Arab American Cultural Center

Ahlan Wasahlan! In the Arab region and its diasporas, people say Ahlan Wasahlan to welcome guests or visitors. The ARABAMCC extends the literal meaning of this phrase to anyone interested in creating awareness about Arab American cultures and histories, building community and solidarity, and promoting social justice and cultural diversity:  “May you arrive as part of the family and tread easily.”

In response to guidelines from University Administration and in alignment with responses from many social justice organizations around the country in relation to the growing pandemic (COVID-19), The Arab American Cultural Center will be canceling all of our upcoming spring semester public programming, some will be postponed to the Fall.  We know that several of you enjoy our graduation and we want to find ways to celebrate our graduates and their accomplishments; so we will be looking at the possibility of organizing our Arab American Graduation at a later date in the summer.

Our schedule will be modified to meet the needs of our students and ensure that we practice social distancing as has been recommended to decrease the risk to our students, staff, and community. So, while we our physical space will be closed until further notice, We Are here for you.

• One on One appointments: For students who would like to drop in for a conversation, please email any of our staff to schedule an appointment: Nesreen Hassan nesreenh@uic.edu, Marie Helmy mhelmy@uic.edu, Zeina Zaatari zzaatari@uic.edu. You can also always send a message to our arabamcc@uic.edu email address.
• Need Urgent Response: You can always call us at: 312-355-2284
• Ongoing Support Groups: Having a hard time negotiating quiet space at home to study or time away from family requests, feeling anxious about the current state of affairs, worried about your classes, ArabAmCC is here for you. Consider joining a support group. Email us at arabamcc@uic.edu or nesreenh@uic.edu and we will include you in one of the support groups. Support groups will meet online once a week with Nesreen Hassan to create a space where: we can check on one another and how we are dealing with the stressful situations we are experiencing, share resources and strategies that have worked for us, and think together about other creative strategies that we can contribute to.
• Resources: ArabAmCC will be sharing resources  and updates via our listserv, Facebook and Instagram, so make sure to follow-us.

This is a time for us to work together and support one another, share information and educate each other to keep our communities safe.

Stay Calm and wash your hands

In solidarity

The ArabAmCC team (Nesreen, Marie, Zeina, Sief, Yaz, and Mona)