Haifa Fakhouri

Age: 54 Residence: Troy
Occupation: President/CEO of Arab-American and Chaldean Council
Why honored: For aiding Chaldean and Arab economic self-sufficency.

“ I think of her as a person who really has linked the Arab community with the greater community when nobody else was willing to stand up and do some work.” -- Terry Ahwal, Executive assistant in Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara’s office

She helps Arabs, Chaldeans achieve the American dream

aifa Fakhouri has dedicated her life to helping Chaldean and Arab Americans in southeastern Michigan achieve the American dream.

    Fakhouri is president and CEO of the Arab-American and Chaldean Council (ACC), which has served hundreds of thousands of people in need of health and social services.

    “She has two roles that I think are significant in the community,” says Terry Ahwal, an executive assistant in Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara’s office. “She is a woman in a leadership position and she is an advocate for the underdog.

    “I think of her as a person who really has linked the Arab community with the greater community when nobody else was willing to stand up and do some work.”

    Since 1979, she has worked to carry out her vision to establish Chaldean and Arab economic self-sufficiency and help newly arrived immigrants reach their full potential in American society.

    “I was working at the International Institute and I saw they had a number of immigrants coming to the area because of the established community,” Fakhouri recalls. “I saw the problems in the schools and with people finding jobs.”

    Fakhouri collected small donations within the community and opened an office in Detroit. She wanted to ensure that new immigrants received important social services, such as health care and job-finding assistance.

    “It was a small beginning for an organization with a big mission, but Dr. Fakhouri was up to the task,” says Zeinab Abdelkarim, who works at the council. “Her commitment to excellence is exemplified by the impressive growth of the ACC.”

    Now the council’s main office in Lathrup Village directs 33 outreach centers in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

    Besides its work on behalf of Arab and Chaldean Americans, the council has a role for others who need help, Fakhouri says.

    “Our goal is to help people who are in need of help, as well as to provide the local community with well-equiped labor,” says Fakhouri, who wants to start a vocational training program, establish the Chaldean and Arab equivalent of Greektown on Seven Mile between Woodward and John R and plans to open a free health clinic in southwest Detroit.

    “Our mission is to bridge the gap between the established community and the newcomers.”

    To that end, the council provides counseling assistance, pregnancy services, teen health care services and violence-prevention counseling. It also helps people complete citizenship applications, provides translation and interpretation classes, assists hundreds of Arabs and Chaldeans in finding employment, prepares resumes and serves as an information and referral service.

    Fakhouri has always shown an interest in helping her community and society, according to members of the Chaldean and Arab community.

    “When she was a student at Wayne State University, she was known by her activism as well,” says Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Commission.

    “She is known as an advocate on behalf of the community. She is a woman who never needs an introduction.”

    — Katie Merx