Focus Areas
Civic Engagement & Social Impact
Indiaspora is dedicated to keeping our community engaged with civic and social issues, including racial justice and gender equality. There are many friends of Indiaspora who are political and social leaders, and we aim to highlight the amazing work that they do for their communities through various events that we host both online and in person.
Indiaspora Climate Summit 2022
Indiaspora’s second annual Climate Summit brought together a variety of experts in policy, advocacy, academia and business, among others, to share their perspectives regarding how we can collectively combat the climate crisis. Our Climate Summit included panel discussions, fireside chats, and talks with opportunities for audience questions and participation.
Featured speakers:
Manish Bapna, President & CEO, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council)
Raashina Humayun, Environmental Commissioner for the City of Los Altos, California
George Jacob, President and CEO of BayEcotarium
Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment
Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Cornell Climate Solutions Scholar, CALS, Cornell University
Anu Ramaswami, Swani Chair and Director, M.S. Chadha Center for Global India, Princeton University
Mridula Ramesh, Founder, Sundaram Climate Institute
Avi Sahi, Chief Commercialization Officer, OGCI Climate Investments LLP
Eran Sandhaus, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, J-Impact
Premal Shah, Co-Founder and Executive Chair, Renewables.org, Co-Founder, Kiva
V Shankar, Co-Founder and CEO, Gateway Partners
Kartikeya Singh, Director of Programmes, Stichting SED Fund
Vaishali Sinha, Chief Sustainability, CSR, and Communications Officer, ReNew Power
Women at the Table: Investing in Equity
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Indiaspora hosted the virtual event “Women at the Table: Investing in Equity” where speakers had a candid discussion about their experiences and insights.
The conversation focused on women, money, investing, equity, and more. How can we build on the compelling economic arguments to help propel women’s financial agency even as we grapple with systemic limitations across sectors?
“By 2030, American women are expected to control much of the $30 trillion in financial assets that baby boomers will possess—a potential wealth transfer of such magnitude that it approaches the annual GDP of the United States. After years of playing second fiddle to men, women are poised to take center stage.”
- Women as the next wave of growth in the US wealth management | McKinsey
Speakers included:
Kirthiga Reddy, President, Athena SPAC, formerly Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisors
Seema Hingorani, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley and Founder & Chair, Girls Who Invest
Rajeev Batra, Partner, Mayfield Fund
MR Rangaswami, Founder & Chairman of the Board, Indiaspora
Indiaspora organizes Town Hall on Race Relations
Indiaspora held a virtual Civil Rights Town Hall June, 2020 to discuss how the Indian diaspora community can show intra-racial solidarity during this time, and how our community can contribute to end systemic racism.
“We felt an urgent need for action, and wanted to create a space for our community to listen, become more educated on the issues,, and voice their ideas,“ said Indiaspora Executive Director Sanjeev Joshipura. “We were deeply moved by the passion and resolve of the community.”
Civil rights leaders who provided context on the current Black Lives Matter movement during the town hall included Vanita Gupta, President and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Reverend Carl McCluster, founder of Faith Community Development Corporation; and DJ Patil, Head of technology at Devoted Health and former U.S. Chief Data Scientist in the Obama administration.
Reverend Carl McCluster, who has served as the Senior Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut for more than 23 years, also voiced the need for solidarity.
“There’s a saying that we have in the African American community, that we might have come from Africa, or we might have come from India, or we might have come from Latin America, all in different boats but we are all in the same boat now. An act or atrocity against one person is an act or an atrocity against all.”
From this discussion, several points emerged as action items in creating more inclusion and socioeconomic opportunities for communities of color, encompassing the realm of institution-building, promoting candid conversations among our networks, proactively advocating for changing the governance of organizations, building mentoring partnerships, and greater civic engagement.
For additional resources, including recordings of speaker’s remarks, their bios, and a list of organizations moving racial equity forward, please visit here: https://indiaspora.org/event/indiaspora-civil-rights-town-hall/
Empowerment & Inclusion: A Conversation about Disability
Indiaspora hosted the virtual event “Empowerment and Inclusion: A Conversation About Disability” around the themes of inclusive education, employability, health and innovation, representation, awareness, and more.
Speakers included:
– Sarika Agrawal, Co-founder and Board Member, BRAIN Foundation
– VR Ferose, Senior Vice President, HEAD of SAP Engineering Academy, SAP SE
– Dan Habib, American documentary filmmaker and parent advocate
– Neeti Khaitan, President and CEO, Accelerate Consulting Inc.
The leaders shared their insights and experiences followed by a Q&A session.
Indian Americans Vote 2020: Voter Survey Results
Indiaspora and AAPI Data released their joint report on Indian American voters’ attitudes in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The report documents the strengthening political power of the Indian American electorate in the U.S. due to factors such as their rapidly growing population and increased political participation.
“With increased attention being paid to the Indian American vote given our growing numbers, increasing political contributions and overall political engagement, we wanted to shine a spotlight on the issues that really matter to Indian American voters,” said MR Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora.
The report surveyed Asian Indian registered voters, regardless of party affiliation, found that some of the issues at the top of the list for Indian Americans in this election included education, jobs and economy, health care, and the environment.
The report also chronicles the rise of the Indian American electorate as one of the fastest growing minority groups in the U.S., with significant numbers in “battleground” states.
