At the beginning of the month, we worked with volunteers Gurpreet Singh Ahuja and Jasjit Singh Ahuja to train more than 50 officers at the Irvine Police Department. This builds on our work in October, when we conducted similar trainings with the Santa Ana Police Department; we expect to continue these efforts with additional training sessions for law enforcement in the Southern California region in the coming year.
On the education front, I’m also happy to share that we worked at the end of October to deliver two Sikh Awareness Presentations, focused on the life and legacy of Guru Nanak, to more than 100 students at Chaminade High School. Earlier this month, we were also invited to present at an Orange County Human Relations Comission event called "Walk in My Shoes," a conference composed of youth-friendly workshops on topics related to youth organizing and social justice. We led 3 "Responding to Hate and Healing with Reconciliation” workshops, with more than 120 high school students. The workshops discussed the Sikh identity and how we can all play a role in dissolving hate in our schools, communities, and families.
And of course, up north in Yuba City, the Sikh Coalition was thrilled to engage with sangat members from across the country and around the world at the annual Yuba City Nagar Kirtan. For the second year in a row, a team of Sikh Coalition staff and volunteers distributed free legal resources to Nagar Kirtan attendees, meeting more than 1,200 people at our booth. We’re already looking forward to attending next year!
If you are interested in learning more about the Sikh Coalition’s work in Southern California or would like to better understand the resources and services that we provide on behalf of the Sikh community, please contact our Community Development team at
community@sikhcoalition.org. We look forward to continuing to work with you in the weeks ahead as we move into 2020!
Chardi Kala,
Inderpreet Kaur
Southern California Community Development Manager
Sikh Coalition
P.S. Our work is only possible through the commitment and investment of community members like you. If you support our continued legal, advocacy, community development, education, and media work in the Southern California region and across the United States,
please consider contributing to our end-of-year fundraising efforts today!