoo to provide scholarships for 50 under-served children to attend the zoo's summer program.

After the boost given to the ACC's youth programs by the Skillman grant and TYC partnership, Fakhouri still appreciates his organization's relationship with The Youth Connection. "They are like our big brother," he says. "They help us identify and get the people and funds we need to move forward for kids."

For more information on this website about The Youth Connection, click here. For more information on this website about after-school programs, click here.