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| Amardeep Bhalla |
Dear Friends,
As a new member of our Library's Board of Trustees, I write to respectfully introduce myself to the community and request support for this important public institution.
By way of introduction, I have lived in our amazing town for eight years now with my wife Dilly. We have a one and a half year old boy and another boy on the way next month! By training I am an attorney, but I have spent the past 9 years working as the co-founder of a small non-profit, building it from one employee (myself) with a budget of less than $75,000, to a national organization of 11 employees with a budget just over one million dollars, and offices in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington, DC.
The non-profit I helped found, the Sikh Coalition, is the nation's largest Sikh civil rights organization. We work to protect the rights granted by our constitution to all people living in America. In all honesty, it is a tough job. In the course of my duties at the Sikh Coalition I have had high stakes meetings with more than one United States Attorney General, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, and the Department of Transportation Secretary. I have also testified as an expert before numerous governmental bodies on civil rights issues, including last month before the United States House Judiciary Committee. I also worked for a short period as an adjunct professor at Columbia University before work at the Sikh Coalition demanded my full attention.
As you can imagine, building a non-profit necessarily entails recruiting staff, developing office policies, engaging a Board of Trustees, and communicating development to the community and stakeholders. It is these life experiences --- as a manager, fundraiser, and advocate --- that I hope to bring the Library’s Board of Trustees.
I would like to thank Mayor Dawn Zimmer for her trust in me. I am also excited by the team Mayor Zimmer has appointed to the Library’s Board of Trustees over the past year. They include Ilise Benun (a marketing professional); Forde Prigot (who has significant experience in finance); and Mairead Patterson (who is presently pursuing a Masters degree in Library and Information Science). Along with current past Board members, these new appointees present a strong mix of competencies for our Board.
I look forward to helping make our Library even stronger. Please feel to reach out to me if you have ideas and thoughts on strengthening our library. I can be reached at amarhoboken@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Amar Singh Bhalla
Editors Note: Amardeep's appointment was brought up by Theresa Castellano in this week's Hoboken Reporter. It should be noted to the reader that Amardeep's brother Ravi Bhalla does sit on the City Council but Ravi Bhalla did not vote on this since this appointment is by Mayoral consent. It should also be duly noted that the Library Board is an unpaid position and that with the projects it has underway requires a good deal of time by its volunteers but has no compensation for the position. I guess I get tired when people like Terry Castellano misuse the word patronage much like Beth Mason misuses the word transparency. You would think with the Russo's history she being related would have a better understanding of that word's true meaning.
Amar is in my estimation more than capable of contributing positively to this board. Below are some references and links to his work. I let you the reader judge for yourself. I personally think it is great to see another minority class of people like Sihks want to get involved in local government and community. Raul Morales Sr., a Hoboken Hispanic was a key founder of the Hudson County progressive movement after all. Why not more than one Sikh getting involved in Hoboken? But most importantly, Amar's experience in fund raising and activism are the reasons why I believe he will be a valuable asset to the Library Board.
Special Note: Keep in mind that funding for the Library is based on State funding and the required minimum funding level is not controlled by this board.
For more information on Amar go to the following links:
Honors and Awards- from Sikh Coalition bio page
* 2009 - Caring for Children Award, Coalition for Asian American Families and Children
Honored for work to protect rights of minority students facing bias-based harassment in city schools.* 2009 - Public Interest Achievement Award, North American South Asian Bar Association
Honored for work to protect rights of South Asians in the United States* 2008 - Public Interest Award, Asian American Bar Association of New York
Honored New York City community civil rights work by minority bar associations.* 2007 - Ronald H. Brown Dinner Award, St. John’s University Law School
Honored at law school’s annual Ronald H. Brown dinner for civil rights work.* 2005 - Union Square Award, Union Square Foundation
Received $50,000 award (donated to the Sikh Coalition) from the Union Square Foundation for public service work* 2005 - Chavez, Houston and Korematsu Public Service Award, Benjamin Cardozo Law
Received award from Black, Latino, and Asian Law Students Association at Benjamin Cardozo Law School for public service work at the Sikh Coalition.* 2005 – Human Rights Activist of the Year Award, Sikh Centential Foundation
Honored for work to protect civil rights of Sikhs in North America
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