Community Conversation
with Farooq Mitha
NEHA DEWAN
Neha has long been active in both local and national politics. Most recently, she founded and served as the National Director for South Asians for Biden, an organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and mobilizing the South Asian community to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In 2016, Neha served as the National Co-Chair for South Asians for Hillary and was appointed by Hillary Clinton to the National AAPI Leadership Council.
Previously, in 2015, Neha was appointed as a guest of honor by the Consulate General of India in New York City where she was selected to speak about gender equality for International Women's Day. During the 2012 presidential campaign, Neha chaired the New York Chapter of South Asians for Obama and also served on the steering committee for Lawyers for Obama in New York. For several years, Neha served as an Officer of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, an organization affiliated with the National Lawyers Council of the Democratic National Committee and comprised of Democratic lawyers and voting rights activists. Similarly, for many years, Neha served as an advisory board member of New Leaders Council, a national organization focused on training and supporting progressive political entrepreneurs. She has also been active in her local community board and political clubs. Neha served as the President of the South Asian Bar Association of New York in 2012, and now sits on the organization’s Board of Directors.
Mobilizing the South Asian Community & Building Political Power
VOTER EDUCATION & OUTREACH RESOURCES
SAFA is proud to partner with National and State Coalition Groups to provide the following critical Voter Education and Outreach Resources:
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VoteRiders Voter ID Pocket Guides for Key States translated into South Asian languages
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AAPI All in PA Pennsylvania Voter Registration Information translated into South Asian languages
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Vote Save America 2022 Voter Registration Deadlines by State
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Vote Save America 2022 Deadlines to Request Vote by Mail Ballots by State
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Field Team 6 Voterizer Online Voter Registration Portal
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Three Part Community Organizing Training Series Created by SAFA Organizing Team in Partnership with California Democratic Party Organizing Committee and Democracy Labs Covering the Following: Basics of Community Organizing, Digital Organizing Tools and Best Practices in Community Organizing.
PENNSYLVANIA VOTER REGISTRATION INFORMATION
SAFA is proud to help All in Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party to translate Voter Registration Information into Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali and Punjabi.
REGISTER TO VOTE ONLINE IN 2 MINUTES!
SAFA is proud to partner with Field Team 6 to provide a customized Voterizer voter registration tool which takes 2 minutes to complete!
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING RESOURCES
SOUTH ASIAN ORGANIZING 101 VIRTUAL TRAINING SERIES
SAFA hosted the First Ever South Asian Organizing 101 Virtual Training Series in April 2022. Topics covered during this FREE Series of Trainings included Basics of Community Organizing, Community Organizing Tools, Resources & Guides and Best Practices for South Asian Organizing. Additionally, each session featured a panel of experts on Topics related to Community Organizing including Types of Organizing (Issue/Ethnic/Faith Based), Digital Organizing Tools, Youth Engagement & Leadership in Organizing.
Session 1 on April 14th: Session 1 covered basics of Community Organizing and featured a Panel on Types of Organizing. Panelists for this session included: DNC API Outreach Director Eric Salcedo, National VP of Organizing for Brady Campaign United Against Gun Violence Shikha Hamilton, Sierra Club Digital Organizer Nidhi Khanna and Executive VP & CFO of National Community Reinvestment Coalition and Former COO of National Immigration Law Center Adnan Bokhari.
Session 2 on April 21st: Session 2 covered an overview of Community Organizing Tools, Resources and Guides and featured a special presentation on Free Digital Organizing Tools by Co-Founder of Democracy Labs, Deepak Puri. Democracy Labs is a non profit organization that was founded after the 2016 presidential election to find and introduce innovative new apps to progressive causes and campaigns so they can do more with less money. DemLabs pro bono evangelizes the use of free/low-cost apps through blogs, online courses and in-person workshops.
Session 3 on April 28th: Session 3 covered Best Practices in Community Organizing and featured a panel on this topic Panelists for this session included: Co-Founder of Field Team 6 & Former California Democratic Party Regional Organizer Jason Berlin, Former California Regional Organizing Director for Kamala Harris for the People & All Home Director of Community Engagement Irving Torres, California Democratic Party API Caucus Chair & SAFA Legal & Governance Board Deepa Sharma, Democratic Asian Americans of Virginia Chair & SAFA National Political Advocacy Co-Chair Praveen Meyyan, and Former Nationwide South Asian Youth Initiative Co-Director & SAFA Youth Engagement Co-Chair Ananya Kachru.