Asha for Education was chosen by our Opening Keynote, Padma Venkatraman.

About Asha for Education from their website:

“Asha for Education is a secular organization dedicated to change in India by focusing on basic education in the belief that education is a critical requisite for socio-economic change… Today, there are more than 50 Asha chapters worldwide spread across the US, India, Europe and Canada.

Volunteers in each of these chapters take personal interest in identifying education-related projects in India, and supporting them through funds and other means. As part of the Asha charter, all Asha chapters have a high degree of freedom in their activities including the identification, research, support and ownership of projects. However, there is also a good deal of co-operation among chapters and volunteers across chapters.”

Why Padma Venkatraman selected Asha for Education as an adopted charity for the Spring 2023 Gathering:

“I chose Asha For Education because it’s a nonprofit that helps educate young people in India. Education is what Viji, the narrator of THE BRIDGE HOME dreams about, as does Vidya, protagonist of my debut novel, CLIMBING THE STAIRS. Indeed, many young people in India yearn for a good education. I first read about this organization in an article that featured about a hundred organizations worldwide that reportedly were assessed on various criteria and I chose it both because it was considered reliable by this outside agency, and because I believe education is one of the most important things that all children should have access to, and as the organization states, education is a way to catalyze socioeconomic change”. 

Transgender Law Center was chosen by our Closing Keynote, Shawna Coppola

About the Transgender Law Center from their website:

“Transgender Law Center changes law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression.

Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.

Our advocacy and precedent-setting litigation victories—in areas including employment, prison conditions, education, immigration, and healthcare—protect and advance the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming people across the country. Through our organizing and movement-building programs, TLC assists, informs, and empowers thousands of individual community members a year and builds towards a long-term, national, trans-led movement for liberation.”

Why Shawna Coppola selected the Transgender Law Center as an adopted charity for the Spring 2023 Gathering:

“I would love to choose the Transgender Law Center as one of the 2023 Spring Gathering charities… Not only is it, in their words, ‘the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people,’ but I deeply appreciate how they center trans and gender nonconforming migrants and Black trans women in their work”.