Board of Directors

Dr. Bakalian has been an active volunteer to numerous social and educational causes all her adult life. Presently she is on the board of ALWAN for the Arts, The Armenian Center at Columbia University, and TAMKEEN: The Center for Arab American Empowerment. Dr. Bakalian is an ardent advocate for New York’s Arab and Muslim immigrants and firmly supports community-based organizations dedicated to delivering quality social and mental health services to these communities.
Born and raised in Lebanon, Dr. Bakalian received her undergraduate degree from the American University of Beirut and her Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Ghada Jiha brings over ten years of experience working in the field of social and community development with local and international organizations such as Save the Children, The World Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme. She has worked at research, program and policy levels on social development and organizational development issues. Ghada has developed and evaluated programs, designed and delivered training around social development themes, and planned and facilitated strategic planning workshops.

Ghada Jiha received her graduate degree in international affairs from Columbia University in 1993 and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan in 1989.

Dr. Salvatore LaSpada is the Associate Director of Global Inclusion and Co-Director of The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW) program at the Rockefeller Foundation.  From 1993-1999, he was a philanthropic advisor to the Rockefeller family at Rockefeller Financial Services.  His previous affiliations include:  the Brazil Office of the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation (where he was a post-doctoral Fellow), and the MacArthur Foundation (where he was a Visiting Scholar).  He was an Eisenhower Fellow in Argentina where he promoted strategic philanthropy to corporations and individuals of wealth.  Previous to his work in philanthropy, he was founder and director of the Urban Video Project, a media education program for at-risk minority youth in New York City.
Dr. LaSpada holds a B.A. in Ancient Greek and Latin (Haverford College), Masters degrees in Communication and Education (Temple University and Columbia University) and a Doctorate in International Educational Development (Columbia University). 

Dr. Nora Pharaon is a NY licensed psychologist providing individual, couple and group therapy and performs psychological evaluations for bilingual adults, youth and children. She delivers workshops, trainings, and seminars to members of the Arab-American community living in Brooklyn as well as to social service organizations working with them. During 2001 – 2003, Dr. Pharaon directed the mental health program at the Arab American Family Support Center as well as led and managed Project Liberty’s program of crisis counseling and outreach to the Arab American community affected by the 9/11 backlash.

Dr. Pharaon earned her doctorate and master’s degree in psychology at Columbia University and also holds a master’s degree in education from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

Volunteer

As a new community development organization, TAMKEEN relies on the enthusiasm, initiative and commitment that volunteers bring. If you are interested in volunteering your time and talents to our programs and events, please contact us at 718.701.3005 or email us at tamkeenus@yahoo.com.

Funders

TAMKEEN is grateful for the generous support of The Van Ameringen Foundation, the New York Community Trust, NYU Center for Immigrant Health, and TAMKEEN Board contributions. They have made funding of our programs possible for this year.

We are also grateful to the Mental Health Association of NY and the Coalition of Voluntary Mental Health Agencies for serving as our fiscal sponsors.