SikhLEAD Internship Washington, DC and Regional

We are proud to announce that our SikhLEAD 2024 Summer Internship Program is well underway. Our theme this year is “Sikhi-inspired Leadership: Past, Present, Future”. We kicked off our SikhLEAD Orientation on June 8, with about 75 SikhLEAD DC and Regional SikhLEADers all being placed in their Internships and/or Seva Projects. Some of the DC cohort placements include - Sen Chuck Schumer, Beket Law, US Commission on Civil Rights and Rep Andy Kim.

The SikhLEAD DC orientation consisted of a brief presentation of the program, welcoming remarks by Kiran Kaur Gill, and a special guest speaker: Jaywin Singh Malhi, Trial Attorney of the Department of Justice. After the orientation, the SikhLEADers had their headshots taken on the steps of Capitol Hill. Our first Regional programming on June 19 with Jashdeep Dhillon (Former Jakara Fellow) and Manshaan Singh and Harsimran Kaur of the United Sikh Movement, through the theme of Sikhi-inspired relationship, providing such poised Sikhi-centric answers to many difficult questions, through sharing their candid experiences.

Through our speakership and panel series, we were able to enrich our DC cohort with a visit to the Supreme Court to meet Harmann Singh, Clerk to Justice Sotomayor. Harmann was able to give us a thorough tour of the inside of the court and spoke with our SikhLEADers about law school, the Supreme Court’s functions and significance, a Clerk’s daily tasks, and advice for future goals. We also had Cpt. Naureen Singh speak to the cohort about her journey as an Officer in the military. As a Sikh American woman, she gave inspiration to our cohort as an exemplary figure in the community.

Besides our speakership series, we have had our Interns meet with other organizations and participate in social networking mixers such as rooftop gathering and  a Congressional Reception in DC in which the SikhLEADers got to hear elected officials make remarks.

We 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 are 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, with our first ever Healthcare Talk about Heart health on June 9 at Santa Ana, where our first clinic, too, will occur on July 7, 2024.

Our remaining Regional June/July programming includes: 

Sikhs in Creative Fields 
SALDEF Comms Dept workshop on Harnessing the Power of Social Media 
July 13 In-person DC Networking Event
Social Intern Mixer with Stop AAPI Hate/NAPAFASA, through the healing value of art
Sikh-Elected Officials Panel

We look forward to the remainder of our SikhLEAD DC & Regional Summer Internship Program and thank you for your continued support!