We are proud to announce our intro to SikhLEAD 2024 Summer Internship Program, running from June 8 - Aug 10, 2024! 

Our theme this year is “Sikhi-inspired Leadership: Past, Present, Future”. 

Our Summer Programming is complete! Some new Programming includes:

My Sikhi Journey reflections
Social Intern Mixer with Stop AAPI Hate and NAPAFASA
Sikhs in unconventional careers
Student-led panel (bringing this back from last year, due to its success last year)

We will continue our partnership with the Sikh Health Network (SHN) on starting new Seva Clinic locations, while sustaining our CA clinics from last year. These efforts will be led by a SikhLEAD Regional Alumni who is now actively working with SHN! The states that we are focusing on for this year’s Clinics include: IL, MI, NC, CO, and CA 

We are in the process of welcoming our brand new SikhLEAD DC and Regional cohort of 80+ candidates who are currently in the Internship placements phase. The SikhLEADers are in the process of getting placed in prestigious and valuable Internships in D.C. and their local federal offices. Through reaching out to Internship coordinators, writing letters of recommendation, and editing cover letters and resumes, the Programs team has made significant strides in improving our cohort’s chances in being placed in a summer Internship. The placements reflect a diverse field of study and profession; we have placed interns in the legal, public relations, and governmental fields. The D.C. program’s five significant placements so far are -  United States Senator Chuck Schumer, Becket Law Firm, United States Commission on Civil Rights, United States Representative Andy Kim and New Heights Communications Firm

Regional SikhLEADers are applying to Sikh partner organizations, such as: the United Sikh Movement (USM), Sikh American History Project (SAHP), Sikh American Veterans Alliance (SAVA),  Dasvandh Network (DVN), and Colorado Sikhs, to diverse partner organizations such as: APIAVote and, as well as prominent offices of members like: Senator Manka Dhingra, Bob Menendez, and Josh Harder, and even within our own SALDEF-specific Communications Dept.

Throughout our Summer programming, our Cohort will have the pleasure of listening and asking questions to prominent speakers. Some of these include: Jashdeep Singh of Jakara Movement to share his Sikhi Journey, Stop AAPIHate and NAPAFASA facilitate the value of art to help heal, Sikh Elected Officials Panel, Dr. Jasmeet Bains - the 1st Asian/Sikh Assemblywoman.

We look forward to kickstarting the 2024 SikhLEAD DC & Regional Summer Internship Program and thank you for your continued support.

SikhLEAD 2024 planning is in full swing! We have some new partnerships, projects, and programming we are excited to announce in the New Year. Our theme for SikhLEAD 2024 is Sikhi-inspired leadership, with our program dates of: June 8 - Aug 10. Our applications opened in November and will close by Jan 15 for DC and Jan 21 for Regional. SikhLEAD Alumni is conducting presentations on their 360 experience (from applying, interviewing, and interning, to participating and graduating) to recruit our new cohort: one at San Jose Gurdwara’s College Prep program on Nov 19 and another at Connecticut’s Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara on Dec 24, with more outreach to continue! We are also currently interviewing candidates for both cohorts!

Lastly, we are focused on our year-end fundraiser and have just completed speaking with our local communities in MD and the Bay Area.

We are proud to announce our successful wrap up of SikhLEAD Regional 2023 Summer Program, which ran from June 10 - Aug 12! This year, our program entailed a few firsts: 

Kickstarting with a Parent orientation
Seva project: Seva Clinics, through the collaboration of Sikh Health Network (SHN)
In-person Interfaith Workshop with Harmeet Kamboj, Programs Manager at Interfaith America

Our cohort members interviewed, matched, and worked at prestigious Internships, from Sikh partner organizations such as: Sikh American Veterans Alliance (SAVA),  your own Dasvandh Network (DVN), and Colorado Sikhs, to diverse partner organizations such as: APIAVote and International Religious Freedom (IRF), as well as prominent offices of members like: Senator Manka Dhingra, Bob Menendez, and Josh Harder, even interning within our own SALDEF-specific departments.

Throughout our Summer programming, our Cohort had the pleasure of listening and asking questions to the following prominent speakers: Dr. Simran Jeet Singh of Aspen Institute, Kulvir Singh - SikhRI, the Sikh American History Project Co-founders - Dr. Amrita Deol and Tejpaul Bainiwal, Sikh Elected Officials Panel, while facilitating and presenting on their own chosen topics and completing the program with Internship and Seva Project presentations. 

As mentioned previously, the Seva project Clinic work was so impactful that we are now receiving interest from other cities/states to start these free Health clinics. Currently there are a total of 9 clinics across the US that SHN is successfully running: 

- 6 Gurdwaras in California: Fremont, Tracy, Milpitas, Fresno, Sacramento, and El Sobrante

- 1 Gurdwara in Oregon: Salem

- 1 Gurdwara in North Carolina: Charlotte

- 1 Gurdwara in Florida: Oviedo.

Most recently, one of our SikhLEAD Regional 2023 Program graduates - Khushi Pannu will be serving as a board member on the SHN team, onboarding clinics in high needs areas within California which is truly a testament to our success this year!

We look forward to planning our SikhLEAD Regional 2024 Summer Program, with the theme of Sikhi-Inspired Leadership. Thank you for your continued support.

During the second quarter, the primary focus of the SikhLEAD program was Internship placements of all the SikhLEADers. The Programs team worked with the candidates individually to polish resumes and cover letters, as well as to go over interview skills. The main goal was to ensure that the students were able to apply and attain Internships that held personal and professional interest to them. The Internships for this year to name a few range from Sen Schumer in DC, CAPAL, APIAVote, Becket Law firm, Parliament of World's Religions, State Senators & US State Reps offices to Sikh American organizations like SAVA (Sikh American Veterans Alliance), Colorado Sikhs, Dasvandh Network, Sikh American History Project. A few Interns are also interning with the SALDEF Policy, Communications & Resources departments.

By June, all SikhLEAD cohort members were placed in Internships with support from the SALDEF Programs team. In addition to placements, a strong emphasis also was placed on creating an engaging event schedule for the SikhLEAD programming. Panels were decided for weekly events and speakers were recruited to join. Some speakers include Harmann Singh, Rubin Paul Singh, and the Sikh Professional Network for the DC cohort and Sikh Elected Officials Panel, SALDEF’s Partners panel, Dr. Simranjeet Singh, Kulvir Singh Gill SikhRI for the Regional cohort

On the SEVA project side, the DC cohort began working on planning Langar on the Hill and the Regional cohort on SEVA Health Clinics that are free health clinics organized at different Gurdwaras across the country. SALDEF initiated their work with the Sikh Health Network team to train the SikhLEADers to further plan and facilitate these SEVA Clinics with the help of physician and non-physician volunteers. 

The cohort had their Orientation on June 10th, in-person for the DC cohort and virtual for the Regional cohort, kickstarting the 2023 SikhLEAD Summer Internship Program. 

The first quarter is critical in laying the foundation for the SikhLEAD Summer Internship Program. It allows SALDEF to properly assemble and finalize a cohort of intelligent and passionate students while considering possible offices for their Internship placements and relevant programming. During this quarter, the SikhLEAD 2023 Program recruited a total of 55 candidates, with 46 students participating in the Regional Program and 9 students in the DC program with a representation from 18 different states.  

The SALDEF team primarily focused on Intern placements for their Summer Internships. We ensured that the Interns applied to a variety of Internships and facilitated this process for them by building new relationships and tapping into the established ones with the different offices. The Internship placements included Congressional offices such as the offices of Senator Schumer, Senator Manka Dhingra, US Rep Rob Wittman, Nonprofits such as APIAVote, CAPAL and the IRF Secretariat..   

This quarter was also focused on putting together the best of programming for the SikhLEAD 2023 cohort which includes a  blend of professional and faith-based topics. From Sikhi inspired discussions and Leadership/Professional development sessions, to Sikh Elected officials panel to the Power of SALDEF’s Partnerships panel, roughly 20- 25 speakers were secured for the overall SikhLEAD programming this summer. SALDEF also partnered with the Sikh Health Network during this quarter to run Health clinics across the country as a SEVA project for the SikhLEADers. 

The second quarter will build off the work and planning done in the first quarter by having the Interns begin their Internships and SEVA projects in June alongside participating in the SikhLEAD Program from June 10th - August 12th.

SALDEF's SikhLEAD program is open to all 50 states and provides high school and college
students with Internships in state and local government as well as with partner
organizations across the country. This past year SALDEF had over 80 participants in
the SikhLEAD DC and SikhLEAD Regional Programs. In addition to Internship
opportunities, the SikhLEAD Internship programs provides students a chance to:
• Collaborate on Capstone Seva (community service) projects
• Attend networking events
• Connect with Mentors
• Gain professional development through the leadership workshops including
discussions with Sikh elected officials and Sikh Americans in the White House.

The SikhLEAD 2023 Summer Internship program is currently accepting applications for this year. The application deadline is January 31st, 2023. 

This summer, the SikhLEAD Regional Internship Program hosted a cohort of 64 Sikh youth from 15 states across the country.  Interns were placed in Regional State Assembly/Senate offices and local offices of Members of Congress/Senators. The interns also attended different speakership series such as Sikh Elected Officials panel, SikhLEAD Alumni panel, and Guru-inspired leadership panel to inspire the young leaders with current Sikh professionals in the field.

Additionally, this year we were able to return to in-person events for DC SikhLEAD interns! 9 Sikh youth and aspiring professionals At the end of the program, each intern was paid a stipend of $1500 on behalf of SALDEF. The SikhLEAD interns gained professional experience with SALDEF partners at EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), WHIAANAPI (White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders), Senator Schumer, and Senator Blumenthal.

The SikhLEAD DC 2022 Internship Program brought together 9 talented students from across the country to intern at our nation’s Capital. Internship placements included the White House, Congress, Senate and EEOC. Interns were able to gain invaluable skills and network with Congressional members including participating in a reception with members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

SikhLEAD Regional 2022 Internship Program selected 66 students across the nation to participate in the program this summer from June 11th- August 13th. These SikhLEADers were placed in coveted local, state government and partner organization Internships. The program also hosted virtual sessions for the SikhLEADers every Saturday inviting esteemed speakers such as Senator Manka Dhingra, Rep Ranjeev Puri, Councilman Mikey Hothi for Sikh Elected Officials Panel, LTC Kamal Kalsi and Kulvir Singh (SikhRI). In addition to this, professional development sessions were conducted and all the SikhLEADers were connected with Sikh Mentors from their respective fields of career interest to provide them with guidance and mentorship.

In 2021 we successfully placed 83 SikhLEAD internship participants in various internships all across the country including congressional offices, federal agencies, and Washington, DC-based organizations. The participants also successfully completed 18 seva projects that contributed to the community. In addition, they also received mentorship, attended various workshops and gained many leadership development opportunities throughout the summer. The highlight for many of the SikhLEAD participants this summer was the ability to grow their network with many other young Sikh professionals and students from all across the country.

In 2021 we have placed 15 students into our Washington DC SikhLEAD Internship program. These students are from 9 states and have internships at the Equal Employment Office, Rep. Illhan Omar, Senator Manka Dhingra, NCAPA, Congressman Thompson, New Heights Communication, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and others.

Regionally 67 students from 17 states have been placed in internships with multiple assemblymen and assemblywomen, senators, council members, mayors, state representatives, partner organizationsin State legeslative offices and other partner organizations. 

The SikhLEAD Internship Program also requires students to complete group seva projects, attend leadership development sessions and obtain advise from their mentors. 

In 2021 we have accepted 15 students to our Washington DC SikhLEAD program and Regionally we have expanded to over 15 states (Including - CA, NY, MI, IL, FL, MD, VA, MA etc). On average, we have enrolled about 5 to 10 students in each state in the regional program.  

Both the DC and Regional SikhLEAD students are currently under the placement process. Seva projects are also being assigned to them to be delivered during the summer.