SAAPRI was delighted to contribute to a panel discussion regarding political outreach and advocacy at the first conference on South Asian womanhood and girlhood at Loyola University Chicago. The panel featured Reema Kapur, SAAPRI Executive Director; Kathleen Yang-Clayton, independent consultant; and Shobhana Johri Verma, the Director of the South Asian Outreach Program at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
SAAPRI was asked to set the context for the discussion by sharing demographic and socioeconomic data regarding the South Asian American community in the Chicagoland area. SAAPRI also joined the panelists to examine the fluidity of the South Asian American identity, the importance of collaboration, and the critical importance for Asian American and South Asian American communities to be active in politics and civic society in order to ensure that their perspectives are taken into account in shaping policies.