South Asian Americans Leading Together Inc

SEE PART III, LINE 1.

POLICY RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY: SAALT ENGAGES IN POLICY ANALYSIS AND ADVOCACY ON KEY ISSUES AFFECTING SOUTH ASIANS, INCLUDING IMMIGRANT JUSTICE, HATE VIOLENCE, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND THE PROFOUNDLY COMPOUNDING IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ACROSS THESE ISSUES. SAALT PRESENTS COMMUNITY-BASED POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES. SAALT ALSO RELEASES POLICY REPORTS AND ISSUES BRIEFS ON VARIOUS TOPICS WITH UNIQUE ANALYSIS FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF AUDIENCES, INCLUDING SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY MEMBERS, MEDIA, AND POLICYMAKERS. IN 2020, SAALT'S ACTIVITIES INCLUDED TRACKING POLICY DEVELOPMENTS IN IMMIGRATION, HATE VIOLENCE, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND COVID-19 RELIEF. SAALT'S POLICY ADVOCACY ALSO ENCOMPASSED ENGAGING THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND POLICYMAKERS ON THE ABOVE ISSUES, AND INCLUDED PREPARING PUBLIC EDUCATION MATERIALS IN MULTIPLE SOUTH ASIAN LANGUAGES. SAALT ALSO PUBLISHED AND RELEASED A GROUNDBREAKING POLICY REPORT HIGHLIGHTING THE URGENT NEED FOR FUNDERS AND POLICY MAKERS TO GATHER ACCURATE DISAGGREGATED DATA ON SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITIES IN THE U.S. TO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND AND RESPOND TO THE NEEDS THAT HAVE EMERGED SINCE THE ONSET OF THE PANDEMIC. THE REPORT EXAMINED AREAS OF THE U.S. WITH AMONG THE LARGEST SOUTH ASIAN POPULATIONS INCLUDING NEW YORK, CHICAGO, HOUSTON, ATLANTA, AND THE BAY AREA AND CENTRAL VALLEY IN CALIFORNIA AND DREW PRIMARILY ON INTERVIEWS WITH COMMUNITY LEADERS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL COALITION OF SOUTH ASIAN ORGANIZATIONS (NCSO), A NATIONAL COMMUNITY SURVEY, AND MEDIA REPORTS. SAALT ALSO LAUNCHED AN INTERACTIVE MAP AND VIDEO TESTIMONIALS TO FURTHER HIGHLIGHT THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON SOUTH ASIANS.OUR POLICY ANALYSIS ON DETENTION AND DENATURALIZATION HAS EVOLVED TO THE NEXT PHASE. THE DEMAND FOR DETENTION SUPPORT IS AT A RECORD HIGH. WE TRANSLATED OUR ASYLUM DOCUMENTS FROM BENGALI TO ENGLISH. WE ARE CONTINUING TO WORK WITH LAWYERS AND LEGAL ORGANIZATIONS TO COORDINATE LEGAL ASSISTANCE AND RECRUIT MORE PRO BONO ATTORNEYS. WE CONTINUE TO RAISE AWARENESS AND FUNDING FOR A BAIL FUND. WE ARE ALSO CURRENTLY WORKING ON A MAJOR SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRY CONDITIONS REPORT AS AN ADVOCACY TOOL FOR ANYONE INVOLVED WITH SOUTH ASIAN MIGRANT ISSUES.WE CONTINUED TO TRACK HATE VIOLENCE TARGETING SOUTH ASIAN, MUSLIM, SIKH, ARAB, AND MIDDLE EASTERN COMMUNITIES IN THE U.S. AND EXPANDED OUR WORK TO INCLUDE ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 AS WELL AS HINDUTVA-LED (HINDU RIGHT) HATE VIOLENCE THREATENING MUSLIM, SIKH, DALIT-BAHUJAN, ADIVASI, AND OTHER MINORITIZED POPULATIONS IN INDIA AND THE DIASPORA. WE HAVE PARTNERED WITH ALLIES AND CREATED STRATEGIC ALLIANCES TO TRACK THESE EMERGING AND EVOLVING FORMS OF HATE VIOLENCE. WE ALSO PRODUCED CHINESE, VIETNAMESE, TAGALOG, KHMER, BANGLA/BENGALI, GUJARATI, HINDI, NEPALI, TAMIL, TELUGU, URDU, KANNADA, PUNJABI, AND URDU TRANSLATIONS OF POLICY DOCUMENTS ON COMBATTING ANTI-ASIAN HATE VIOLENCE.

COMMUNICATIONS: SAALT'S COMMUNICATIONS WORK IS FOCUSED ON INFORMING AND INFLUENCING THE NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON TRENDS IMPACTING SOUTH ASIANS TO MEDIA, STAKEHOLDERS, AND TO THE COMMUNITY AS WELL AS SHIFTING NARRATIVES ABOUT AND WITHIN SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. SAALT WRITES OPINION EDITORIALS, MAINTAINS A WEBSITE, AND ENGAGES IN ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH. IN 2020, WE CONTINUED OUR VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY BLOG ON MEDIUM, RELEASED QUARTERLY NEWSLETTERS TO OUR SUPPORTERS AND THE PUBLIC, AND PROVIDED MONTHLY REPORTS AND ANALYSIS OF OUR VAST HATE VIOLENCE DATABASE, AND CONTINUED TO EXPAND OUR SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH.

COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION: AT THE ONSET OF THE PANDEMIC, SAALT SHIFTED OUR NCSO ENGAGEMENT TO MONTHLY VIRTUAL CALLS WITH MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS TO HELP UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON THEIR LOCAL AND REGIONAL WORK, PROVIDE RESOURCES ON FUNDRAISING, AND GUIDANCE ON PUBLIC HEALTH FROM EXPERTS IN THE FIELD. THE RACIAL JUSTICE UPRISINGS OF 2020 WERE A MAJOR ACCELERATOR OUR COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION WORK. WE HAVE BEEN BUILDING FROM OUR WORK SINCE 2015 FOCUSED ON COMBATTING ANTI-BLACK RACISM IN THE SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY AND FINDING WAYS TO UPHOLD THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES POLICY PLATFORM THROUGH ONGOING POLITICAL EDUCATION AND TRAININGS WHILE ALSO SHIFTING OUR ALIGNMENT WITH ORGANIZATIONAL PARTNERS WHO SHARE THIS VISION. REQUESTS FOR TRAININGS ON CONFRONTING ANTI-BLACK RACISM IN THE SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY CAME POURING IN AND WE FELT STRONGLY ABOUT ANSWERING THAT CALL. AS A RESULT, WE BROUGHT ON A TRUSTED EXPERT TRAINER AND FACILITATOR WITH A LONG AND DEEP HISTORY OF COMBATTING POLICE VIOLENCE IN BLACK COMMUNITIES WHO CREATED A SERIES OF TRAININGS AND LEARNING TOOLS FOR NCSO MEMBERS AND EXTERNAL COMMUNITY PARTNERS.