Suraj Kulkarni, who hails from Corvallis, Oregon, will be one of the honorees at the National AANHPI Unity Summit in Washington D.C. from September 19-20. Kulkarni will receive the Youth Award in recognition of his volunteer work as a high school student, when he created a website to facilitate cultural exchange and online conferences.  

The summit is being organized by the Asian-American Unity Coalition (AAUC), along with ten other local, national, and global AAPI organizations. The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), one of the founding members of the AAUC is also one of the co-host organizations of this summit.

On September 19th, a delegate group of 70 individuals will attend a White House Briefing to discuss issues concerning the AANHPI communities, followed by a White House tour. In the afternoon, representatives of the Department of Justice will meet with community leaders at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. A youth session will also discuss racial bias in school and cross-cultural identities. 

Previously, GOPIO had flagged the legislative issue of legal immigration backlog, which has put 1.2 million Indian applicants on the waiting list. As a result, the wait time for an Indian applicant to get a green card could be up to a hundred years. Two bipartisan bills in Congress (HR-6543 and S-3269) which could reduce this long waiting period are also included in the AAUC Summit agenda.

To know more about the National AANHPI Unity Summit, click here.