Dear Friend,

November wrapped up a huge election year for all New Yorkers and an active civic engagement cycle for the Adhikaar team and Nepali-speaking community.

Following a very busy primary season, we continued our efforts to educate our communities on voter registration, ballot-related questions, and Get-Out-The-Vote beginning in the summer until Election Day on November 3rd, 2021. We also joined forces with Adhikaar’s newly formed youth program to mobilize youth and civic engagement volunteers together to GOTV for the general elections.

From August until November, Adhikaar’s Civic Engagement team:

• Outreached our communities in Queens and Brooklyn with a focus in Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Ridgewood, Sunnyside, Woodside, and Flatbush on voter registration, voter rights, and ballot questions,
• Tabled outside the Queens Public Library in Jackson Heights with partners at the Minkwon Center,
• Marked #NationalVoterRegistrationDay with Adhikaar youth members and volunteers by meeting in person to kick-off the general election GOTV campaign and train volunteers on text banking,
• Organized a social media and civic engagement youth meet up at Travers Park to raise awareness among our youth members on what’s on the ballot and the various positions up for voting,
• Worked with Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund to translate their national exit poll survey into Nepali and mobilize volunteers to conduct surveys of Asian American voters on Election Day at PS 69 in Jackson Heights,
• Attended a meet and greet with APA candidates organized by APA VOICE and New York Immigration Coalition,
• Launched a ten-day digital voter registration count down by educating and reminding our community to register to vote until the deadline,
• Created multimedia audio graphics on the five ballot questions in Nepali,
• Produced a short Nepali language educational video on GOTV to educate voters on voter registration and major deadlines. We also produced and published another video for a final push before the election day to educate voters on ballot questions and the various positions that they’ll be voting for. To date reached 4000+ viewers online.
• Text banked NYC voters and sent a total of 41,000+ text messages, engaging with 18,000+ unique voters,
• Piloted robocalls and made 10,000+ calls to 10,000+ Nepali-speaking individuals in the Nepali language,

We would like to acknowledge NYIC REMAP for helping support Adhikaar’s capacity to mobilize Nepali-speaking voters this year, and the APA VOICE coalition for their partnership in getting out the vote to the broader Asian American community.

On December 9th, 2021, the NYC Council will bring Intro 1867 “Our City, Our Vote” to the floor for a vote. The bill will allow 800,000+ folks with work permits and green cards to vote in NYC municipal elections. As a supporting organization of the campaign, we are excited about the possibility of expanding voter rights to immigrants citywide. Take action today to #SupportIntro1867 by sending an email to your Council Member.

And last but certainly not least, Adhikaar welcomes the new class of NYC elected officials that won on November 2 across the city. We look forward to working with you all for the Nepali-speaking community in NYC for immigrant rights, workers’ rights, health care access and language justice.

Sincerely,

Pabitra Khati Benjamin,

Executive Director, Adhikaar