The Chicago area’s Sudanese community today is launching a campaign to open its first community center.

The Sudanese Community Association of Illinois says Chicago-area residents from Sudan total about 800. Nearly all are refugees, most from that nation’s south and a few from a western region called Darfur. They’ve congregated in neighborhoods of Wheaton and Chicago’s North Side.

The association and the Chicago Coalition to Save Darfur envision a $1.5 million community center in Wheaton. Association President Malual Awak says the center would provide child care.

AWAK: Second, we’ll have job training. And, third, we would like to focus on women’s empowerment. We came from a male-dominated society. They could be nurtured and trained to complete their GED, then go to college.

The groups are scouting parcels. Whether they rehab a building or start from the ground up depends partly on funding. They’re hoping for support from foundations and the state legislature.