A Message from South Asian Trailblazers
Welcome to Trailblazers! Our platform is showcases trailblazing by and for South Asians through content (podcast + newsletter). We recently launched the #CampaignTrailblazers, an effort to provide resources and real talk to South Asian voters in the run up to the 2020 election.
When our community shows up to the polls, we all win. This week, we’re sharing all the go-to orgs for you to get the vital election info you need as a South Asian voter. Check out the detailed list below, compiled by our Editorial Fellows: Aashna Sheth and Shubhankar Dharmadhikari. Volunteer, vote, engage. One month to go!
Follow us and our election updates on IG, FB, and LinkedIn, and visit our newsletter archives. If we missed your organization, reach us at trailblazersmediaco@gmail.com.
- The Trailblazers Team
Non-Partisan Organizations
We're a nonprofit focused on education. Every American should have simple tools to register to vote, learn how to vote, understand their voting rights, and select their preferred voting method. We're building those for the South Asian community, focused at first on key battleground election states.
We are a volunteer-led civic engagement organization that aims to increase voter registration and voter turnout in the South Asian American community. We seek to build our collective political power by encouraging naturalization, promoting voting, and educating voters.
Impact is a bold new initiative to help talented and patriotic Indian Americans who reflect our community's values run, win, and lead. Specifically, Impact will build a nationwide network of Indian American leaders in policy, politics, and government who ally with other communities of color; recruit, train, and elect Indian American candidates at all levels; and align and leverage political giving by Indian American donors to support causes that reflect our values
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) is a national, nonpartisan, non-profit organization that fights for racial justice and advocates for the civil rights of all South Asians in the United States. Our ultimate vision is dignity and full inclusion for all.
SAALT’s programs are grounded in our guiding values that stem from a view of the world that is based on social change and social justice principles.
Provide grassroots support and mobilization to elect South Asian candidates. Activate South Asian networks to address current issues and vocalize community support to further causes impacting the South Asian community. Organize community members and stakeholders to advocate on behalf of South Asian interests to key decision makers at the local, state and federal levels.
South Asians vote is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit and volunteer-run movement to increase voter turnout and civic engagement within the South Asian diaspora.
Partisan Organizations
Desis for Progress (DFP) is an organization made up of South Asians who identify as progressive and want to create a stronger community. We come together to create a network that can be quickly mobilized to support people, policies, and ideas that move our community forward.
We do this by telling our stories, raising the profiles of those who take on non-traditional paths, and by pushing back on policies that negatively impact our community.
This is an organization that aims to unite progressive Indian-Americans, create awareness on key issues, and support grassroots initiatives and Indian-Americans running for office
SAAVETX (Regional)
To increase the political power of Texas’s progressive South Asian-American community through education, engagement, and empowerment
This is a virtual fundraiser for the Biden-Harris campaign. If you are interested in attending, you can register with the link above.
South Asians for Biden (“SAB”) is a national grassroots organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and mobilizing the South Asian community to elect Joe Biden this November. SAB has a growing list of state chapters, and we are currently established in Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. As a burgeoning force in American politics, the South Asian community is a pivotal voting bloc, and our community’s ability to organize and turn voters out to the polls will be crucial to securing a victory for Joe Biden this November.
Bangladeshis for Biden's mission is to engage and mobilize the Bangladeshi American community nationwide in this historical election to get out the vote, to reject the politics of divisiveness and fear, and to ensure we bring true leadership to the White House by electing Former Vice President Joe Biden as our 46th President of the United States.
Launched for the Indian American community to make a difference in the 2020 election, Indians for Biden National Council expands South Asians for Biden's coalition to elect former Vice-President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris as President and Vice President in this battle for the soul of our nation. The only Indian-American group recognized by the Biden-Harris campaign, Indians for Biden National Council will mobilize our community to victory in 2020.
Nepalese Americans for Biden (NAFB) is a nationwide volunteer organization dedicated to mobilizing the Nepalese American community all across the nation to ensure Joe Biden’s victory in November. As a grassroots organization, it has formed state chapters by networking with community leaders and advocates who share resources and ideas to help elect Democrats at national and local levels. Although Nepalese Americans are considered a minority community in the United States, we have a very strong presence in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. We are expanding our organization in various states to make VP Biden our 46th President.
Pakistanis for Biden's mission is to engage and mobilize the Pakistani American community nationwide in this historical election to get out the vote, to reject the politics of divisiveness and fear, and to ensure we bring true leadership to the White House by electing Former Vice President Joe Biden as our 46th President of the United States.
This organization is for Sikh Americans who are dedicated to increasing support for Vice President Joe Biden in their community. They focus on issues that face the Sikh community and how the Biden-Harris platform addresses them.
Sri Lankans for Biden's mission is to engage and mobilize the Sri Lankan American community nationwide in this historical election to get out the vote, to reject the politics of divisiveness and fear, and to ensure we bring true leadership to the White House by electing Former Vice President Joe Biden as our 46th President of the United States.
They See Blue's mission is to mobilize and engage Americans of South Asian* origin in the democratic process to help Democrats win federal, state, and local races.
We’re taking the momentum from 2018 and replicating our playbook nationally for the November 2020 Elections. Our goal is to have TSB chapters in all states with large South Asian population and mobilize South Asian voters in battleground states to ensure Democratic control of the White House, the Senate, and the House.
According to a recent report from the Center for American Progress, there is a greater than 10% turnout gap between White Americans and eligible Asian American voters. This gap has existed for decades and shows no sign of closing without targeted intervention.
Our fundamental organizing strategy is to increase voter turnout among Democrats and Independents in the South Asian American community by leveraging personal relationships and shared cultural identity.
*Afghan, Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Indian, Indo-Fijian, Indo-Caribbean, Maldivian, Nepali, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Diaspora