The Sikh Coalition was founded by volunteers on the night of September 11, 2001 in response to a torrent of violent attacks against Sikh Americans throughout the United States. In those early days, a group of 15 Sikhs decided to take a stand against the civil rights abuses our community faced. These volunteers had normal day jobs, but worked weekends and nights to do everything possible to ensure that our community was protected and our voices were heard.

Since then, the Sikh Coalition has transformed into the largest Sikh American advocacy and community development organization in the United States. In 2003, we hired a legal director as our first staff member. Today, we are a team of 15 full-time staff and fellows who provide the premier legal, policy and community development support to over 500,000 Sikh Americans. We work to create safer schools, prevent hate and discrimination, create equal employment opportunities, empower local Sikh communities and educate the American public about the Sikh faith, community and traditions.

Over the past 15 years, the Sikh Coalition legal team has won numerous workplace discrimination cases against Fortune 500 employers and government agencies, while championing the rights of clients in cases of school bullying, racial profiling, discrimination and hate crimes. Our policy work has secured groundbreaking religious rights laws and dramatic policy improvements for how Sikh hate crimes are tracked by the FBI and how the TSA screens Sikh passengers at airports. Our community empowerment and education work has trained hundreds of Sikh advocates across the country who now stand on the frontlines for defending civil rights. This work has also transformed Sikh school bullying into a national policy issue, and ensured that Sikh history is taught accurately in the curricula of California, Texas, New York and New Jersey.

While the Sikh Coalition will continue to evolve to meet the changing needs and demands of the Sikh American community, we will always remain focused on defending civil liberties in the courtroom, classroom, community and halls of Congress.