Youth Hub Center to open in Lebanon with support from Joumana Kayrouz
Prominent Michigan Accident attorney Joumana Kayrouz announced this week that she will fund the building of a new youth hub center in Batroun, Lebanon as a part of a larger effort by Lebanese expatriates to support their former homeland.
An icon of the American legal system, Kayrouz has built her law practice from being one of Michigan’s most prominent accident attorneys to include specialties in Family Law, Criminal Law, Immigration, and Bankruptcy.
Born in Lebanon and knowing only a little English, Kayrouz journeyed from the American University of Beirut (AUB) to the prestigious Ivy league school, Yale University, where on a scholarship, she earned a masters in Ethics in 1992. She then earned her law degree from Wayne State University in Michigan.
Fluent in Arabic, French, Italian and English, Kayrouz recognizes through her own experiences the challenges facing all young people, whether here in America or in Lebanon, as they pursue their dreams.
Michigan Accident Attorney Joumana Kayrouz helps place the corner stone for the new Youth Hub Center she is funding in Batroun, Lebanon with Gebran Bassil, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants. Photo courtesy of Joumana Kayrouz
“I love America and I love Lebanon and I don’t think there is a conflict there. I want young people in Lebanon and abroad to recognize that important fact and to continue to give back to the country where they were born while pursuing their lives wherever it may take them,” Kayrouz said. “My country opened doors for me and I pray that I am doing all I can to open doors for the next generations of Lebanese talents.”
The Youth Hub Center ribbon-cutting is expected to take place in May 2019.
Kayrouz has received much praise from Lebanon’s leadership as being a symbol of the growing importance of the role expatriates can play in building Lebanon’s future while maintaining their lives abroad.
The importance of expatriates in Lebanon’s future was recognized in the new electoral law Lebanon adopted in 2017. In addition to replacing the old plurality system with a proportional list-based electoral process, the new electoral law grants voting rights to expatriates living abroad. More than 80,000 expatriates voted in May 2018 parliamentary elections.
“The Lebanese Youth Hub is dedicated to the Lebanese youth, where they will congregate to socialize with one another instead of having to connect solely through technology,” said his Excellency Gebran Bassil, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants and whose hometown is Batroun.
“The Lebanese Youth Hub brings the Lebanese youth together to socialize, communicate, discuss and engage at various intellectual, social, and emotional levels. While enjoying their time, the youth will be able to collectively dream, brainstorm, and pitch ideas that can further lead to the building of their country. It will be their special place. The place where they will be able to build their vision of the Lebanon that fits their dreams and their ambitions.”
There are more than 4 million Lebanese people living in Lebanon, but almost 8 to 14 million Lebanese live abroad with the largest expatriate population living in the United States.
“Lebanese Americans were among the first to settle in the United States in the 19th Century, and we have become actively engaged as Americans in our nation’s history and its future,” Kayrouz said.
“I am blessed that I can take my success and share it not only here in America but also in Lebanon.”
Kayrouz has received many honors and distinctions over the years both for her professional legal work and for her philanthropic endeavors. Kayrouz was named “Best Female Attorney” for 2016, was featured on the cover of the Metro Times, and was named by the prestigious Crain’s Detroit Business in 2014 as the “American Dreamer.” In 2012, she was named “Top Lawyer of the Year” in a survey of more than 18,000 Michigan lawyers. She was also named “Best Dressed” woman in Michigan in 2016. Paying homage to her bigger than life image and instant recognizability, the widely popular US TV station Comedy Central recently cast her in the premiere of their popular comedy, “the Detroiters”, where she played herself.
For more information on Joumana Kayrouz and legal services visit her easy-to-use website at www.YourRights.com, or, call 1-866 YOUR RIGHTS (1-866-968-7744) to inquire about immigration, bankruptcy, family law, or criminal law representation. Schedule your appointment today.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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