Ahlam joined the coalition in 2006, as the Outreach and Interpretation Program Director. The Outreach and Interpretation Program (O&I) is a partnership between immigrant serving organizations, ICIRR and the Illinois Department of human services (IDHS) to assist Immigrant and Refugee families in Illinois to access much needed services in order to become economically self sufficient, independent and to ease the integration process .

O&I has evolved into an Immigrant and Refugee Empowerment Program, services provided include Outreach/Education on public benefits, comprehensive case management services, completion of benefits application and very much needed Interpretation and translation services to reduce the language barriers families face in accessing state programs.

Ahlam was born in Palestine and immigrated with her family to Chicago in 1974. Before joining ICIRR, Ahlam was the Family Empowerment Program Director at the Arab American Action Network, a 12-year-old Arab grassroots, community-based organization on the southwest side of Chicago.