From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
June 28, 2011
Couple invests $600,000 of their own money for the project
Samira Hassan, 12, tosses a globe to another girl of Somali-Bantu background Tuesday during an exercise to get know one another, part of a class on American culture at the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, 5235 S. 27th St. in Greenfield. The Islamic resource center is the first of its kind in Wisconsin and will have a library and sponsor programs meant to educate others about Islam.
For 17 years, the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition has worked to dispel myths and educate the public about Islam through outreach, interfaith dialogue and informational programs. But it never had a home of its own.
That officially changes next month with the opening of the coalition’s newest venture, the Islamic Resource Center for Community Outreach at 5235 S. 27th St. in Greenfield.
The 5,000-square-foot center, in addition to housing the coalition offices, will serve as a first-of-its-kind clearinghouse locally for all things Islam – offering a lending library, Arabic language classes, and an array of cultural programming from lectures and films to cooking classes.
“We want to be accessible to the general public, to public school teachers, anyone who just wants to learn about Islam,” said Janan Najeeb, president of the coalition who with her husband, physician Waleed Najeeb, invested nearly $1 million of their own money into the project.
