Mission and Background

TAMKEEN – empowerment in Arabic – enables Arab Americans to expand their choices, claim their voices, and take their place in American society. In particular, TAMKEEN is devoted to the empowerment of women based on evidence that when women are healthy, educated, socially integrated and civically engaged, they raise healthy children, nurture families, and strengthen communities.

As a historically underserved community, Arab immigrant populations have numerous social, economic and legal needs. Since 9/11 these needs are increasingly being recognized by private and public funders. However, each new incident involving Arabs and Muslims in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East tends to reverberate in renewed backlash and exacerbates the challenges affecting this diverse community. TAMKEEN provides linguistically and culturally appropriate health and family violence programming for Arab immigrants to facilitate their integration into the mainstream of American society. TAMKEEN’s partnership with the New York City Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence offers a unique opportunity to empower Arab immigrant women suffering from domestic violence. Housed at the Family Justice Center in Brooklyn, TAMKEEN facilitates access to a full range of counseling, referral and case management services and resources for these women.

Furthermore, TAMKEEN brings added value through community-level advocacy and educational outreach, a vital gap in the Arab immigrant community. Acting as a community liaison with other Arab American groups, mainstream providers and city agencies, TAMKEEN works collaboratively with resourced organizations to empower the community. In this regard, TAMKEEN is leading the first city-wide “STOP FAMILY VIOLENCE” campaign in the Arabic-speaking communities.

Established in November 2004, TAMKEEN is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 community development and advocacy organization committed to social change in the Arab American community. Believing strongly that empowerment is the key to integration and success in America, TAMKEEN was founded by a group of professionals in mental health, social development, philanthropy, education and research.

TAMKEEN has enjoyed the generous support of the Van Ameringen Foundation, the New York Community Trust, the New York Immigration Coalition, the New York Women’s Foundation, and the NYU Center for Immigrant Health, and Community Resource Exchange. In November 2005, TAMKEEN was a recipient of the Union Square Awards.