Orlando Project Indicates Significant Change in Desi Politics

ORLANDO – College-aged South Asian Americans from across the country
went to Florida last month for spring vacation to work hard and mobilize hundreds of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to vote using modern tactics used by professional political campaigns for the first time in history.

Project Democracy’s South Asian Caucus, run by the South Asian American
Voting Youth, knocked on more than 200 doors, called 500 households, and registered 100 voters to increase their community’s say in government. South
Asians traditionally involved in politics mustered support by contributing large sums of money to elected officials. SAAVY broke that tradition in Orlando.

SAAVY Director Tanzila “Taz” Ahmed built the group from its boot straps last year. She organized youth environmentalists to fight for clean energy and realized in her work that South Asians don’t have a strong
voice in American politics. Ahmed notes that young South Asian Americans are the community’s best resource to give us voice.

“South Asian youth will make a difference to solve our community’s
problems,” said Ahmed. “We’re training young people to use old-fashioned grassroots and refined modern tactics to get our people to the polls. Orlando is
just the beginning. We have many miles to go in the 8 months ‘til election day.”

Ahmed is working with dozens like her across the country to turnout the
South Asian vote. Aneri Patel of Raleigh, N.C. is 18 and a student at University of North Carolina. Patel traveled to Orlando for SAAVY’s training and said it was life altering.

“There is a science to campaigning and SAAVY taught it to me,” said Patel. “In Orlando, we devised and tested a plan and learned the art of making a real difference. I’m going to take these lessons to my South Asian community at school and at home.”

Veteran political operative Toby Chaudhuri helped train SAAVY students in Orlando. Chaudhuri pointed out that South Asian Americans are among the fastest growing populations in the U.S., according to recent Census
figures.

“Half of all South Asians in America are above the age of 30,” said "Chaudhuri. “The other half holds the powerto fight for a secure retirement for our parents, good jobs with good benefits and an economy that works for
working South Asian people. Our future is in the hands of our younger
generation.”

Nina Baliga, another training participant, spends her days organizing
on important political issues. Baliga noted that the SAAVY training was the first opportunity she had to help organize South Asian Americans.

“Grassroots organizing makes a difference when people’s hearts are committed to it,” said Baliga. “Didn’t realize that South Asians and grassroots organizing could go in the same sentence before I knocked on dozens of doors with a team of desis.”

SAAVY has already enlisted more than 8 organizers in major cities nationwide and plans to double that number before the summer. There are more than 2 million South Asians in America. SAAVY acknowledges that non-citizens can’t vote in most elections but vows to get the citizens to the polls.

SAAVY’s South Asian Caucus project turned voters out at the polls in Orlando’s March 9th Election Day to test their methods for the General Election.

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**NOTE: Media representatives interested in more information about
SAAVY should visit www.saavy.org

CONTACT: Taz Ahmed
202-213-5730
taz@saavy.org

SAAVY is a project of the South Asian American Leaders for Tomorrow, a
nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that does not support or oppose candidates for office.