Building Community
Only The Beginning!
Chaldeans and Jews develop a strategic model to build an ethnic network.
Robert Sklar
Editor I Detroit Jewish News
Vanessa Denha-Garmo
Editor I Chaldean News
Ninth of a 10-part monthly series
L
awrence Technological University
(LTU) will host a December net-
working event to celebrate the
trailblazing Chaldean-Jewish Building
Community Initiative, to recognize the
community leaders who helped make it
a success and to serve as a launching pad
for the next phase of working together to
improve life in Southeast Michigan.
The by-invitation event will culmi-
nate nine months of hard, focused work
between Metro Detroit's Chaldean and
Jewish communities to bring together
two ethnicities that share common roots
in the Middle East (Iraq for Chaldeans
and Israel for Jews).
The goal was to have the communities
mingle, appreciate each other's culture
and perhaps serve as a regional or even
national model for a multicultural ethnic
network.
Building Community is a joint project
of the Chaldean News and the Detroit
Jewish News, both, like LTU, located along
Northwestern Highway in Southfield.
The appreciation event on LTU's cam-
pus will honor Building Community's
honorary co-chairs, Michael George of
the Chaldean community and Dr. Conrad
Giles of the Jewish community, as well
as representatives of the cross-cultural
experiment's sponsoring businesses and
organizations and all workgroup commit-
tee co-chairs.
"The events this year where Chaldeans
and Jews have collaborated have brought
on an understanding of our similar
cultures and traditions and, therefore,
a closer relationship',' George said. "The
comments received regarding this pro-
gram organized by Chaldeans and Jews
have been only positive."
When the initiative was unveiled in
April, the initial plan was to create simi-
lar content in the Chaldean News and
the Jewish News on a monthly basis that
would educate and inform both com-
munities and would introduce a series of
events providing opportunities for lively
interaction.
"The energy and excitement from our
opening event in May at Shenandoah
Country Club in West Bloomfield
remained strong throughout the year:'
said Arthur Horwitz, publisher of the
Jewish News.
He cited an entrepreneurs event at
Wayne State University's TechTown in
Detroit, a mega-networking event at Bank
of America's Troy headquarters, an eye-
opening teen forum at Bloomfield Hills
Schools' Model High School, a gathering
and panel for physicians and healthcare
providers hosted by the Detroit Medical
Center, and an architectural tour of key
Chaldean and Jewish structures in West
Bloomfield.
"The positive response and reaction
from our respective communities and our
sponsors have exceeded expectations:'
said Martin Manna, co-publisher of the
Chaldean News. "So much so that we are
securing commitments to continue the
initiative in 2011."
Key elements of that next phase
include a quarterly Chaldean-Jewish
Building Community Initiative insert
that will appear in the
Chaldean News and the
Jewish News, more face-
to-face events as well
as stronger, expanded
grassroots workgroups.
The current lineup of four
workgroups — Social
Action, Arts & Culture,
Education and Business/
Economic Development
— will be expanded to
I
five to include Health &
Dr, Conrad Giles
Wellness.
Under the guidance of
Jewish News Publisher
Horwitz and Chaldean
News Co-Publisher
Manna, the two newspa-
pers will continue to fur-
nish counsel and support
to assist the workgroups;
the workgroups, however,
are not tied to either pub-
lication.
Here in Metro Detroit,
the two ethnic groups
share parallel patterns
in geographic location,
Michael George
entrepreneurial interests
and professional careers.
Leaders from both ethnic groups con-
tribute to Southeast Michigan's economic,
philanthropic, political, cultural and reli-
gious wellbeing.
"We continue to look forward to break-
ing new ground between the Chaldean
and Jewish communities and to model
behavior that we hope can inspire other
ethnic and religious groups in Southeast
Michigan to identify their similarities
and educate their communities in ways
that create enduring and respectful rela-
tionships:' Horwitz said.
The chasm between having neighbors
and getting to know them is no small
breach to fill. These last several months
have enabled the Jewish and Chaldean
neighborhood to become a friendlier,
more cohesive and better-understood
place in which to dwell, said
Honorary Co-Chair Giles.
"At the outset of this ini-
tiative, beautifully executed
by the Chaldean News and
the Detroit Jewish News and
led by their publishers with
important and enthusiastic
corporate sponsors, it was
unclear to me whether we all
could succeed in promoting
increased understanding
between the two communi-
ties:' he said.
"My skepticism proved to
be unwarranted. The series
of meetings, the social inter-
actions, the formal and infor-
mal gatherings were unquali-
fied successes. The shared
values and goals of our com-
munities made this effort to
forge lasting meaningful rela-
tionships between Jews and
Chaldeans achievable:"
Giles stressed that the
effort's success must not end.
"The communities must
build on this firm foundation
with ongoing initiatives to
maintain the momentum and continue
to engage affinity groups at all levels.
The programs of this year provide me
with a newly found optimism that, with
little additional effort, the Jewish and
Chaldean initiatives will prove to be a
model upon which we both can continue
to flourish and will serve as a model for
other cities to emulate'
Honorary Co-Chair George concurred,
saying, "There now exists a feeling of
closeness that we should nurture and
sustain for the future'
❑
Creative director, Deborah Schultz
Senior copy editor, David Sachs
Story development editor, Keri Guten
Cohen
December 2 • 2010
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