Gaza to Bay: Support & Donate to Refugee Resettlement Efforts

AMAAN: Refugee Resettlement Committee of the AACC-SV

The Arab American Cultural Center of Silicon Valley (AACC-SV) was founded in 1989 by a group of mainly immigrant Arabs from a number of different countries with the aim of fostering the social, cultural and civic engagement of Arab-Americans in the San Jose area.  The founders were keen to create a community organization that could represent and serve as a civic voice for Arab-Americans and be a vehicle for the preservation and promotion of Arab culture (including music, poetry and dance) and the Arabic language.

Having heard through friends and acquaintances about a new wave of Syrian and Iraqi refugees arriving in Northern California specifically, Hana Itani, an original co-founder of the AACC-SV convened a group of Arab-American community members in August 2016 to discuss ways of assisting, and hence founded AMAAN.  The group consisted of a number of professionals in the fields of refugee integration and assimilation, with others having experience in charitable organizations and/or relief activities for Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Northern California.  In December 2016, the 17-member group adopted its name--AMAAN—and became an official committee of the AACC-SV.