Fostering understanding across cultures and continents

May Annabi

by Julie Fanselow

September 26, 2005 | Focus on Study Circles, Vol.16, No.2 | Yonkers, New York

 

(From left to right) May Annabi, Immaculate
Ferreria-Allah, and Maria Diaz, facilitators for
Yonkers Early Childhood Initiative's
Neighborhood Circles.

When May Annabi moved to Yonkers, New York, from Jordan, she noticed that Arab-Americans didn’t interact much with the general population. But through her work with Neighborhood Circles, Annabi helped many Arab-Americans in Yonkers feel more connected to the community at large and to their own culture.

The Neighborhood Circles, organized by the Yonkers Early Childhood Initiative, began in 2002 as an effort to strengthen community life and help residents improve their neighborhoods. Annabi, who was executive director of the Arab-American Foundation, leaped at the chance to organize and facilitate a Neighborhood Circle. “I got involved because I want the Arab voice to be heard, and for the women and children to have better chances,” she explains.

Historically, Yonkers social service organizations have had a difficult time reaching the Arab-American community, says Lorelei Vargas, coordinator of the Early Childhood Initiative. But with her trademark hospitality—she’d sometimes bring falafel and other Arabic treats to meetings—Annabi soon proved an effective bridge between Arab-Americans and the larger culture.

“She was definitely able to open doors for more than 60 organizations to communicate with the Arab-American community in Yonkers,” Vargas says. “Many of our member organizations—including St. John’s Riverside Hospital and a local ecumenical group—now report having contact with and being able to provide services to the Arab-American community in Yonkers. Prior to May’s work we knew the population existed, and we knew they had needs, but we were unable due to language and cultural barriers to reach out.”

Annabi’s circle met for six weeks to talk about ways to build a neighborhood where children and families could thrive. They talked about wanting to preserve their own culture while working for a better future in the United States. Young people, working mothers, and senior groups spun off into separate groups to continue exploring what it means to be Arabs in America. “My concern is not to be closed off on ourselves,” Annabi says.

At the end of the Neighborhood Circles, each group received a $1,000 grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation to support their plans for improving their neighborhoods. Annabi led circle participants, family members, and friends—55 people in all—on a field trip to Paterson, New Jersey, home to one of the East Coast’s most vibrant Arab-American neighborhoods. The circle also sponsored an exhibit of Jordanian art at the local public library. Impressed by the work all the circles had done, Congresswoman Nita Lowey obtained $10,000 in federal funding to help run more study circles.

The Arab-American circles and follow-up events were successes, says Vargas, because Annabi really cares about her community and wants to make it a better place for the families and children living there. Annabi would like to start study circles in her Jordanian homeland, and in Seattle, where she has moved to be closer to her daughter. With ambassadors like Annabi ready to spread the message of community dialogue and action, study circles can become an international tool that can make a world of difference no matter where they are used.

Yonkers' study circle program at a glance:

City and state: Yonkers, New York
Population: More than 198,000
Focus of study circles: Neighborhood revitalization
Number of study circle participants to date: More than 100

Read more in our fall 2005 special issue of Focus

Learn more: Neighborhoods