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12 Louise Cainkar The Deteriorating Ethnic Safety Net Among Arab Immigrants in Chicago Estimating the number of Arab Americans and Arab immigrants in the Chicago metropolitan area is extremely difficult. Census data are so grossly off the mark that they can only be used to locate areas of high Arab concentration in the city. Based on knowledge of the patterns of Arab migration to and settlement in Chicago and the Arab participation in community organizations and religious institutions, informed sources estimate that there are about I50,000 persons, excluding Assyrians, of Arab ethnicity in Chicago, 57 percent of whom are Palestinian. This makes Chicago one of the largest cities of Arab and Palestinian settlement in the United States today. Originating largely from the Levant (i.e., Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine), Arabs started immigrating to Chicago before the turn of the twentieth century. The largest number settled on the south side of the city, but smaller groups, mostly Palestinian Christians and Assyrians from a number of Middle Eastern countries, settled on the north side. The south side of Chicago and its southwestern suburbs still contain the largest number of Arabs in Chicago. Aware of recent social and economic changes within the Arab-American and Arab immigrant community in Chicago, some of which were cause for alarm and community action, the Arab-American Action Network (AAAN) proposed to undertake a needs assessment of the Arab community in greater Chicago. With initial funding from the Chicago Community Trust, the Needs Assessment Project began in the Fall of I996, focusing on the Arab community residing on the southwest side of the city, the area of the largest concentration of Arabs in Chicago and a major reception area for new Arab immigrants. The Needs Assessment Project is planned to be completed in stages based on geographic area. Phase I was completed in I997. Phase 2 will focus on the southwest suburbs, Phase 3 on the north side, and Phase 4 on the remaining suburban areas. Goals of the Needs Assessment Project include obtaining better estimates of the size and place of origin of the Arab community in greater Chicago, understanding migration patterns within its various subcommunities, creating a profile of the economic and employment status of Arabs in greater Chicago, and ascertaining ETHNIC SAFETY NET AMONG ARAB IMMIGRANTS IN CHICAGO 193 community needs and resources, especially as these relate to the social and economic health of the community. This chapter summarizes the socioeconomic conditions within the Arab community on the southwest side of Chicago. It is based on current and historical research conducted as part of the Needs Assessment Project, Phase 1,1 Evidence from the Needs Assessment Project and a review of the daily operations of the AAAN and ArabAmerican Community Center, the home base of the AAAN, indicate that the Arab community on the southwest side is facing a critical shortage of social and economic resources. In the loo-year history of the Arab community in Chicago, this situation appears unprecedented. Our research indicates that current problems within the community exist partly because of a deteriorating "ethnic safety net," which is defined as internal Arab community networks that provide for the cohesion, safety, security, and prosperity of Arab families through interaction, assistance, and intervention. That such a safety net existed in the past and as recently as the mid-1980s is documented by prior research on the community.2 As the following discussion reveals, the deterioration of this safety net did not occur on its own or as part of some organic loss of tradition within the Arab community. It is intimately related to larger economic changes occurring in the city of Chicago, the United States, and in immigrants' homelands. With the decline of ethnic resources to enable the cohesion, safety, security, and prosperity of Arab families in Chicago, a void emerged. As members of the Arab community looked outside their community for resources to fill the void, they found barriers in place. These barriers are cultural, linguistic, economic, and political. An objective of the Needs Assessment Project is to begin removing these barriers to Arab community access to resources lying outside the community. Historical Perspective of the Arab Community on the Southwest Side of Chicago The first large migration of Arabs to the United States occurred at the same time as the large migration of southern and eastern Europeans-between 1880 and 1921. Most Arab immigrants came from the area known to the West as the Levant (i.e., Syria, Lebanon...

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