Still Dynamic

• 111 I

Well into second year, Chaldean-Jewish
initiative expands as well as engages.

The electricity and excitement of the Chaldean-Jewish
Building Community Initiative opening event in May of
2010 still informs and propels our efforts. That evening at
Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloomfield, more than
250 guests from both communities shared food, friend-
ships and began to learn about their histories and Detroit
immigrant experiences.
In addition to eloquent comments by honorary co-
chairs Dr. Conrad Giles and Michael George, a highlight
was the sharing of brief videos about the local Chaldean
and Jewish communities. One seg-
ment in both videos resonated with
the audience ... the importance of
the grocery business as a path to the
American Dream. It was difficult
to distinguish between the faces of
Chaldean and Jewish immigrant
or first-generation families posing
proudly from behind their meat
Martin Mann
counters in Hamtramck and Detroit.
Co-Publisher
Chaldean News
In this issue of the Building
Community Initiative publication,
our cover story explores the scope
and importance of the grocery business. Writer Bill
Carroll brings to life the past and present, aided in part
by conversations with families long associated with this
industry. While other pages in this issue highlight the
growing number of activities and initiatives impacting
our communities at the grassroots level, there is so much
going on that we don't have enough room to include all of
it!
Since the opening event at Shenandoah and the first
monthly installment of the initiative on the pages of the
Chaldean News and the Jewish News in April of 2010,
we added a series of events that connected both com-

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Chaldean News JN

munities. These included mega-events hosted by Bank of
America in Troy and Lawrence Technological University
in Southfield, a young entrepreneur gathering hosted by
Wayne State University in Detroit, a physician dialogue
hosted by Detroit Medical Center/Huron Valley Sinai
Hospital in Southfield and a teen forum hosted by the
Bloomfield Hills School District.
The backbone of this initiative continues to be the
Chaldean-Jewish workgroups, whose members are
focusing on Business/Entrepreneurship, Arts & Culture,
Education, Social Action and Health.
Their dynamic and creative efforts are
providing the glue that will continue
to bind our communities for years
to come. Be sure to read on page 10
the impressive array of activities and
events the Arts & Culture workgroup,
under the guidance of its amazing
co-chairs, Mary Romaya and Bunny
Arthur Horwitz
Publisher
Kratchman, is spearheading.
Jewish News
As always, we owe a debt of grati-
tude to our local sponsors. In addi-
tion to Bank of America, Wayne
State University, Lawrence Technological University, the
Bloomfield Hills Schools and Detroit Medical Center, they
include Meijer, the St. John Providence Health System,
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools,.Beaumoiit Hospitals,
Hospice of Michigan, Walsh College, Ann Arbor Offset,
Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and the University
of Michigan-Dearborn College of Business. They recog-
nized, and continue to recognize, the uniqueness and
importance of this initiative for the Chaldean and Jewish
communities and the positive behavior it is modeling for
our diverse, but largely segregated Detroit metropolitan
area. Thank you for joining us in thanking them. BC

Presenting Sponsor

Bank of America.

Gold Sponsors

WAYN E STATE
UNIVERSITY

••

meljer

SOON N
PROVIDENCE

EALTH SYSTEM'

Silver Sponsors

Lawrence

'Tech.

Beaumont

CALYk YSTCM

HENRY FORD

•

WEST BLOOMPIELD HOSPITAL

HOSPICE
or michigan

Stepping Up

They're mixing, mingling and dialoguing, learning
about each other's heritage and customs, one step at a
time. Chaldeans and Jews are proving there's something
to the notion that two cultures with historical ties but
little interaction can come together tangibly here in
Metro Detroit. The Building Community Initiative is
Robert Sklar
the catalyst behind the intercultural project. But it's the
Contributing Editor
individual Jews and Chaldeans who have reached out to
each other to turn a vision for coming together into a
setting for collaboration across five distinct workgroups:
Business/Entrepreneurship, Arts & Culture, Education,
Social Action and Health.
This third of four 2011 special supplements to the Chaldean News and the
Detroit Jewish News, located a half-mile apart in Southfield, provides a pan-
oply of perspectives driven by the determination of CN Co-Publisher Martin
Manna and IN Publisher Arthur Horwitz as well as the workgroup co-chairs
to bridge the cultural gap between two rich cultures that share ancestral roots
in the Middle East (Iraq for Chaldeans and Israel for Jews).
The initiative, begun in April 2010, appeals not just to adults bent on break-
ing new ground, but also teenagers irked by hurtful stereotyping. Building
Community is organic — so ever-growing and changing. Join the diverse efforts
to nurture it. Please let me know what you think (rsklar@renmedia.us ). BC

INSIDE

Cover Story
A Grocery Tradition

IM I ; COLLEGE
OF BUSINESS

DEARBORN ;

5

Departments
Business & Entrepreneurship 5
Arts & Culture
10,12
Health
13, 14

Cover Design: Deborah Schultz,
Renaissance Media Solutions.
Inside Design: Michelle Sheridan,
Farago & Associates.
Copy Editing: Robert Sklar, David Sachs
and Ken Guten Cohen,
Renaissance Media Solutions;
Joyce Wiswell,
Chaldean News.

Published jointly by the Chaldean News, 29850
Northwestern Hwy., Ste. 250, and the Detroit Jewish
News, 29200 Northwestern Hwy., Ste. 110 — Southfield,
MI 48034. Created by Renaissance Media Solutions,
29200 Northwestern Hwy., Ste. 110, Southfield, MI 48034.
F. Kevin Browett, COO, (248) 354-6060.

WALSH®

COLLEGE

1E3

Bloomfield Hills Schools

A

rbor Offset
-

DMA

DETROIT MED/CAL CENTER

Workgroup Chairs

Mary Romaya,
Barbara Kratchman,
LeeAnn Kirma, Jeannie Weiner,
Saad Najjar, Howard Rosenberg,
Ron Asmar, Nancy Welber Barr,
Vinos Kassab, Dr. Nahid Elyas

© October 2011, Renaissance Media Solutions.

October 2011

CHALDEAN NEWS I JEWISH NEWS 3

