Our First Year with Where Are You Really From

Dear Supporter Ji,

This is Rucha Kaur, Managing Director of Education and Community Development at the Sikh Coalition. I hope this message finds you, your family, and your sangat well. 

As we move further into our end-of-year fundraising season, I’ve been reflecting on our work from the past 12 months. After collecting all the Sikh Student Surveys last year, I was honored to serve as the co-author of our landmark study published this April: Where Are You Really From: A National Sikh School Climate Report (WAYRF). This essential resource reflects on the experiences of nearly 2,000 Sikh youth across the country with school bullying.

The results were dire, showing that Sikh students continue to be bullied at alarmingly high rates. At the same time, WAYRF also provided us with a path forward—real actions to take to benefit our young Singhs and Kaurs. Since the launch of the report, the Sikh Coalition has: 

Created resources for parents to use if their child is being bullied, 
Shared the report, including its key takeaways and 50+ policy recommendations, with government officials and the sangat throughout many days of action across the country,
Conducted trainings and webinars on the report’s findings for educators and parents, and 
Provided tools for sangat and allies to support critical legislation at the state and federal level.
This is just the beginning of our work with this report as we continue to mobilize the

 sangat to make sure our youth feel safe and seen in their schools. All of these efforts, however, take significant resources—and to that end, we hope that we can count on your investment to ensure that the findings and recommendations in this report reach every school with a Sikh student across the country. 

Together, we will continue to make sure our youth are able to freely celebrate their faith in their classrooms. 

Chardi Kala, 

Rucha Kaur

Managing Director of Education and Community Development

The Sikh Coalition